Marlin Peterson on the two stories of “Iowa’s” Franklin
On May 7, 2014, at an Essex, Iowa cemetery, a gravestone marker was placed on a formerly unmarked grave to honor the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin.
Wait!
What?
Isn’t the American statesman, inventor and writer Benjamin Franklin, who lived from 1706-1790 and whose face is on the $100 bill, buried in the old Christ Church Cemetery in Philadelphia Pennsylvania?
Well, yes, he is.
However, there was another Benjamin Franklin whose grave in a southwestern Iowa cemetery had previously been unrecognized until that spring day in 2014.
Truth, is that Benjamin Franklin actually went by another name for the first 25 years of his life.
The perfect source to learn about this “Iowa” Franklin is Marlin Peterson of Mountain Lake, the author of a 2014 book on this particular Benjamin Franklin, “Blizzard Ordeal of Minnesota Cavalryman.” In the book, Peterson shares “the rest of the story” – or, more appropriately – the rest of the two stories about the Benjamin Franklin buried in Iowa. You see, the focus of Peterson’s book is twofold – the story of Benjamin Franklin AND the story of uncovering the story of Benjamin Franklin.
Peterson’s search for Benjamin Franklin was piqued in 2007 after he purchased an 1870s carte-de-viste photograph of Franklin over the internet.
Shares Peterson, “Over the next several years, I acquired more photos and began conducting research to learn as much as I could about this unique man.”
The photos Peterson collected feature Franklin as he appeared following an incident that, in the end, meant the amputation of his arms below the elbows and his legs below the knees. He lost his limbs after being stranded on Monday, December 11, 1865 on the western Minnesota prairie near present-day Ortonville, during a wicked plains blizzard. The stagecoach on which Franklin and three others were traveling on from Fort Wadsworth in Dakota Territory to Fort Ridgely in Minnesota, became stranded in the deep snow.
On December 13, the men abandoned the stagecoach and struck on foot, dividing into pairs. On either December 17 or December 19, Franklin and the man he was with, Thomas Lameroux, were found by Native Americans and brought to a roadhouse, possibly a stagecoach stop. They were discovered there by Major Joseph Brown and a Company H, 2nd Minnesota Cavalry soldier, Private Nathaniel Hudson. The pair took Franklin and Lameroux to the post hospital at Fort Ridgely, near Sleepy Eye. There Franklin faced a lengthy recovery due to his severe injuries. Treatment included the amputation of parts of his four limbs.
The end result of the experience earned Franklin, who stood then around four-and-a-half-feet tall, the nickname of “Stub.” Although, a quadruple amputee, he was simply discharged from the United States Army in April 1866. In June of that year, when he left the Fort Ridgely hospital, he was totally on his own to figure out what was next for his life. In the end, Franklin lived on a government pension, making extra money by selling his unusual photographs – at 25 cents each – in order to help support his family.
This particular Benjamin Franklin was originally born Benjamin Franklin Work in 1837 in Bellefontaine, Ohio. By 1860, he had relocated to Otter Creek in Jackson County, Iowa. The outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 was the start to what brought enormous change to the nation – and to the story of this Benjamin Franklin. In December 1861, Benjamin enlisted in Company F, 13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and began his military service for the “North” on February 19, 1862.
In fact, Peterson learned that Benjamin Franklin began and ended 1862 under very different circumstances – and also different identities. As Peterson, writes, “He began 1862 as Benjamin Franklin Work by going to war against Rebel armies in the South, and ended the year by going to war against Native Americans in the west as Benjamin Franklin.”
Through Peterson’s research, he learned that “Benjamin Work” was one of 80 men remaining from the 12th Iowa who had escaped capture, but was wounded, during the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee in April 1862. States Peterson in his writing, “Records show that, on July 10, 1862, two men from Andrew, Iowa, Benjamin F. Work, age 25 and Eliphalet B. Quigley, age 21, deserted the army near Corinth, Mississippi.
“Here ends the historical record of Benjamin Work, and here beings the historical record of Benjamin Franklin.”
The whereabouts of Benjamin are uncertain between July 1862 and December 1862.
