Aldrich first approached the topic of slavery through this publication. The Hamilton Freeman published its first edition on June 29, 1857 at a cost of $2.00 per year.

As editor and publisher, Aldrich promoted the public awareness of the unrest happening along the eastern and southern states, at a time when Iowa was a newly established state. The state of Iowa was official on December 28, 1846, as the 29th state. A mere 10 years later, the country became embroiled in a battle between the states.

Aldrich began to author editorials in various newspapers supporting the Union and it’s political platform. It wasn’t a long commitment however. Aldrich decided to do more than talk about slavery when he enlisted in the Union Army.

Aldrich enlisted in the 32nd Iowa Infantry regiment in 1862. When Aldrich served at the front lines of the civil war, he made his leadership apparent. He was commissioned First Lieutenant and Adjutant of the Thirty-second Iowa Infantry. At one point, Aldrich was offered a promotion to the rank of captain, but he refused the position. He was noted for his efficiency, but his poor health was the reason he declined his promotion to captain in July 1863. He continued to write editorials on the subject of the Civil War and the Union after being discharged.

Even as he left the military, his insight into all military matters was noted personally and through his writings, and he was responsible for the preservation of records, monuments and memorials. He also procured the placing of a brass tablet in the Hamilton County courthouse, commemorative to the men of the Spirit Lake Expedition of 1857.

According to the Iowa Legislative website, Aldrich, was elected Chief Clerk, while serving as a representative to the Iowa House representing Hamilton County from 1860-1870.

Read into the record for the general assembly was a notation that he was at different times an editorial writer for the Dubuque Times, the Marshall Times and special contributor to the Chicago Inter-Ocean and to many special journals.

He had served as secretary of the First Free Soil Convention in his native county at the age of 19. He was elected as the Chief Clerk of the House by election in 1860, 1862 1866 and 1870. He served as a member from Hamilton County by election in the nineteenth general assembly.

There is some conflict in accounts as to when V.A. Ballou purchased the newspaper from Aldrich. The paper apparently suspended publication for nearly 2 years, and it was either sold to V.A. Ballou after he enlisted in 1862, or after the suspension of the publication.

In May 1864, the publisher Ballou came home from the war and renewed the publication of the Freeman. His first issue appeared May 25, 1864. Ballou had been employed in the Freeman office soon after it was established in 1857 and had worked on the paper during all the time when not attending college, until the fall of 1861, when he enlisted in Company F, Second Iowa Cavalry in which he served. When he was discharged, he returned to Webster City and renewed the paper.

His service in the army had not cooled his patriotism for the first issue of his paper, he set up as his motto: “My Country when right, My Country, always, whether right or wrong.”

But Ballou would only own the paper for four years before selling it again. The new owner, J.D. Hunter in 1866 took over from Ballou. Hunter moved it to the upstairs of a hardware store owned by Henry McKee on the northeast corner of Bank and Seneca in a building he owned. In 1873, Hunter was appointed Postmaster of Webster City by President Grant. The post office was located on the first floor under the newspaper office with a front door on Seneca St.

With the Civil War passed, the publication of the Hamilton Freeman morphed into the several name changes from the Hamilton Freeman to the Freeman Tribune, then the Webster City Freeman, then finally to the Daily Freeman Journal as it is known today.