USA > Wisconsin > An illustrated history of Wisconsin from prehistoric to present periods : the story of the state interspersed with realistic and romantic events > Part 5
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*In the royallibrary at Paris an ancient Chinese book contains the representation of the corn, or maize plant. It is alleged that grains of corn were discovered in an ancient cellar at Athens. It is generally supposed that maize is the natural and original product of America, as the Aborigines cultivated it long before America was discovered, although a smaller species is a native of Chili.
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PRE-HISTORIC WISCONSIN.
figure tied to a tree. On the ground close by is apparently a prisoner with arms outstretched. The stone upon which these figures are cut, is so hard that the finest steel implements will hardly make an impression. This granite boulder having been found in a region where there are no natural granite deposits naturally creates the presumption that it was drift, deposited there during the glacial period.
Among the numerous ancient relics found in Wisconsin, several were taken from an ancient grave near Fond du Lac, in 1869, by the employees of the Fond du Lac and Sheboygan Railroad Company, while excavating near the Taycheedah ledge, a short distance from the east shore of Lake Winnebago. From this ancient grave were taken a skeleton, many bones, a breast plate of copper, monstrous sea shells a small golden image, and several copper needles, tempered to the hardness of steel.
In the old copper mines of Lake Superior, which were partially worked many centuries ago, by unknown people, were found stone ham- mers, a copper gad, a copper chisel and a socket for the handle, a copper knife, pieces of a wooden bowl, levers of wood, and pieces of charcoal.
Upon a mound of earth which had been thrown out from one of these mines, grew a pine tree ten feet in circumference, and upon a similar mound a hemlock was cut whose annular growth counted 395 years .*
Not many years ago, Dr. Hoy, of Racine, opened an ancient mound in that vicinity, and found the skeletons of seven persons, in a sitting position, facing the east. In a similar mound he found two ancient vases, resembling those in use by the Burmese; one was made of cream-colored clay, with a capacity of about five quarts, and the other was of a reddish brick color, of smaller capacity. The antiquity of these mounds cannot be doubted, as gigantic trees stand upon them, the growth of which is estimated by Dr. Hoy as being one thousand years old. t
The most scholarly and authentic ethnologists and craniologists of the present time, after a careful comparison of the skulls of the ancient mound-builders, with those of the ancient and pre-historic Mexicans and Peruvians, find a general similarity of conformation.}
The monuments of the pre-historic dead, which at one time dotted our land, from the Wisconsin to Galena, and from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi, have largely given way before the pace of civilization.
In Wisconsin, the monuments of the mysterious mound-builders are more diversified in structure than in any other locality. They are of various forms or shapes, and are from three to ten feet above the sur- rounding ground. Besides the conical or round mounds, some are in the shape of crosses, while effigies of the buffalo, fox, bear, deer, lizzard,
*Strong's Hist Wis. Ter., 99.
+Tuttle Hist. Wis., 56
#Winchell's Preadamite, 339.
Relzius-Trans. for Smithsonian Annual Reports, 1858, 264-267.
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COPPER IMPLEMENTS IN HISTORICAL ROOMS AT MADISON.
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the eagle and other birds, as well as men recumbent, with arms and legs outstretched, are frequently found. On the old road from Madison to Mineral Point, the track formerly passed between two rows of round mounds, apparently at equal distances apart, and opposite each other, which forcibly reminds one of traveling the streets of an ancient village. General Smith once remarked that, upon more than one occasion, he had from one point counted from fifty-six to sixty, lying on both sides of this commonly-traveled road. The skeptical inhabitants, who once resided in the vicinity of these ancient repositories of the dead, led Dr. Locke to use the following language, in his report of 1840, while refer- ring to the animal mounds, viz .: "The geologist suddenly and unex- pectedly meets with these groups of gigantic bas-reliefs, which appear to him as decidedly artificial as the head of Julius Cæsar, on an ancient coin, notwithstanding anything which may be imagined or said to the contrary."
