USA > Wisconsin > An illustrated history of Wisconsin from prehistoric to present periods : the story of the state interspersed with realistic and romantic events > Part 10
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 (link on the Part 1 page).
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
There was another class (or at least person) without mention and record of which no History of Wisconsin in the War would be com- plete, and it has never been given until now. At least one prominent citizen of the Badger State had the courage to fight for his convictions, although it required him to leave his home, enlist and serve in the army against his former neighbors, who were in the union army. Major Chas. H. Gardner, at the present time one of the prominent members of the legal profession, and a leading politician of the state, a man of great mental and physical vigor, believing that the southern idea was the right one and the most beneficial to the nation, voluntarily cut loose from his associates and business at Watertown, went to Kentucky, and enlisted as a private soldier in the confederate ranks, served through the war, receiving various promotions, and, after the war was over, returned to his Watertown home. That part of his experience is a part of the experience of Wisconsin in the war; his services and subsequent conclu- sions are all given in the articles which follow, and are principally from his own pen, written thirty years after the events narrated.
THE FIRST (THREE MONTHS) REGIMENT,
after its organization, went immediately into camp at Milwaukee, and shortly after left the state for Washington, eight hundred and ten strong. It is true that several of the ten companies were organized around a small nucleus of the remnants of a former state militia company, but a large majority of the volunteers were never members of a military company, and first saw an army musket and a military uniform at the
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN
camp in Milwaukee. The people having for years followed peaceful pursuits, such an army as the present National Guard, now so well known in nearly all the states, had no existence in 1861.
But the public schools and colleges of the nation were more or less represented in every mess. They learned quickly. They merited all the praises bestowed by army officers after their first engagement with the enemy, and the spontaneous and wonderful reception tendered them upon their return from the front. Nearly all reëntered the service for three years after the expiration of their short- term service in Virginia, during which, July 2d, 1861, at Falling Water, Va., they met and fought a victorious combat, driving the force of the celebrated "Stonewall" Jackson for miles beyond its selected position, capturing camps and prisoners.
Col. John C. Starkweather was the commanding officer, and it has been well said that his confidence in his men was only equaled by their faith in him. He was over six feet tall, with elegant military bearing, and had so strong a voice that, oftimes, amidst the rattle and roar of battle, the enemy heard the commands he gave to his brigade a full quarter of a mile away. He was a good disciplinarian, but recognized that his men, although able and willing to learn, were green and unsophisticated, as the following illustrates:
One of the volunteers, on a wet night, had been detailed as guard over some bales of hay. Having full confidence that the forage would not run away on such a stormy night, the soldier made a hole in the pile, crept in and slept. McCracken, for such was the guard's name, should have known that on such nights the colonel would be sure to visit all the sentinels and outposts, to praise the vigilant and punish those dere- lict in duty. After a restless nap he awoke, only to find his gun gone; the condition of his situation flashed upon him in an instant. Rushing off to his mess, he quickly secured another musket, and aroused a com- rade, to secure, if possible, the one taken from him, and which doubtless. had ben sent to regimental headquarters, to be used as evidence against him, when summoned to arrest in the morning. The scheme worked, and when, three-quarters of an hour later, the colonel returned with a guard to take the place of the sleeper, McCracken brought the party to a sudden "Halt! who comes there?"
"Look here, McCracken, where did you get that musket? Less than an hour ago I found you here asleep, and took yours away from you, now what do you think of it?"
"What do I think of it?" stammered the confused guard.
"Yes, what do you think of it? That's the question for you to answer."
"I think any d-d fool can rob a sleeping man of his gun or any- thing else, without much credit to the robber."
WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR.
In the midst of an active, hot summer's campaign, the regiment was hurriedly marched through the streets of a southern city.
"What dirty ragamuffin regiment is that?" asked a bystander on the walk, and within hearing of Starkweather, who instantly wheeled his horse to the speaker, and replied:
"That's the dirty ragamuffin First Wisconsin, sir. By G-d, sir, I'm its commander, and if there is any man in it, who doesn't know more than you do, who isn't a better gentleman than you are, and who can't whip a dozen like you, I'll have him courtmartialed and shot."