But, by the end of 1862, it appears he had traveled north, as Minnesota records show a Benjamin Franklin, age 25, enlisting in a cavalry regiment, Company L of the 1st Minnesota Mounted Rangers in Faribault County on December 10, 1862. The Rangers were commanded by Captain Peter B. Davy of Blue Earth. For the next four years, the “new” Benjamin Franklin, serving as a corporal, was a mounted soldier in the expeditions to Dakota Territory following the Dakota War of 1862 (often referred to as this country’s “second” civil war).
As Peterson accounts, “The 19th century frontier was not only a harsh place to live, but was tempered with harsh politics, prejudices and cultural practices,” when commenting on what led to the Dakota War of 1862 and the subsequent drive to expel the Dakota from Minnesota to Nebraska and South Dakota.
In 1863, before the Mounted Ranger services were discharged from service, many of them, including the 26-year-old Franklin, enlisted in the newly-formed 2nd Regiment of the Minnesota Cavalry, where he was placed in Company H. This regiment continued the patrols in southwestern and western Minnesota and eastern South Dakota.
After this enlistment, Franklin met and married a widow, Georgianna Way, who was five years older than him, and who had three children from her first marriage.
At the time of his freezing incident, Franklin’s wife of barely two years was faced with the challenge of caring for three small sons from a previous marriage – and a husband turned invalid. She stayed with him for 25 years, the family living the majority of that time in Blue Earth. The couple had a baby boy, Bennie, in October 1867, but he sadly died at only 12 days of age.
However, the marriage eventually did break down and the two divorced, a fairly uncommon occurrence in the 19th century.
While living in Blue Earth, Franklin became a member of the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic), mustering in as a member on December 23, 1882. The GAR was an organization of Civil War veterans.
In 1893, Franklin moved to Red Oak in Montgomery County in the southwestern corner of Iowa. For the last six years of his life, Franklin lived in Iowa and South Dakota. There was a brief second marriage of three years to another widow, Maria Clark, and after the marriage, the couple lived in Essex, Iowa.
Sometime in 1897, the Franklins moved to the town of Bangor in Walworth County, South Dakota. While there, Franklin acquired a 480-acre farm, consisting of three adjoining 160-acre quarter sections of land. Franklin died suddenly at the age of 62 on Monday, October 23, 1899, from a burst blood vessel while sitting in a local Bangor business. His body was returned to Iowa and buried in an unmarked gave in a cemetery in Essex.
In the book, Peterson ties Franklin in with the historical events of that era – noting documented situations in which he could likely have participated or been an observer.
Peterson’s quest to ‘find’ Benjamin Franklin connected to his own life
Peterson’s quest to “find” Benjamin Franklin has many connections to his own life.
He grew up on the family farm in Nicollet County, were he learned about the Dakota War if 1862 . After graduating from St. Peter High School in 1967, he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Social Studies from Mankato State College (now Minnesota State University-Mankato).
Peterson, too has a military service history. He served for over 34 years in the United States Army Reserve, which included wartime deployments to Saudi Arabia in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm and to Kuwait in 2004-2005 during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He retired from the army in 2006, and from the United States Postal Service in October 2014, He is a member of the New Ulm Chapter of Disabled American Veterans (DAV). He and his wife, Mary, have three married children and six grandchildren.
His passion has been setting grave markers for the unmarked graves of Civil War veterans – including Franklin.
Recognizes controversy of Franklin’s gravestone honor
Peterson is keenly aware of the mistreatment of Native Americans, and that there are those who may question if a man like Benjamin Franklin should be honored in any way, including a gravestone on his unmarked grave.
His carefully-worded response notes that, “In every war, from colonial times to the current 21st century, many aspects of warfare breed all manner of violence. During the events of history recounted in the book, savagery and barbarity were not in short supply.
“Benjamin Franklin was a veteran who deserved a dignified grave marker, and, as an Indian War cavalryman, he was a ‘tool’ of government policies – and the gravestone identifies him as a United States soldier, nothing more.
“I have said most of my adult life, the biggest problem with history is the fact that it is history, it happened and we have to deal with it afterwards.”