Mr. Richard C. Taylor, who visited Wisconsin in 1838, says, that at one spot near the present city of Madison at least one hundred of these mounds could be counted. Upon the summit of many of these mounds, recent Indian graves were made. He also speaks of the pronounced effigies of at least six quadrupeds in the vicinity of the Blue Mounds, one of which was circular, one human figure, one circular or ring, were the most pronounced of this group. The old Indian war-path which led from Lake Michigan, near Milwaukee, to the Mississippi above Prairie du Chien, passed along the edge of these earth-mounds .*
Mr. Stephen Taylor, in his communication in Stillman's Journal, delineated several of these animal-shaped mounds, among which was a buffalo-shaped mound, with a hump, or raised back, the head having protuberances resembling horns. The figure of a bear measured from forehead to rump fifty-six feet. Mr. Taylor also delineated a singular human-shaped mound, having two heads gracefully reclining toward the shoulders, and the whole figure so gracefully rounded that it led him to use the following language in speaking of this figure: "The perfection of this truly singular and interesting specimen of ancient earthworks is convincing evidence that the ancient inhabitants of this region were, at one time, not as ignorant of the arts as we have reason to believe the present race of Indians are."
West of the city of Madison, on the old path leading to Mineral Point, were two animal-shaped mounds, representing foxes with long tails. According to Mr. Taylor's measurement, they measured respect- tively 102 and 120 feet. Two trees, sixteen inches in diameter, were growing in the nose of one of these figures in 1842.
*According to Mr. Taylor, amidst this group, was the representation of a human figure, lying east and west, and the arms and legs extended. Its length was 125 feet, the body or trunk was thirty feet in breadth, and the head twenty-five feet, while the elevation along the general surface of the prairie was six feet. Its configuration was so distinct that no possibility of a mistake could arise, in assigning it to the human figure.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
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Marr & Richards Eng. Co. M.L.
ANIMAL MOUNDS AND ASTEC FORTIFICATION. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, 1, m, n, o, p, q Animal Mounds. Astec Fortification, r.
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At the time the Sauk Mills were built on Honey Creek, near Prairie du Chien, in 1851, a large Indian mound was hauled away for the pur- pose of making a dam. It was found composed of light-colored clay as far as the level of the ground. The clay then disappeared, which evi- denced the fact that the clay had been brought there and deposited.
In this mound the entire skeleton of a man, together with a number of well-formed spears, and arrow-heads of flint were found.
Some of the United States officials in their explorations of the regions around Lake Superior, in 1850, found traces of monuments con- structed in the form of mathematical figures; while on the right bank of the Ontonagon river, six miles above its mouth, is a mound forty feet high and nearly circular. On Section 16, Town No. 50, Range No. 39, near a small stream was found a pyramid ten feet in height, whose sides are fifteen feet in length. It was flat on top and sloped gradually to the base .* This structure is similar to the Toacalli of Mexico.
From northwestern Wisconsin, through the great Mississippi valley and beyond the state line,-upon the great waterways emptying into the great Father of Waters, together with the old historic waterways connecting the great lakes with the Mississippi,-in the grand old forestst as well as in the great prairies, the monuments of a mysterious race , long since gone, leave us only a record which excites our curiosity without contributing any satisfactory knowledge.
The remnants of ancient fortifications and earthworks, ¿ the old par- tially worked copper mines on Lake Superior, the tons of stone and cop- per implements, are conclusive evidence that Wisconsin, in the dim and unknown centuries, has been the great center for the pre-historic races.
*Foster and Whitney's report, Vol. I.
Hist. of Wis., Vol. 3, 262.
+Numerous pre-historic mounds are found in the great forests of Wisconsin.
¿Another line of mounds extends from Lake Winnebago in Taycheedah, Fond du Lac county, to the headwaters of the Sheboygan river, and thence down its course to Lake Michigan. The early voyagers claimed a portage from Lake Winnebago to the Sheboygan river. A similar line of mounds extended through or along the west branch of the Fond du Lac river to Lamartine, thence to the headwaters of the Rock river in the town of Waupun. This was also an available canoe route, two hundred years ago.
Hist. Fond du Lac County, 235.
ROMANCES OF A BRIGADE.
BY J. A. WATROUS.
Author of "Our Friend's Story," "Richard Epps," "The Johnny Girl and Her Prisoner," "Corporal Ben," and other War, or Semi-War Stories.