From scores which might be given, a single other incident will be here narrated. Col. Starkweather's elegant manners and social dis- position brought him many invitations, and when off duty and in con- vivial company, he maintained his leadership, sometimes to his own detriment. On one occasion a party of kindred spirits, from the different regiments of the brigade, were enjoying themselves, in the rear of the sutler's tent, and fell to discussing the merits of their respective colonels, each of course championing his own. One of them in the heat and enthusiasm of debate, alleged in detriment to the Wisconsin com- mander, that he sometimes got tipsy, and was promptly called down by the same McCracken, before named, who captured the house, and proved his fidelity to his colonel, by proclaiming that Starkweather drunk was a better officer than all the others put together when sober, and he stood ready to prove it, if the others would ever get sobered up.
REORGANIZED FOR THREE YEARS.
After serving more than their enlistment called for, the (3 months) First Regiment, being relieved by the Third Wisconsin, at Harper's Ferry, returned to Milwaukee, and were there mustered out August 21st, 1861. Many of them, then on the same day reënlisted in the Three Years First, among them the now veteran Col. Starkweather. All of those who returned from their short service were deemed veterans, and, as such, readily received commissioned or noncommissioned places in the regiments organized after their return. Seven full regiments had been sent out since the first call, and in reorganizing, the original First would naturally have been designated as the Ninth Wisconsin Infantry. But Col. Starkweather insisted on holding his priority in regimental order, so that the new and reorganized First, Three Years Volunteers, maintained their place as No. I, while they were in fact the Ninth regiment organized for service. This fact has been omitted by official reports, and all histories of Wisconsin in the War.
It is also worthy of note that more than 95 per cent. of the original list reëntered the service, and that to the 810 men who composed it, there were subsequently issued over 1200 commissions, ranging from lieutenant to brigadier-general. Among the survivors after the war were men who occupied front positions in civil, official life, governors of
PERN
1377
GEN. EDWD S.BRAGG
GEN.THOS.S.
GETTYSBURG
ANTIETAM
GEN.LUCIUS FAIRCHILD.
HARD
OL
C.B. AUBE
MATA A. RICHARDS.
SOME OF THE IRON BRIGADE BOYS.
WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR.
states, judicial officers, foreign ministers and national representatives. Such were the union volunteers of 1861-1865.
It was a typical Wisconsin regiment, and much here narrated as to the material composing the same is equally applicable to every other organization. The service of the Three Years First will appear in its place later on, in its order with other regiments as they left the state for the front.
THE BADGER BOYS IN BATTLE.
It may be truly said, without danger of denial, that from July 2d, 1861, until the last confederate forces surrendered, May 26th, 1865, there were no important campaigns or battles in which Wisconsin had not its armed representatives actively engaged.
Prior to the earlier date given there had been a few unimportant occupations, reconnoissances and a few minor affairs, where shots were exchanged between union and secession forces, usually of a naval nature, wherein less than a hundred in total had been touched by lead or iron.
The first campaign or organized movement against confederate forces originated by General Scott, who (next to President Lincoln was the commander-in-chief of all the national armies and navies), with full approval of the war department, sent General Patterson with a well- equipped column of 32,000 men across the Potomac into the famous Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, to threaten, attack, fight and beat General Jackson's army if he could, but, in any event, to prevent him from reënforcing General Beauregard at Bull Run, when the union army under General McDowell should assault and seek to capture or annihilate the rebellious forces principally congregated there, a few days later.
Patterson crossed the river on the 2d of July, 1861, with the First Wisconsin infantry in the lead, and engaged and drove Jackson from his position at Falling Water, ten miles southward to Bunker Hill and Winchester. This was the first time that Wisconsin troops met the enemy. The last shots fired by Wisconsin troops were at Talladega, Alabama, April 22d, 1865, by the Fourth Wisconsin, who, on Wilson's cavalry raid, captured the enemy and first learned that Lee had surren- dered, and the war was over.
FACTS TO BE REMEMBERED.
Before narrating the organization and service of other forces that went to the front from Wisconsin, it is worth while to call attention to a few conditions existing at the time.
General Scott, who in 1861 was in command, was a firm believer in the infantry arm of the service for fighting the rebellion. He had no use for cavalry or batteries, or heavy artillery except in extremely exceptional cases. Hence the first calls made by the president on the
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
loyal states were for regiments of infantry. All through the loyal north were thousands of horses and expert horsemen. In squads and squad- rons they poured in tender of military service. The states in turn reported such offers to the general government and asked permission to organize cavalry and battery companies. They were declined. When Scott retired, McClellan, who succeeded him, took a different and correct view.
