Private Joseph O. Lias

Joseph O. Lias was born on September 10, 1847 at Huntington, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in Company H of the Fifth Iowa Cavalry on February 16, 1864, at Davenport, Iowa. He was eighteen, as the war was entering its final year. Still, he enlisted to serve during what was to be the most eventful year of the regiment's history. Before he mustered out on August 11, 1865 at Nashville, Tennessee, he would take part in Wilson's Raid and a variety of different engagements.

Although it is not noted in the Official Roster, according to the 1909 publication, Old Soldiers Who Have lived in O'Brien County, Iowa, he was wounded on November 30, 1864 at the Battle of Franklin. The same source records that he settled in O'Brien County, Iowa in 1888. Lias was a member of the McKenzie Post Number 72 of the Grand Army of the Republic.