A group of high school students and teachers in Rippey gave up their education when they volunteered to fight in the Civil War in 1861. But their story has been largely unknown in Greene County in central Iowa, and in much of the rest of the state. Now, two new monuments are honoring the groups’ bravery.
The monuments were unveiled during ceremonies this October. Each ceremony brought together speakers and Greene County High School students that marched in replica soldier uniforms, to remember the Schoolboy Soldiers of Rippey.
The events were put on by Greene County High School students, teachers and local historians. They said they felt they had to do something to remember the soldiers after learning about them. Current students at the county high school spearheaded the effort, which included designing the monuments.
One sits at the Greene County Courthouse and the other at the Old Rippey Cemetery.
The students first heard the story of the schoolboy soldiers from Chuck Offenburger, a member of the county’s historical society, who presented the story during their history class.
“I was just amazed at this story,” Offenburger said. “There were 32 soldiers and two teachers who went to the war together. Eleven of them died. They fought through six states, mostly in the south. And, you know, life changing experience for all of them, even those who survived.”
He said the Greene County students were shocked the schoolboys’ bravery didn’t have more recognition, and many of them were moved by the fact that they were the same age as the students were when they enlisted.
“And they studied a lot about that, about what it was really like for soldiers back in the Civil War. And, you know, I think it probably has changed many of them," Offenburger said.
This sparked the idea to design monuments and plan ceremonies for the soldiers.
Each monument features the schoolboy soldiers’ story and an illustration of what a soldier would have looked like. Greene County High School students wrote the lines, drew the illustrations and designed the shape of the monuments.
Offenburger said the students have been driving the effort, from ordering replica Civil War uniforms, to working with a monument company and asking the county’s board of supervisors if a monument could be placed at the county courthouse.
Supervisor Peter Bardole said the decision was easy because the story is a unique part of the county’s history that should be recognized.
“They volunteered and they knew what they were getting into I think, when they did volunteer; that it wasn’t going to be easy,” said Bardole. “But they did that for their country and their state.”
Offenburger said the effort isn’t over yet, because Greene County High School students are also putting on a play about the schoolboy soldiers next month. The memorial committee commissioned the Weary Ramblers to produce music for the play. Attendees got a sneak peek when the Iowa-based folk duo played a few of the songs during the first ceremony at the courthouse.
The ceremonies concluded at the Old Rippey Cemetery, which is near the actual location of the school the soldiers left when they enlisted in the Union Army. After the second monument was unveiled, an eight-member honor guard of older military veterans closed out the event with a 21-gun salute.