Again, it was the desire of Governor Randall, Wisconsin's first and splendid war governor, that, as far as practicable, volunteers from each state should serve together. He called a meeting of the loyal governors to consider this and other questions in which all were mutually inter- ested, with the hope of influencing the general government. The meeting was held, and favored the scheme, but the necessities were such that the secretary of war could not reasonably grant the request made. The result was that in place of the west massing to take care of southwestern enemies, the east of southeastern rebels, and Ohio and Indiana of the foe in their nearest and immediate front, the Minnesota volunteers were transported to Virginia, and New England soldiers to Cairo, Illinois. However desirable or undesirable it may have been to mix up the troops in this way may never be known for certainty, but the shake of a dice-box could not have made the intermixture more com- plete. Train-loads of western troops and material going east, met and passed train-loads of men and material from the east going west.
In response to public opinion and personal inclination, each state sent to the camps and battlefields sanitary and relief committees to attend the needs of the sick and wounded, who were scattered along thousands of miles of front, much of it not easy of accesss. Had the general goverment in its arrangements said to Wisconsin and the west- ern states, "You look after the Mississippi valley"; to Michigan, Indi- ana, and Ohio, "Virginia is in your charge," emulation would have worked wonders, and the aggregate cost very nominal compared to what it was.
THE IRON BRIGADE.
Governor Randall's efforts met with only slight success. But the endeavor at least demonstrated the wisdom of his advice. Hon. Rufus King, of Milwaukee, was authorized to organize into a brigade such regiments as might arrive in Washington from Wisconsin. Ultimately the 2d, 6th and 7th Wisconsin, with two other western regiments, subseqently served under the same brigade commander, and the record made is without a parallel in the annals of the war. It missed no important campaign, and participated actively and successfully in every historic battle in Virginia and Maryland. It was always ready for a fight, and fought it to the finish. Its history is that of the Army of the Potomac, from the autumn of 1861 to the final surrender at Appomattox in April, 1865.
WISCONSIN IN THE CIVIL WAR.
On its battle-flags are inscribed, among others, such well-known bloody fields as Rappahannock Station, Gainesville, Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredricksburg, Fitzhugh Crossing, Chan- cellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Reams Station and Appomattox. In a letter to a Wisconsin comrade, General George B. McClellan, among other things, thus speaks of the Iron Brigade.
" No one remembers your heroic deeds and soldierly bearing more clearly, and with greater pride, than does your old commander, who always numbers you as among the very best of the brave soldiers with whom he had the honor of associating."
It was never better commanded than when in charge of General Edward S. Bragg, who went out as captain in the Sixth Wisconsin, and by successive promotions for soldierly conduct and ability, reached the rank of brigadier-general.
THE HUNTING PARTY.
Origin of the French Nation,
HISTORICAL NUGGETS, BY
CLARK S. MATTESON.
CHAULIANS
FRANCIA
LANI
BAY or BISCAY
RHACTIA
UM
V
PANA
LOMBAR DY
DA YERINE
BLACK SEA
MAESTA
CONSTANTINOPLE
CORSICA
THR ACJA
HISPA
ROME
ASIA
MINOR
MEDITERRANEAN
VOS
SEA
"For heaven's sake, let us sit upon the ground, And tell sad stories of the death of kings: How some have been deposed, some slain in war, Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed: Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping killed, All murdered: For all within the hollow crown That rounds the mortal temples of a king, Keeps death his court; And there the antic sits, Scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp."
King Richard Il.
HISTORY and tradition show that France, thirty centuries ago, or rather the country now called France, can only be recognized by its general contour; its mountains still lift their peaks heavenward, the valleys are the same now as then, and the rivers still flow oceanward as in those centuries.
In those days the whole country was dispersed with vast forests and innumerable and inaccessible morasses, the country overrun with wild and ferocious animals. Wandering through fields and forests were great herds of swine, more fierce than wolves, and "tamed only by the sound of their keeper's horn." The country inhabited by six or seven millions of desperate and warlike men, who lived in dark and low dwell- ings, built of wood and clay, and covered with grass and branches.
