USA > Illinois > Military history and reminiscences of the Thirteenth regiment of Illinois volunteer infantry in the civil war in the United States,1861-65, pt 2 > Part 22
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John Williams,
Private ; enlisted at Chicago, and mustered with the regiment. He was 25 years old, served the full term, and was mustered out of ser- vice with the regiment.
John H. Welch,
Private ; enlisted from Detroit, Michigan, and was mustered with the regiment. He was IS years old, promoted corporal January 25, 1864, in which rank, after good soldierly service, he was mustered out with the regiment.
Benjamin Zoelle,
Private; enlisted from Stewart, Illinois, and was mustered with the regiment. He was 21 years old, and served the entire terin, and then our Government, which does so much for the soldier, stopped forty-five cents from his pay, for the loss of one bayonet-scabbard.
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HISTORY OF THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT
He was mustered out with the regiment. His present address is, Watertown, Wis.
William H. Howard,
Drummer ; he is recorded as being 18 years old ; but was really about 12. He was enlisted from Chicago and mustered with the regiment. He served in all the campaigns in which the regiment took a part, and was mustered out with the regiment.
Asa Benjamin Munn,
Fifer ; was enlisted at Chicago, and mustered in at Rolla, Missouri, July 19, 1861, by Col. John B. Wyman. He was 38 years old, liglit complexion, black eyes, light hair, five feet nine inches tall, spare build, and weighed one hundred and thirty-five pounds ; was born in Deerfield, Franklin county, Mass., July Ist, IS23. A long line of American ancestors and kindred has produced considerable good fighting material, among whom his grandfather's great-great-grand- father, Benjamin Munn, was a soldier in the Pequot war, in 1637, was in the military service nearly all of liis life, and died in Spring- field, Mass., in 1675-a hundred years before the Revolutionary War. His grandfather's great-grandfather, Jolin Munn, was in the. Falls fight (now Turner's Falls), near Greenfield, Mass., in which he lost horse, saddle, and bridle. He died in 1684, His great-grand- father, Samuel Mumi, was a soldier in the French and Indian wars, and died in 1777. His grandfather, Francis Collins Munn, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and died in ISIS. His great- great-great-grand-uncle, James Munn, was in the Falls fight, and a soldier in King William's War, and was living in 1718. His great- grand-uncle, John Munn, was a soldier at Fort Dummer, in 1730, date of death not known. His grand-uncle, Asa Munn, lost a leg in the service of the war of the Revolution, and died in 1792. His grand-uncle, Benjamin Munn, was a soldier at the battle of Lake George, in 1755, was in the attack on old Fort Ti. 1758, was one of Rogers' Rangers, and was in the fight near Fort Ann when Major Putnam was captured. In this action, Comrade Munn took an Indian's gun and scalp, which he brought home. Was a sergeant under Captain Selah Barnard, in the conquest of Canada. Being in Cambridge, Mass., June 16, 1775, lie joined a party going to Bunker Hill, and was in the battle ; was accidentally killed in IS24. His mother's great-great-grandfather, Sergeant Benjamin Waite, of Hatfield, Mass., was called the liero of the Connecticut Valley, because he had crowned an honorable soldier's life of hardships and dangers, by striking boldly into the trackless forest, with but one comrade, rescuing and bringing home from Canada, and out of Indian captivity, seventeen of his townspeople, including his own wife and three daughters. A brother of Asa B. Munn, Francis H.
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ASA B. MUNN (IS61). Musician. Company I.
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ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.
Munn, made an honorable military record in the Union army during the war of the Rebellion.
From early manhood, up to the breaking out of the war, the sub - ject of this sketch followed the occupation of broom-making, then enlisted as a fifer in Company I, Thirteenth Illinois Infantry Volun- teers, at Rolla, Missouri. In IS51 he had married Miss Jerusha 'Adams, of Hadley, Mass , whom he now left with two children at Chicago. Besides serving as musician, was on detached service at Rolla, Mo., as clerk to the Provost Marshal. At Helena, Ark., served in the same capacity at the headquarters of Generals Carr and Gor- man, and on steamer Continental, and before Vicksburg, served on three different details, as clerk at the headquarters of General Steele. Took part in all the grand campaign which reduced Vicks- burg, during which he was promoted to a captaincy, and assigned to the command of Company D, First Mississippi Regiment of African descent, afterwards designated as the Fifty-first United States Colored Troops. While at Vicksburg was ordered detatched to serve as Judge Advocate of Court Mart al, which service was pre- vented by orders for the army to move. In General Canby's army, was in service at reduction of Mobile, which resulted from the re- duction of Spanish Fort. and Fort Blakely, his company being part of the investing army which charged and captured Fort Blakely, on the same day that Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, April 9, 1865. Captain Munn was mustered out of service for disability, June 25, 1865, and went first to Alabama, then to Florida, where he resided for the next five or six years. At Pensacola, was Deputy Collector of the port ; for two years was an alderman of the city, was deputy collector of internal revenue for nine counties ; was deputy United States marshal ; was appointed commissioner of pilotage, assessor and collector of taxes ; was county treasurer ; served two terms as county superintendent of education, organizing and super- intending the first free schools in Escambia county, Florida; was com- missioned by Governor Harrison Reed, as assistant adjutant general of State troops, with the rank of major .. Notwithstanding never hav- ing been a politician, in IS72, by unanimous vote of the conventions of both political parties, received the nomination to the State Senate, but his broken health obliged him to decline the honor. Soon after this, he returned to Illinois where he now resides, at the age of sixty- eight years, a government pensioner, rated for full disability.
Daniel C. Shaw,
Private ; he was enlisted and mustered at Chicago, May 27. IS61. The name of the mustering officer, in this case, is not given. He was twenty-seven years old, liglit complexion, light hair, and blue eyes, well built, about five feet nine inches tall, and would weigh
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about one hundred and fifty pounds. As soldier, teamster, or fora- ger, lie was always efficient ; served the entire term and was mus- tered out with the regiment.
Patrick Askins,
Private ; enlisted from Springfield, Illinois, and mustered Septem- ber 19, 1861, at Rolla, Missouri, by Colonel John B. Wyman. He was twenty years old, dark complexion, black hair and eyes, about five feet nine inches tall and would weigh about one hundred and forty pounds ; he was particularly efficient as a teamster ; and is said to have shown great managing ability, and cool courage, as a wagon master on the occasion of the rebel attack on the Thirteenth regiment at Madison Station, Alabama.
On the muster out of the regiment. private Askins was assigned to Company I of the Fifty-sixth Illinois to serve out his three years, given a descriptive roll and sent to the front.
Samuel R. Barnhardt,
Private ; enlisted from Chicago, and was mustered with the regi- ment ; he was of dark complexion, black eyes and hair, about five feet nine inches tall, and would weigh about one hundred and forty pounds ; served the full term and was mustered out with the regi- ment.
Frederick W. Brinkman,
Private; enlisted from Thornton, Illinois, and mustered with the regiment. He was twenty-one years old; and while on guard at Dixon, Illinois, he shot and killed Lieutenant N. Cooper Berry, of Company B who insisted on passing the guard line without the countersign ; the details will be found in the history of Company I. He was a good soldier, and served out his full time, and was mus- tered out with the regiment.
Lyman Butterfield,
Private ; enlisted from Northfield, Illinois, and was mustered with the regiment. He had a florid complexion, light hair and blue eyes, of heavy build, about five feet eleven inches tall, and would weigh about one hundred and eighty-five pounds ; he was discharged for disability, from hospital at St. Louis, Missouri, July 29. 1862 ; dis- ease not stated. He was recently residing at Baraboo, Wisconsin. Gustave Boylad,
Private ; enlisted from Chicago, May 27, 1861, and died in hospital at Rolla, Missouri, March 2, IS62, of fits.
James Bourne,
Private ; enlisted from DesPlaines, Ill., and mustered on May 27, 1861 ; served the entire three years and was mustered out with the regiment.
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Peter Freeman,
Private ; enlisted from Jefferson, Ill., and mustered on May 27, 1861, and deserted from Rolla, Mo., November 10, IS61.
Cyrus Golden,
Private ; enlisted from Aurora, Ill., but no date of either enlistment or muster can now be found. He was discharged for disability September 26, IS62, but place and disease not stated. Charles R. Hall,
Private ; enlisted from Chicago, at Dixon, Ill., on May 24, 1861, and mustered same day with the regiment and three days afterwards, on May 27, was discharged on surgeon's certificate of disability, dis- ease not stated. It seems difficult to understand how a man should be enlisted and mustered while suffering such a degree of disability as to make it necessary to discharge him three days afterward. George Hampson,
Private ; enlisted from Jefferson, Ill., and mustered on May 27, IS61, at Dixou, Il1., by Judge D. Welty. He was thirty-three years old, light complexion, light hair, blue eyes, spare of build, about five feet ten inches tall, and would weigh about 140 pounds. He was wounded at the battle of Ringgold Gap, Ga., November 27, IS63, and was mustered out with the regiment.
William Kantsler,
Private ; a resident of Blue Island, Cook county, Ill. He was en- listed and mustered at Rolla, Mo., by Colonel John B. Wyman, on March 1, IS62. He was eighteen years old, light complexion, brown hair, blue eyes, small of stature, about five feet seven inches tall, and would weigh about 125 pounds. Private Kantzler served in the Thirteenth until their term expired, was then assigned to Company I, Fifty-sixth Illinois Infantry, and sent to the front to complete his term of service. On his journey home, after his term of service had ended, he is supposed to have been lost on the Steamer "General A. B. Taylor," near Goldsboro, N. C., March 27, 1865.
[William Kautzler. had a somewhat romantic military career, but with a tragical ending, which will be worth giving at some length. When the war broke out and the Blue Island soldiers had gone to the front, the boy longed to go too, He was living in the family of Ser- geant George E, Hinman, of Company I Thirteenth Illinois, who had befriended him, and to whom he had become strongly attached. He was a good worker and had produced a good crop ready for harvest, in the fall of IS61, when he told Mrs. Hinman that he was going to Rolla to join the army. Mrs. Hinman tried every persuasion to get him off the notion of going, but all to no purpose ; even an appeal to his sense of duty to his parents, had no effect whatever, and he told Mrs. Hin- man, that when the fall work in the field was all done, if she did not.
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HISTORY OF THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT
give her consent, he would run away. Finding it no use to oppose him any longer, she paid him his wages, and he very soon disappeared from Blue Island, and soon appeared at Rolla, Missouri, where the Thir- teenth was then stationed, much to the astonishment and annoyance of Sergeant Hinman, who feared the censure of the boy's parents, which in fact, was the case for a considerable time, but which he did not in the least deserve, as both himself and Mrs. Hinman, had done everything possible to prevent the boy from going into the army. He had made his way to Rolla, at an expense of less than a dollar and a half, although he had considerable money in his pocket.
For sometime, Sergeant Hinman kept him from enlisting, hoping he would get over the notion of enlisting, but not for long, as he was determined to be sworn in and become a real soldier. He was not what would be termed a model soldier, but he was most certainly, a model, good boy and soldier together. It is hardly too much to say that he would unhesitatingly have laid down his life for Lieutenant Himman ; and when the latter was very sick at Helena, he scoured the country foraging for something that the Lieutenant might find an appetite for eating ; and it was a sad day for the poor boy when his friend and pro- tector had to leave the army to preserve his life.
The boy's kind and obliging disposition, and his unfailing good temper, made for him many friends, and there was many a kind word for "Billy Kantzler."
Having still some time to serve, when the veterans of the regiment were ready to be mustered out, he, with other recruits in the regiment was transferred to the Fifty-sixth Illinois, in which he filled out the balance of liis terin of service, and at Goldsboro, North Carolina, he took passage for New York, on the steamer, "A. B. Taylor," to sail on the 27th of March, 1865. This was the last we ever heard of William Kantzler ; but we learn the fate of the vessel on which he had taken passage, from Charles D. Tilden, formerly of Company K, Thirteenth Illinois who was to have sailed on the same vessel; his account is as follows :
" We took passage (at Goldsboro, North Carolina) on the steamer 'Gen. A. B. Taylor' and were to start for New York, March 27, 1865. As I was the only soldier with discharge papers and descriptive list aboard, I was told that there was a paymaster up town ; and as I liad not drawn my pay since I left the old Thirteenth. I thought it would be nice to have some money on our arrival in New York, and so I left iny traps aboard and went ashore to find the paymaster, but did not succeed in getting any money ; so I went back, but found the boat had just pulled out, and I was left. I felt very lonesome and badly about it, and took another boat ; but before the next sun arose I was truly thankful, for we rau on to the ' A. B. Taylor,' burned to the water's edge ; and only one
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ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.
soul lived to tell the tale. A drummer boy, of some other regiment, I can not call his name, but I know the way he was saved was, he plugged his drum and sat on the head of it and balanced himself with a spar.
After several weeks' delay, I arrived home safely, finding my family in mourning, and startling my mother so she fainted. They had seen my name in the list of the lost on the ' A. B. Taylor.'
" Yours truly,
"CHARLES D. TILDEN."]
John Loehnor,
Private ; born in Germany ; age twenty-five ; enlisted from Jeffer- son, Ill., and was mustered May 27, 1861, at Dixon, Ill., by Judge Welty ; was promoted corporal March 22, 1863. Corporal Loehnor rendered good service to his country, and died December 2, 1863, in hospital at Chattanooga, Tenn., from wounds received at Ring- gold Gap, Ga., November 27, 1863. Gun-shot wound caused ampu- tation of left leg.
Henry Money,
Private ; a resident of Jefferson, Ill., and enlisted and was mustered . at Dixon, Ill., May 27, 1861, by Judge Welty. He was twenty-one years old, served the entire three years and was mustered out with the regiment.
Jo'in R. Ollinger,
Private ; enlisted from Niles, Ill., and was mustered at Dixon, Ill., May 27, 1861, by Judge Welty. He was twenty-one years old, ren- dered honorable service, and was mustered out with the regiment. Theodoric Poole,
Private ; enlisted from Chicago, and was mustered at Dixon, on May 27, IS61, by Judge Welty. He was discharged at Bovina, Miss., September, 9, 1863, for loss of speech.
Jacob H. Quant,
Private ; enlisted from Aurora, Ill., and was mustered by Lieutenant Pritchard, on March 11, 1862. He was eighteen years old, was cap- tured at Madison Station, Ala., May 17, 1864, and mustered out June 7, 1865. Comrade Quant now resides at Grand Rapids, Mich. Charles Swale,
Private ; enlisted from Niles, Mich., and mustered at Dixon, Ill., May 27, IS61, by Judge Welty. He was twenty-two years old, and was mustered out with the regiment.
Benjamin F. Stinnit,
Private ; enlisted from Steelville, Mo .. and transferred to our regi- ment from Bowen's Battalion of the Tenth Missouri Cavalry, No- vember 1, 1861, at Springfield, Mo. In hospital at Paducah, Ky., he died on February 3. 1863, from wounds received in action Decem- ber, 29, 1862, at Chickasaw Bayou.
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HISTORY OF THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT
George C. Wood,
Private ; enlisted from Aurora, Ill .; dates of enlistment and mus- ter not given. Discharged from hospital at St. Louis, Mo., August 23, IS62, by order of General Carr, on surgeon's certificate of disa- bility. Disease not stated.
COMPANY K.
In answer to a communication from the editor of the his- tory of the regiment Captain Cole makes the following state- ment ; and as the statement is from his own knowledge, I use it substantially entire, with the exception of correcting the dates, which he agrees with me, from a careful inspection of data, are as now given.
"What was known as Company K was recruited in the south half of Du Page county, Illinois, and was largely com- posed of farmers and mechanics. The manner of its organi- zation was as follows : The news that the rebels had captured Fort Sumter reached the village of Downer's Grove on the afternoon of April 21, 1861. There were some who were con- vinced that a long civil war was before us. Among that number was J. J. Cole, who was captain of a semi-military organization known as 'The Downer's Grove Plow Boys.'"
There were about forty-five of these men who had done duty in the two preceding presidential campaigns as a re- publican marching club.
That evening Mr. Cole called on Judge Blanchard, who was president of the club, and in discussing the probabilities of being called on as a volunteer he expressed himself as de- termined to enlist at the first opportunitunity. The Judge said that although he was getting old he regarded it as his duty to enlist, should a call be made ; and then proposed the raising of a company in DuPage county. It was then agreed that as soon as the call came meetings should be held in Downer's Grove, Naperville and Warrenville.
The call came. The meetings were held and addresses were made by Mr. Blanchard, Mr. Hobson and others. Suffi- cient recruits having been secured they met at Naperville the next Saturday evening and elected Judge Blanchard Captain ;
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ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.
Merritt Hobson First-Lieutenant, and J. J. Cole Second-Lieu- tenant.
Captain Blanchard went as soon as possible to Springfield to offer his company, but too late for the six regiment call.
In the call of the ten regiment bill the company was re- ceived, and went into camp at Dixon on May 9, as a part of the Thirteenth regiment.
After about the usual excitement of camp in such cases it came to be known that we should not be able to take service for three months. This was entirely unexpected and many of the men were not prepared to enlist for so long a period. Out- side influences were brought to bear, and the fact that it was first intended to go for only three monthis was used as an argu- ment in justification of a refusal to enlist for the longer period. Captain Blanchard had returned to Du Page county to secure some needed recruits along about the 22nd, and was not pres- ent in camp when Captain Pope came to muster the regiment for the three years' service.
It was a time of unusual excitement. Many of the men felt that they were being, in a way, crowded into the service for a longer period than they had enlisted for, and that, taken with other motives, led some of the men to refuse to be mus- tered. The lieutenants both did what they could but the men would not yield, and Captain Blanchard hurried to camp, arriving on the morning of Saturday, May 25. I quote from his diary, as that shows better than any words of mine how keenly he felt the disappointment : "Arrived at camp half past 3 a. m. and learned that my company had refused to be mustered in. Never can I describe my feelings, so intense my mortification, anger and indignation that I could not restrain the tears. To God I raised my prayers."
The next morning Captain Blanchard entered the camp. His appeal was one of those exhibitions of powerful feeling which men do not often see. It had been one of the stormiest mental struggles ever known to his forceful nature. I know from his 'own lips that few men ever passed a more trying ordeal than he did during the early hours of that morning be- fore he entered Camp Dement.
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HISTORY OF THE THIRTEENTH REGIMENT
His appeal was thoroughly effective and the men rallied to his side and were mustered on the 28th, and none of them, I venture to say, regretted the decision reached at that exciting time.
This brings the company to the time when it became a part of the regiment, and we turn to the brief sketch of the indi- vidual members :
When the time came for the regiment to be mustered out in June, 1864, the mustering officer at first refused to muster us out, but through the intervention of Governor Yates and the prompt action of Captain Cole, an order from the War Depart- ment was obtained directing that the muster should date as of the 24th of May, so that the company can rightfully claim that it was mustered on the 24th of May, 1861.
Our experience from this time forward was as a part of the Thirteenth, and we turn to a personal sketch of the members.
Captain Walter Blanchard, was born at Newhampton, Grafton county, N. H., on the 31st of March, 1807. He was one of a large family, and his earlier years were passed in a sharp struggle with poverty, and with only the slightest opportunity for education, and his whole latter career was subject to that disadvantage. That he overcame this almost entire want of acquaintance with books in early life was due to his energy and force of character. He was not a man who loved work for its own sake, or a book worm, who would ac- quire for the mere love of acquisition. It needed the spur of a strong motive to bring out his best efforts, but he found these in the necessities with which he was surrounded in the ties of family and in the various positions of trust in which he was placed. He never treated these obligations slightingly, but whatever effort was necessary to accomplish a worthy object he put forth, and he was in the community in which he lived one of its most honored and useful citizens.
He was an early settler in the State and had a large ac- quaintance among the foremost men of that time who had a part to play in the building up of the commonwealth, many of whom he knew personally. The influence which he had
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CAPT. WALTER BLANCHARD.
· Company K.
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was often of use to the people, and he was always ready to help forward the best interests of the community, and of his many friends in every proper manner.
That Captain Blanchard was beloved by his men is shown by one of those incidents which comes back to the memory of his comrades as one of the most pathetic in the history of the regiment. When the regiment fell back from Ringgold Gap to Chattanooga, a distance of twenty miles, Captain Blanchard had lost his leg and was weak from the loss of blood, but he had his old well-remembered grit and steadiness, and the men would not entrust him to the tender mercies of the ambulance but on a litter carried him on their shoulders the whole dis- tance from the hospital to the city of Chattanooga, cheerfully taking turns, and vying with each other in this labor of love.
And so, when it became evident that he could not recover, and he saw that the grim messenger was near he turned to his wounded comrade. Major Beardsley, and dictated his will, re- membering with his last act those dearest to him in life, and crowning with his last act his life's devotion to his family, to his country and to his God.
He was one among thousands like him, in this, for the country was full of patriotic devotion, but he was ours, and we honor with our love and tears the memory of one of our bravest and truest.
Merritt S. Hobson was born August 6, 1834, in a log cabin, at what is known as the Hobson homestead-his father being the first settler in what is now Du Page county, Illinois. He began his education in the common school, continuing in that until he was seventeen years of age. He attended the Seminary at Warrenville for two years. At twenty-one he commenced the study of law at a college of law located in Poland, Ohio, whence he graduated at the end of the year. After this lie went to school under his old and favorite professor, afterwards General Leggett.
In December, 1856, he entered into a law partnership with Judge Blanchard, which lasted for a year, when he went into partnership with Jolin Haight, his brother-in-law. ·
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