Keywords: Abraham Lincoln, African-American suffrage, African-Americans, Alvin Lacey, Annie Turner Wittenmyer, Annie Turner Wittenmyer Home, Civil rights, Civil War, Democratic Party, Dennis Mahony, Diaries, journals, and letters, Ed I Tor, Emancipation Proclamation, Farming, George A Tod, Iowa Soldiers' Orphans' Association Home, Iowa Soldiers' Orphans' Association, Jane Thompson, John Brown, Journalism, Letters, Martha Searle, Newspapers, Orphanages, Orphans, Peace Democrats, Politics, Prisoners of war, Republican Party, Rev. George Hitchcock, Samuel Kirkwood, Sarah Lacey, Slavery, Suffrage, Teachers, Underground Railroad, William Thompson, Women, Women's suffrage, National Women’s Christian Temperance Union