The country was then known as Gaul, and was not inhabited by one or the same people, but by different tribes, and of different origin, habits, and dates of settlement. In the south were Iberians, Phœni- cians, and Greeks; in the northeast were Kymereans or Belgians; every- where else were the Gauls or Celts.
The Phœnicians, as early as eleven centuries before the Christian era, began to trade their dyed stuffs, necklaces, arms and wines, with the people who inhabited the south of Gaul, and, in exchange, they
LA
MALE
ITALY
RICUM
ORIGIN OF THE FRENCH NATION.
received furs, gold and silver. According to Greek history, the Phœni- cians, after a few centuries, withdrew their trade from Gaul, and were succeeded by the Greek merchants and colonists, who made Marseilles their first and principal colony.
History is silent as to the origin of the Gauls and Iberians. The time of their settlement in Gaul, or from whence they came, "for they were discovered there already at the first appearance of the country itself in the domain of history." According to Roman writers, the Iberians belong to a race that had already settled Spain, and are now called Basques, and still live in the lower Pyrenees.
The Gauls made innumerable incursions into the Roman republic, and finally, in the year 390 B. C., under the leadership of Brennus,* succeeded in burning the city of Rome. The Gauls, a little later on, were themselves subdued by the Romans. The Romans frequently and unsuccessfully undertook to subdue the Germanic race, up to about 70 B. C. Then, a few centuries later, under the two empires (eastern and western) the Romans were themselves subdued by the Germanic race, with the assistance of the Franks.
France of to-day, together with Belgium, western Prussia, and all of the territory on the east bank of the Rhine, from the Mayon to the ocean, belonged to the Roman empire, prior to, and a few centuries later than, the Christian era, and was known as "Gallia " by the Romans. It is a historical fact that many of the principal cities in France were founded by the Romans, either before or shortly after the Christian era. In the time of Julius Cæsar, Paris was called Lutitia, and consisted of mud huts, and was occupied by a Gallic tribe, which was driven out by Cæsar's army about 70 B. C. It was not until four centuries later that Lutitia was called " Parisa," or Paris, and became the seat of govern- ment, under Clovis, the first Frankish king. The Franks were unknown to history until about two hundred and forty-one years after the Christian era, and were originally Teutonic, or Germanic, tribes, roving the right bank of the Rhine from the Mayon to the ocean.} Later on, we find the Frankish tribes forming confederations, crossing the Rhine and invading the very heart of Gaul, and demanding lands of the Roman emperors. The Franks were composed of that portion of the German element whose love for adventure, freedom and liberty, made them in time, through severance, different habits and education, a separate and
*According to Polybius, these Gauls, 70,000 strong, headed by their Brennus (Brenhi-king), fought and overthrew the Roman army on the banks of the Ali, plundered and burned Rome, and besieged the capital, wherein the Romans had fled with their "treasure and holy things." After many months the siege was raised by the Romans giving the Gauls 1000 pounds of gold as a ransom. This was 390 B. C. Another Brennus headed an army of 150,000 foot and 61,000 horse, who forced their way through Thessaly to Thermopylæ, and would have plundered Delphi, which was said to contain the wealth of the world, had it not been for an earthquake, and a terrible storm that frightened the Gauls, so they were beaten and demoralized by the Grecian army.
+Guizot's History of France, 1-103.
ORIGIN OF THE FRENCH NATION.
distinct nation ; as distinct, in fact, as the French and English are to-day. A chart of the Roman empire, prepared the latter part of the fourth century, during the reign of Emperor Honorius, covers a large territory on the right bank of the Rhine, and across the face the word " Francia " is written, together with the following descriptive language:
" The Chaucians, the Ampsurians, the Cherusians, and the Chama- varians, who are also called Franks."
History is silent as to the Ampsurians and Chamavarians, except that they were of the German race. The Chaucians were also of the German race, and fought against the Romans in the early centuries. History also records the fact that the Cherusians were also of the Ger- man race, and lived near the Hartz forest under the leadership of a chief named Hermann, and that they allied themselves with the Germans and fought and defeated the Romans under Varus, A. D. 9 .* Historical evidence is sufficient and extant to justify us in saying that the above tribe formed a confederacy with the Franks, and finally became merged with them as one people, and that they all sprang from the same common source : the Teutonic, or Germanic, race. t
Aurelian, Lucius Domitius (elected emperor of Rome by the army, A. D. 272) was commander of the sixth Roman legion, about A. D. 242, and after having just finished a campaign on the Rhine, and while preparing to make war on the Persians, his soldiers sang :
" We have slain a thousand Franks, And a thousand Sarmatians, We want to slay a thousand, Thousand, thousand Persians."
