(Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls)

Matthew Mark Trumbull was one of thousands of English immigrants to come to America in the 1840s. He left his home seeking economic and social opportunities that he believed were denied him in the rigid class structure of England. He had ambition, a desire for education and self improvement, and a profound respect for the contribution of working people, all he asked was a chance.

Once in America Trumbull became a school teacher, soldier in the war with Mexico, and student of the law with the dream of becoming a lawyer. He was living in Richmond, Virginia, in the early 1850s, when he was forced to confront the great contradiction of his new country, the land of opportunity was also a land plagued by the disgrace of slavery. He saw the slave auctions and degradation inflicted on those in bondage and soon gained a reputation as an outspoken "abolitionist", something not popular in Richmond. In 1852 Trumbull and other enemies of slavery were driven out of the city by pro-slavery forces in what he described as "something like a wolf-hunt."

Trumbull fled Virginia and moved to Iowa where he continued his law studies, passed the bar exam and set up shop as the first lawyer in Butler County, Iowa. In 1857 he was elected as the county's first state representative.

When, in 1861, the Southern states left the Union and created their Confederacy, Trumbull helped organize the state's military forces to destroy the rebellion. For many the crucial cause was the survival of the Union itself but for Trumbull the war was the great opportunity to strike at the hated institution of slavery itself. He entered the Union army as a captain in the Third Iowa Volunteer Infantry and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He served gallantly in campaigns in Missouri, the Battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded, the Battle of the Hatchie and other actions. His wounds forced him out of the army for a brief period but in 1863 Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood appealed to him to take command of the Ninth Iowa Volunteer Cavalry which he commanded as brigadier general until 1866.

After the war Trumbull led a full life as a political activist and writer in Iowa and Chicago but the great pride of his life had been his contribution to the fight against slavery.

* Editors note: This passage was excerpted from "Matthew M. Trumbull and the Civil War" presented to the 43rd Annual Missouri Valley History Conference, 9 March 2000, by Kenneth L. Lyftogt, University of Northern Iowa.