Photo by Sally Y. Hart

A tragic Civil War story about six Iowan brothers was nearly lost until a discovery was made seven years ago.

The six Littleton brothers from Louisa County all died while serving the Union in the Civil War, leaving behind four sisters. The Littleton brothers were all but forgotten for over a century until an old scrapbook was given to Louisa County Historical Society member Tom Woodruff. In the book was a clipping from a 1907 article that mentioned the brothers’ passing. John Busbee was hired by the Louisa County Historical Society to help them erect a memorial that was dedicated a year ago on Flag Day in Toolesboro, where the Littleton family resided. Busbee explains the descendants’ connection to the tragedy, “They were not aware at all, which surprised me. This family, who resides just on the Illinois side, across from Wapello and Muscatine, didn’t even know about this. And they have been great at getting involved in the rediscovering of a whole aspect of their ancestry that they had no idea about.”

An event is being held this Wednesday to educate people about the Littletons, with a performance by Iowan songwriter and children’s book author Chad Elliott, who has written civil-war themed songs, including “The Ballad of the Littleton Brothers.” Busbee is emceeing the event, as he explains, “You need to keep getting the story out there in front of the public, sometimes in different ways. What I want to do is try and find some creative ways to engage people who don’t know about this story into becoming connected with story, because it’s not just about six brothers who happened to be from Louisa County who all enlisted in the Civil War and all perished because of their service. It’s a story that has Iowa, if not national, impact because of the gravity of the situation. I mean, an entire male lineage of a family was wiped out because of the Civil War.”

This Flag Day event will include a short video presentation about the brothers, and the Southeast Iowa Civil War group in full authentic uniforms will lead the Pledge of Allegiance. This celebration takes place June 14th at 6 p.m. at the Briggs Community Center in Wapello.