At Rome and in Gaul, at the military festivals, the children sang, as they danced :
" One man hath cut off the heads of a thousand, Thousand, thousand, thousand, may he live a thousand years. He who hath slain a thousand thousand."
Aurelian, and, in fact, the Romans as a people, were pagans, and believers in the Sibylline books, which were books of oracles or prophe- cies, and were said by Tarquin "to contain advices regarding the religion, policy and destinies of the Roman empire." The books were destroyed at the burning of the temple of Jupiter, 84 B. C., but were afterwards replaced by a collection from Greece, Italy and Asia-Minor, after the rebuilding of the temple.
It was not uncommon for Frankish and other captives to be offered up as human sacrifices to the pagan gods, as the following letter, written by Emperor Aurelian to the Roman senate, shows :
"I marvel, Conscript Fathers, that ye have so much misgivings about opening the Sibylline books, as if ye were deliberating in an *Cæsar's Commentaries particularly mention this tribe.
+The MS. of the German philosopher, Conrad Pentinger, who lived in the fifteenth century, shows that the Franks sprang from the German race.
ORIGIN OF THE FRENCH NATION.
assembly of Christians, and not in the temple of one of the gods. Let inquiry be made for the sacred books, and let celebration take place of the ceremonies that ought to be fulfilled. Far from refusing, I offer with zeal to satisfy all expenditures required, with captives of every nationality, victims of royal rank. It is no shame to conquer with the aid of the gods ; it is thus that our ancestors began and ended many a war.'"
Probus (Marcus Aurelius) succeeded Aurelian as emperor of Rome (278 A. D.) and, after displaying brilliant military genius by driving his enemies from Gaul, he transported during the year A. D. 280, a large band of Franks, and established them, as a military colony, on the European shore of the Black Sea ; but their free, independent and rov- ing spirit soon exhibited itself ; they took possession of several vessels, traversed the Prepontis, Hellespont, and the Archipelago, and after ravaging the coasts of Greece, Asia-Minor, and Africa, they plundered Syracuse, then scoured the Mediterranean, and finally "entered the ocean through the Straits of Gibraltar, and made their way up to the coast of Gaul, arriving at the mouth of the Rhine, where they again found themselves at home, among the vines planted by their enemy, Probus, with their appetite for adventure only increased by their tour of nearly fifteen years.
The Frankish tribes were adventurous and warlike, and were blood- thirsty, according to the degree of viciousness exhibited by their respective leaders. From their first recognition in history (A. D. 481) they were gradually becoming more permanent in their habits and aspirations as a separate people. When the most barbarous of all barbarians, the Huns, under their leader Attila, and their purchased allies, Goths, Burgundians, Gepidæans, Alans, and beyond-Rhine Franks, crossed to the left bank of the Rhine (A. D. 451), the common interests of resistance united the inhabiting Gauls, Romans, Visigoths, Burgundians, Franks, Alans, Saxons, and Bretons, under Aëtius, a Roman commander.
The city of Orleans, having been besieged for some time by Attila, surrendered and threw open her gates on June 14, 451. The Huns and their allies rushed in and immediately commenced plundering and load- ing their spoils into carts, and dividing up their captives by lot; at this opportune moment, the united nations or tribes, under Aëtius, arrived, and after fighting on the banks of the Loire, and in the streets, the Huns retreated. Shortly after this great chaotic mass of barbarians met and gave battle on the plains near Chalons, under their respective leaders, Attila and Aëtius. "It was," says Jorandes " a battle which for atrocity, multitude, horror and stubbornness, has not the like in the records of antiquity." Some historians claim that the number engaged in battle exceeded 300,000, and that 160,000 were left on the field of battle. This great battle was won in the name of the Roman empire, and drove the Huns out of Gaul. Twenty-four years later (A. D. 475), the Roman
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.