BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Brookings Radio - ECPv6.18.0//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Brookings Radio
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.brookingsradio.com
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Brookings Radio
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Chicago
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:CDT
DTSTART:20250309T080000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:CST
DTSTART:20251102T070000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:CDT
DTSTART:20260308T080000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:CST
DTSTART:20261101T070000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:CDT
DTSTART:20270314T080000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0600
TZNAME:CST
DTSTART:20271107T070000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20261006T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20261006T120000
DTSTAMP:20260925T155510Z
CREATED:20260925T155506Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260925T155510Z
UID:3757-1791280800-1791288000@www.brookingsradio.com
SUMMARY:Civil War Soldier to be Honored
DESCRIPTION:A Union veteran of the Civil War will be honored at Lake Preston Cemetery at 10\na.m. on Tuesday\, Oct. 6. The event is open to the public. \nWhen he died in July 1938\, James K. Preston was the last Union Civil War soldier\nburied in Kingsbury County. A special marker will be placed at his grave at the\nOct. 6 event. Also\, Kingsbury County and city governments have proclaimed Oct.\n6 “James K. Perkins Day.” \nThe Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is spearheading the upcoming\ncommemoration. Cliff Hadley of Huron is a member of the group.\n“Our mission since we were founded in 1882 is to keep alive the memory of those\nwho fought to keep the country together and end slavery\,” Hadley said. \n“Recognizing the last Civil War veteran in each county nationwide has been a\ngood way to honor them and remember the sacrifice of the more than 2 million\nmen who served in the Northern army.” \nThe Civil War raged from 1861 to 1865 between the 23 states of the North and the\n11 states that seceded in the South. While Dakota Territory had minimal\ninvolvement in the war itself\, its role was huge afterwards\, as veterans flocked to\nthe prairie to start new lives and get away from the awful memories of battle. At\none time\, 75 union veterans lived in Lake Preston. \nIn 1861\, Mr. Perkins was living in Michigan when he enlisted in the 36th Illinois\ninfantry army at 17\, likely lying about his age. \n“Like so many young men\, he had a spirit of adventure\, and so he went off to\nwar\,” Hadley said. \nHe was wounded in his right arm at Chickamauga in September 1863 and captured\nby Confederate troops. He escaped twice\, but was recaptured both times and spent\nthe last 20 months of the war in the notorious Andersonville prison.\nThe prisoners were fed corn meal riddled with maggots and drank from a stream\nthat was also the latrine. There was one type of meat available. \n“They could eat all the rats they could catch\,” Hadley said. \nAfter the South surrendered in the spring of 1865\, as Mr. Perkins was waiting in\nVicksburg\, Miss.\, to take a huge paddle-wheel steamboat up the Mississippi River\,\nhe was reunited with his brother\, whom he thought had perhaps died.\nAfter the war\, Mr. Perkins and his new wife\, Alice\, moved to Iowa\, then in 1882 to\nLake Preston\, where they homesteaded 4 miles south of town. In 1895\, it was hard\ntimes for farmers\, so they again loaded up their wagons and left for Missouri\, but\nsoon returned to Lake Preston lived in town\, where Mr. Perkins was a painter and\npaper-hanger\, and did property tax assessments for the county. Newspaper\naccounts in the Lake Preston Times noted how townspeople commented on the\nquality of his vegetable and flower gardens. \nA highlight toward the end of his life was traveling by train to Gettysburg\, Pa.\, in\nJuly 1938 for the 75th reunion of Civil War soldiers. Only a relative handful of\nsoldiers on both sides could attend. Sadly\, Mr. Perkins caught a cold on the trip\nhome and died shortly after that event. \nSchool choirs from Arlington\, De Smet\, and Lake Preston will participate in the\nOct. 6 ceremony. Others contributing include the American Legion Porter L. Rich\nPost 63 honor guard and Civil War reenactors in uniform from Sioux Falls and\nNebraska. The minister at Mr. Perkins’s home church\, the Rev. Kris Larson\, will\nprovide the prayer. The Kingsbury Genealogical Society provided much of the\nresearch about Mr. Perkins. \nIt’s not known if Mr. Perkins has any relatives in the area. \n“I urge them to come to the commemoration if they can\, and we’ll be happy to\nrecognize them\,” Hadley said. \nPeople who come to the ceremony should bring their own chairs.\nCommemoration events similar to Lake Preston’s will take place at the same time\nin Yankton\, Lincoln\, Clay\, and Union counties.
URL:https://www.brookingsradio.com/event/civil-war-soldier-to-be-honored/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.brookingsradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/unnamed-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR