USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume V > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
M. L
Gc 977.8 St4c v.5 1415245
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00829 4875
CENTENNIAL
HISTORY
OF
MISSOURI
(THE CENTER STATE)
One Hundred Years in the Union 1820-1921
STAND DIVIDE
SAMO3LINO
ED WE FALI
SALUS ING
LEXESTO.
POPULI SUPREMA MDECCXX.
ILLUSTRATED
v.5 VOLUME V
ST. LOUIS-CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1921
1415245
STARUSE TORTRRIT
WELLS H. BLODGETT
Biographical
WELLS H. BLODGETT.
Wells Howard Blodgett was born January 29th, 1839, at Downers Grove, Du- Page county, Illinois. His father, Israel P. Blodgett, was a native of Belchertown, Massachusetts, and his mother, Avis (Dodge) Blodgett, was born in the nearby town of Amherst, in that state. In 1830 they traveled across the country by wagon to Albany. The Erie Canal had then been opened, and they went by that route from Albany to Buffalo. From Buffalo they took a schooner (there were no steamboats on the Lakes in those days) to Chicago, which was then better known as "Fort Dearborn." From Chicago they traveled west about twenty-five miles, across the open country (there heing no established roads), to the DuPage river, where they located their home. At that time the tribe of Indians known as the Pottowatomies occupied the DuPage river country. Locally they were friendly with the white people who were coming to settle in their country. But when Black Hawk, Chief of the Sacs and Foxes, declared war against the whites and commenced crossing to the east side of the Mississippi with his warriors, the white settlers residing west of Fort Dearborn became alarmed and fled to the fort for protection. After- wards, however, when Black Hawk had been defeated and captured, the Blodgett family returned to their home on the DuPage, but soon afterwards they moved to a new location and established their home at the place now known as Downers Grove, where Wells H. (the subject of this sketch) was born and grew up on a farm as other boys do in a new country. He was one of a family of eight children, seven sons and one daughter. His eldest brother (Henry W. Blodgett) was judge of the federal court at Chicago for many years. Another brother (Asiel Z.) served through the war 1861-5 as a captain in the Ninety-sixth Regiment, Illinois Volun- teers, and was severely wounded at Mission Ridge. Another brother (Edward A.) was adjutant of that regiment and received a brevet commission as Major of In- fantry. His youngest brother (Charles B.) still resides in the old home at Downers.
In 1856, '57 and '58 Wells H. Blodgett was a student at Wheaton and Mount Morris, and at the close of the school year in 1858 he entered the law office of Norman B. Judd as a student. Mr. Judd was at that time one of the best known citizens of the state. He was chairman of the Republican State Committee and the member of the National Republican Committee from Illinois. He was general counsel for the Rock Island Railroad Company, and in the great suits brought, in both the state and federal courts, by the river interests, to prevent the placing of a bridge pier in the channel of the Mississippi river, he employed Mr. Lincoln as his associate, and at the National Republican Convention that met at Chicago in June, 1860, Mr. Judd presented the name of Mr. Lincoln as the candidate of his state and party for the presidency. In March, 1861, Wells H. Blodgett presented himself before the examining committee for admission to the bar, and received a certificate that entitled him to enrollment. On the 15th day of April, 1861, Mr. Lincoln issued his first call for an army of 75,000 men "to protect the national capital and suppress insur- rection." On April 17 of that year he (the subject of this sketch) enrolled as a private in a military company then being organized at Chicago by Captain (after- wards Colonel) C. C. Marsh. That company was not called into active service, but in July of the same year he again enrolled as a private for "a term of three years or during the war," in Company D, Thirty-seventh Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, and afterwards, in August, 1861, he was commissioned by Governor Yates as a first lieutenant in that company and regiment. In the autumn of that year he marched, with his company and regiment, to Springfield, Missouri, in the army commanded by General John C. Fremont. But as the Confederate Army commanded by General Sterling Price had fallen back to a point farther south, the army commanded by Fre-
5
6
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
mont returned north to a camp in Missouri, near what was then the western terminus of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. General Price, however, soon returned with his army to Springfield, and General Samuel R. Curtis, who had succeeded Fremont, decided to move his army against the Confederate forces at Springfield, and in Feb- ruary, 1862, that movement began and continued until the main army, under Cur- tis, had reached Sugar Creek, Arkansas, at a point two or three miles south of Pea Ridge. In the meantime the army under Price had been reinforced by a division of Confederate troops from Louisiana commanded by General Hebert; by a division from Texas commanded by General Ben Mccullough, and a division from Arkan- sas commanded by General McIntosh. Such being the situation, and while the troops of the main army under Curtis were quietly resting in their camp on Sugar Creek, they were, on the afternoon of March 6, 1862, suddenly startled by the roar of artillery in the direction of Bentonville where the division of the Federal Army under Siegel was in camp. During the night of March 6 the Confederate Army moved from its position near Bentonville, and, on the morning of March 7, it was occupying a position north of the army under Curtis. The Thirty-seventh Illinois Infantry was in the division of the Union Army commanded by General Jeff C. Davis of Indiana, and instead of moving south to the attack it moved north, and at daybreak on the morning of March 7 the fighting began and continued until the night of that day. It was renewed the next morning and continued until between one and two o'clock p. m. of March 8. In the final charge of the Union Army, at the point known as Elkhorn Tavern, it so happened that the right of Company D, Thirty- seventh Illinois, rested on the highway leading up (they were then moving north) to what was known as the Elkhorn Tavern. Down the slope to the north some seventy-five or one hundred yards, the Confederates had been compelled to abandon two pieces of artillery, and the next day, March 9, Company D of the Thirty-seventh Illinois, commanded by Lieutenant Blodgett, was detailed to escort the two cap- tured guns to the headquarters of General Curtis, who thanked the lieutenant and his company and complimented, in generous terms, the gallantry of the regiment to which they belonged. In the two days' fighting at Pea Ridge (March seventh and eighth, 1862), the Thirty-seventh Illinois Volunteers lost fifty-four men killed on the field, six of whom belonged to Company D. The number of wounded in the regiment exceeded one hundred.
In April, 1862, Lieutenant Blodgett was detailed to support Major James M. Hubbard of the First Missouri Cavalry, in an expedition from Cassville, Missouri, into the Indian Nation. Standwaite, then Chief of the Cherokees, was an officer in the Confederate Army and had fought with his regiment under Price and Van Dorn at Pea Ridge. The force under Hubbard consisted of about three hundred cavalry armed with carbines; sixty selected men from the Thirty-seventh Illinois Infantry, armed with Colt's revolving rifles and two six-pound guns from David- son's Peoria Battery. Hubbard's command was furnished with ten army wagons, each of which was hauled by six army mules. The wagons served a double pur- pose; they not only transported the needed commissary supplies, but also enabled the infantry to ride and rest when the marching was too fast or too far for them to walk. Armed and equipped as above, the command moved out from its camp at Cassville and headed for the Indian country. The first day out they met with no opposition, but on the second day, whenever the route lay through brush or timber, small bodies of armed horsemen would form across the narrow roads, and thereupon one of the cannon would he brought into position and upon its discharge a platoon of Hubbard's men would charge down the road and the enemy would disappear. Before reaching the place then known as Seneca Mills Hubbard had captured more than thirty prisoners, but at that point the number was largely in- creased. At Seneca Mills Hubbard was informed that a Confederate camp, com- posed of both whites and Indians, was located over in the nation, on what was then known as Cow Skin Prairie, and at daylight the next morning he started with the cavalry and one piece of artillery to find and capture that camp. He found the camp, but its defenders had fled, and Hubbard returned to Seneca Mills, and from there he marched his command to Neosho, the county seat of Newton county. On reaching Neosho he first took possession of the public square and placed his pris- oners in the court house, but he soon concluded that in order to hold the court house he would be compelled to divide his forces, and thereupon he moved his men to a ridge that overlooked the town, and was then covered with scattering
7
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
timber. On the point nearest the town he stationed the artillery and supported it with the sixty men from the Thirty-seventh Illinois, commanded by Lieutenant Blodgett. Before reaching Neosho Hubbard had learned that a Confederate force, outnumbering his own, and composed largely of Indians, had been following him, and just at dawn the next morning the white men and Indians composing that force came charging into Hubbard's camp and for a few moments there was a din of shooting and shouting that was most bewildering. The fighting did not last long, however, and when it was over the enemy was seen to be in full retreat. In that brief engagement Hubbard lost two men killed and five were wounded, and inside of Hubbard's camp two Indians were killed and three white men were taken pris- oners. In that engagement a bullet fired from what is known as a squirrel rifle struck Lieutenant Blodgett in his left foot and caused a serious but not a permanent injury. The excitement of that attack being over, Hubbard informed his officers that'he intended to move, and that his destination would be the Stone barn, then owned by Judge Richie, on the Newtonia prairie. The prisoners and the men of the Thirty-seventh Illinois were then quietly loaded into the wagons, and, at the sound of the bugle, the movement began. The first two or three miles were in a valley and the road was rough, but the Stone barn on the prairie was reached that afternoon. Soon afterwards, however, squads of mounted men armed with shot- guns and rifles began to appear just outside the range of their guns, and it soon became apparent that Hubbard's force was greatly outnumbered. It so happened, however, that Hubbard had with him a young man employed as a civilian scout and guide, who, while at Neosho, had volunteered to pass through the lines of the enemy at night, and go on to Cassville and advise Colonel Black of the situation. The young man succeeded, and at daylight the morning after his arrival at Cass- ville, Colonel Black left for Neosho with four companies of the Thirty-seventh Illinois Infantry, two companies of cavalry, a section of Davidson's Peoria Battery, and some wagons in which to rest the infantry. Arriving at Neosho, Black learned that Hubbard had gone to the Newtonia prairie, and, after giving his men a short rest, he moved in that direction, and before daylight the next morning the men of Hubbard's command welcomed the sound of the big bass drum of the Thirty-seventh Illinois as it announced the approach of Black and the men of that regiment. Soon after daylight the next morning the squads of Confederate horsemen that had been on guard began to move further away from the Stone barn, and by ten o'clock of that morning they had entirely disappeared, and Black, after resting one day with his men, took command of the entire force and returned to Cassville. As showing the manner in which the prisoners captured by Hubbard on that expedition were treated, the following quotation from a letter written many years afterwards by one of them may be of interest:
"Muskogee, April 15, 1898.
Lieutenant Blodgett,
St. Louis, Missouri.
Dear Sir:
I address you as 'Lieutenant' because that was your rank when I was your boy prisoner, thirty-six years ago.
Last week I saw your name mentioned in a Washington dispatch as being one to whom the President would offer a command, as brigadier general, in case we go to war with Spain.
If we are to have another war I think old Confederates ought to be given the first chance. * ** * * * * * *
Treat me as good as you did when I was your prisoner thirty-six years ago. If you enter the service and do not take me with you I shall be greatly disappointed. Very respectfully yours,
In September, 1862, General Shelby of the Confederate Army was in camp on the Newtonia prairie, and it was reported that he had a force of 10,000 cavalry and several field batteries. On receipt of that report General Schofield, then in command of the Federal Army in the southwest, took the field. In making an at- tack on Shelby it was ordered by General Schofield that a brigade of cavalry com- manded by Colonel George H. Hall of Missouri should make a night march and at daylight attack the Confederate camp from the east, and that he (General Scho-
8
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
field) with his infantry and artillery, would, at daylight, approach the Confederate camp from the west. Such was the plan, but when General Schofield reached a point from which he could with his glass see the head of the cavalry column under Hall, a staff officer appeared and reported to General Schofield that Shelby and his army were retreating south on the road leading to Pineville. On receipt of that report General Schofield ordered General E. B. Brown to send a member of his staff to Colonel Hall and direct him to move forward with his command, and bring on an engagement, and that he (Schofield) would support him with his infantry and artillery. What happened to Blodgett in his effort to execute that order has since been printed and told on many occasions. We copy from a statement, made at the time, by General E. B. Brown, and published in 1865 in a volume entitled "The Civil War in Song and Story, 1860-1865." The events described in that vol- ume were selected and arranged by Frank Moore, who edited for the United States government the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies. In 1882 that volume was reissued and on page 71 thereof the following statement appears exactly as it did in the edition of 1865;
"One of the coolest and most extraordinary exploits of the war is thus described in a letter written by Brig. Gen. E. B. Brown, dated at Springfield, Mo., 1862. After a preliminary description of an engagement of the enemy eighteen miles from Newtonia, Gen. Brown proceeds:
" 'Then General ( Schofield) sent Lt. Blodgett with a single orderly with orders to Col. Hall of the 4th Missouri Cavalry, to move to the left and attack in that direction. The route of the lieutenant was across a piece of woods, in which he sud- denly found himself facing a squad of the enemy drawn up in irregular line. With- out a moment's hesitation he and the orderly drew their revolvers and charged. The cool impudence of the act nonplussed the foe, and, probably thinking there was a large force in the rear, eight of them threw down their arms and surrendered.
It is difficult for me to say which I admired most in the Lieutenant, his bravery in making the charge against such odds when to have hesitated a moment was certain death, or his presence of mind and coolness in offering to accept them as prisoners.
The orderly, too, deserves more than a passing notice. His name is Peter Basnett, and he was at one time Sheriff of Brown County, Wis.
The Lieutenant and orderly were well matched-both are quiet and deter- mined men. I am glad to bear witness to the bravery and soldierly conduct of Lt. Wells H. Blodgett, and I hope he will be rewarded as he deserves.' "
The substance of the foregoing statement was contained in the official report of General Brown, and several years afterwards, at the request of General John C. Black of Illinois, the War Department examined the record and the following citation was then issued:
"Wells H. Blodgett was mustered into the service on the 18th day of September, 1861, to serve three years. He held the grade of Captain of Company 'D,' 37th Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, and a Medal of Honor is awarded to him for most distinguished gallantry in action, near Newtonia, Missouri, September 30th, 1862, where this officer, with a single orderly, captured an armed picket of eight men and marched them in as prisoners."
On the Medal the following words are engraved.
"The Congress to Colonel Wells H. Blodgett, 48th Regiment, Missouri Volun- teers, for most distinguished gallantry near Newtonia, Missouri, September 30, 1862."
On December 7, 1862, the battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, was fought be- tween the Federal and Confederate Armies in the southwest. In that campaign Lieutenant Blodgett was on duty as a staff officer, and, accompanied by a single orderly and a citizen guide, he conveyed messages and orders between General Frank J. Herron (Commanding the Army of the Frontier) and General James G. Blunt, who was then approaching the battle field with his division. For that service he (Blodgett) received the personal thanks of both the generals. In that battle his company, in the Thirty-seventh Illinois Volunteers, was commanded by Lieutenant William Johnson, who was killed in the action. On January 8, 1863, General Mar- maduke, with a cavalry force, reported to be 3,000 strong, and a battery of six guns, made an attack on the military post at Springfield, Missouri. In the battle fought on that day General E. B. Brown (commanding the Federal forces) was se-
9
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
verely wounded in the right shoulder, and Blodgett received a severe wound in his right leg above the knee. In March, 1863, Lieutenant Blodgett was commissioned by Governor Yates as Captain of Company D, Thirty-seventh Regiment, Illinois Vol- unteers, and on the face of that commission, above the signature of the Governor, the following words are written:
"Promoted for meritorious services at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, March 7 and 8, 1862."
"Promoted for meritorious services at Prairie Grove, Arkansas, December 7, 1862."
Early in April, 1863, the Thirty-seventh Regiment, Illinois Volunteers (Cap- tain Blodgett commanding Company D), was rushed from southwestern Missouri into St. Louis in freight cars, and then hurried through the city to a steamer waiting at the wharf to transport the regiment to Cape Girardeau to meet and repel an attack upon that post by a Confederate force commanded by General Marmaduke. General John McNeil was in command of the Federal troops at the Cape, and as the men of the Thirty-seventh Regiment were moving off the steamer in the morning they were saluted by the roar of artillery in the very suburbs of the town, and quickly forming line at the wharf, and sending up a "yell" that could be heard by Marmaduke and his men, they went forward, double quick, to the posi- tion assigned them. It was soon discovered, however, that General Marmaduke and his troops were in retreat, and thereupon the Thirty-seventh Illinois (com- manded hy Colonel John C. Black), and some other troops, followed in pursuit down through Bloomfield and on to the St. Francis river at Chalk Bluffs. In ap- proaching the river the highway passed for some distance through a low bottom that was at that time rather sparsely covered with large trees and' but little under- brush. When some two or three hundred yards from the river Colonel Black halted his regiment (37th Illinois) and ordered three companies (one of which was com- manded by Captain Blodgett) to deploy as skirmishers and advance towards the river. That order was quickly obeyed, but when the skirmish line reached the river it was found that the bridge had heen blown up and rendered impassable. The river at that point was not very broad, and as no enemy could be seen on the other side the men of the Thirty-seventh Regiment left their alignment and sat down on the fallen logs to rest and wait for orders. Soon, however, the silence . was broken by the sharp crack of rifles from behind the stumps and trees on the other, side, and as the river could not be crossed nor the enemy seen General Black directed his bugler to sound the retreat. In that affair Lieutenant Eaton of Com- pany H, Thirty-seventh Illinois, was killed and two men of Company D of that regiment were wounded. In his official report General William Vandiver (com- manding the brigade) stated:
"Colonel John C. Black, Thirty-seventh Illinois, brought his command gallantly into action, and deserves special mention for his services. I regret to announce the loss of Lieutenant Joseph Eaton, Thirty-seventh Regiment, Illinois Volunteers."
In April, 1863, Blodgett was commissioned by President Lincoln as Judge Advocate of the Army of the Frontier with the rank of Major of Cavalry in the Army of the United States. In September, 1864, he was commissioned by Governor Willard P. Hall of Missouri as Lieutenant Colonel of the Forty-eighth Regiment, Missouri Volunteers. In October, 1864, he was commissioned by Governor Hall Colonel of the Forty-eighth Regiment, Missouri Volunteers. In December, 1864,. he was ordered to proceed with his regiment (Forty-eighth Missouri Volunteers) to Nashville, Tennessee, and report to General George H. Thomas, but while ascend- ing the Cumberland river, from Paducah to Nashville, all traffic on the river was blocked by an artillery force commanded by the Confederate General Lyon, and during the delay so occasioned General Thomas moved out of Nashville with his army and the battle was fought in which the Confederate army under General Hood was defeated. Arriving at Nashville Colonel Blodgett, with the troops of his com- mand, joined in the pursuit of Hood and followed the retreating army as far as Columbia and Pulaski, Tennessee. The war having ended with the surrender of Lee in April, 1865, Colonel Blodgett was, on the 1st of June, 1865, ordered to proceed to St. Louis with his regiment to be mustered out of the service. Upon its arrival in St. Louis his regiment was said to present a very fine appearance, and in the Missouri Democrat (now the Globe-Democrat) of June 12, 1865, the following complimentary notice appeared:
10
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
"As the Forty-eighth Missouri Infantry, Colonel Blodgett commanding, marched up Fourth street yesterday afternoon they halted in front of the Democrat office and gave three rousing cheers for the Missouri Democrat, the gallant Colonel pro- posing the compliment.
"We return our thanks to the Forty-eighth for its appreciation of our course, and promise them and all the other noble soldierly of the country who have been bat- tling for the Union our hearty cooperation whenever the government shall call upon their valor and patriotism."
Again, on June 15, 1865, the following appeared in the same paper:
"This regiment was raised principally in the second congressional district. Its organization was completed at Rolla, and in November, 1864, it started for Nash- ville. In connection with the Forty-fifth and Forty-seventh Missouri Regiments, it opened the Cumberland river-at that time blockaded by the Confederate forces under General Lyon, and on account of that delay the Forty-eighth arrived at Nashville two days after the Confederate army under General Hood had been de- feated by General Thomas. The Forty-eighth Regiment joined in the pursuit of the army under Hood and when that army had heen driven across the Tennessee river the Forty-eighth returned and took post at Columbia, where it remained until April, 1865. The officers have brought the regiment up to a perfection in drill and in the manual, which shows great energy on their part and great aptitude on the part of the men. We paid a visit yesterday morning to Benton Barracks, in company with General White, General McNeil and Senator Henderson. While there we had the pleasure of witnessing their drill and dress parade of the regi- ment. The party was joined by Colonel Bonneville, commanding the Post, and by other distinguished visitors, both civil and military. Without notice of such intention from Colonel Blodgett, the men appeared promptly at the call of the bugie with their arms and accouterments in order; their evolutions and manual, as we have just stated, were admirable and elicited the warmest commendations from every one present. After forming. into a square, Senator Henderson was intro- duced to the regiment by the commanding officer. Three cheers greeted his introduction, to which he replied in a brief but eloquent address. Senator Hen- derson paid a deserved compliment to the regiment for the high qualities it exhibited of discipline and proficiency in arms, and expressed the solicitude with which he had watched its course.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.