Writer: Kylie Petty
When the United States marks its semiquincentennial in 2026, Iowa will join the festivities, too, even though it was far from the action in 1776. In conjunction with America250, the State Historical Society of Iowa is the official sponsor of the “Iowa America 250” commemoration from Statehood Day on Dec. 28, 2025, through the 2026 Iowa State Fair. Plans include the restoration of the interpretive John Brown Trail and its stops on the Underground Railroad, cemetery visits to the Iowa graves of veterans of the Revolutionary War (41) and War of 1812 (more than 1,000), a three-day celebration of Iowa’s cultural, ethnic and linguistic groups — and a really old drum.
A drum major named Moses Littlefield played it in the War of 1812 while serving with a regiment from Boston. He brought it with him to Iowa in 1839, when he settled in Jackson County, and dusted it off to train Iowa soldiers before they marched off the Civil War. His great-grandson, Ora Littlefield, donated it to the State Historical Museum of Iowa.
The drum recently spent 18 months at Omaha’s Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center, where conservators touched up its flaking paint, reshaped the warped rims, replaced the rope and more — all in time for the museum’s “Iowa America 250” exhibit in Des Moines.
Photo: Courtesy State Historical Society of Iowa