The editor suggested the title; in fact, decided that " Romances of a Brigade " was the title he wanted, and besides desiring to please the editor, I also thought it an appropriate one, and for a day, or until I had taken time to consider some-only a few-of the romances of a brigade of four or five regiments, each one of which left its initial camp with a thousand men, nearly all of whom were on the sunny side of thirty, and a majority, a large majority, of whom had not reached the quarter cen- tury mark, I was glad to accept it. After that I was alarmed. To record all of the romances of a brigade of five regiments of volunteers, whose combined strength at first was five thousand men who loved their country and its beautiful emblem well enough to leave wives, chil- dren, parents, sisters and sweethearts; to abandon their offices, stores, shops, ships, farms, factories and, as it were, take their lives in their hands by enlisting and swearing into the United States' service for three years, or during the war, when an armed and brave enemy stood ready to pour volleys of iron and lead into their ranks-to record the " Romances of a Brigade," such as this, would require years of time and hundreds of volumes. My only excuse for this explanation is found in the fact that I would not have any of the generation that has grown to womanhood and manhood since the stirring, sorrowful, heart-breaking times of the great war, in which, counting both armies, nearly five millions of American citizens participated to a greater or less extent, as soldiers, get the impression that in the twenty or more pages of this excellent publication that has been assigned to me to fill during the next four months, I have recorded all of the romances of a brigade. Be it understood, then, that what follows are " Romances of a Brigade," but not all in that line that the brigade yielded during the four years of its hard service.
ROMANCE No. 1.
In July, 1860, I was in a La Crosse lawyer's office when an awkward young fellow of seventeen or eighteen years strolled in, and after making a general survey of the premises and its occupants, asked the lawyer if there was "a chance for a fellow to learn law in that office." The face of that man of law was a study as he slowly looked at the young fellow,
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ROMANCES OF A BRIGADE.
looked at his sunburnt, freckled face, his heavy crop of red hair, coarse, home-made suit of clothes, ill-fitting and quite soiled, and his patched and newly tapped cowhide shoes.
" What do you know?" asked the lawyer.
" Not much, sir, but enough to make a lawyer," came the reply, quickly, as the young man folded his arms and looked straight, and I thought rather saucily, into the eyes of the lawyer-the leading legal light of the little city nestled on the east bank of the Mississippi.
" Where do you live ?"
"In Marmon Cooly, this county, sir; have lived there ever since I was seven years old ; my folks went there from Ohio. I want to quit working on a farm. I have made up my mind to climb, sir, climb."
"I guess, young man, I ought to let you begin by climbing out of this office, but the fact is I want a student. If you come into my office you will have plenty of hard work to do. I shall want you to sweep the rooms, keep things tidy, and do a great deal of copying. For some time you will have to do most of your studying after hours, nights and Sundays. Do you want to make a trial ?"
" That's what I came for. I'm not afraid of hard work-have been used to it all of my life ; would be lost without hard work."
" Your name ? "
" Simmons, George Simmons."
"Copy this, George," and the lawyer handed him a page or two of his own writing, as complex and uncouth as Horace Greeley's in his palmiest days. It was awful, but the young man went at it with an apparent relish.
A month later a business letter from the La Crosse lawyer closed with: "That red-headed rooster from Marmon Cooly is still with me. His courage and confidence are amazing. I shall give him an ample trial ; guess he'll make a lawyer."
Early in May, 1861, I read in a La Crosse paper a list of the mem- bers of a city company ready to start for Madison to become part of the Second Wisconsin Infantry. One of the privates was George Simmons. A month later I enlisted and the last week in July our regiment reached Washington and went into camp at Kalorama Heights, then a long dis- tance out of the city, but now a prosperous and pretty part of the nation's capital. The first battle of Bull Run had been fought. The Second Wisconsin had been in the thickest of the fight, lost heavily and won praise and laurels. Very soon after we had reached Kalorama a brigade was formed. In it were the Second, two other Wisconsin regi- ments, and a thousand Hoosiers, whose colonel was six feet four inches long, but as short of military knowledge as the greenest farmer boy in his regiment. I went over to the La Crosse company to renew my acquaintance with George Simmons. He was not there. He had been slightly wounded and blood poisoning had set in. The orderly sergeant
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of the company said, "Poor Simmons is in one of the Washington hospitals, hovering between life and death." That night I could not get the law student out of my mind. The next morning I got permission to visit that particular hospital. "You can't see him," said the cour- teous young surgeon. " He is dangerously ill; was crazy as a loon all night He can't live." I recalled the La Crosse lawyer's reference to the Marmon Cooly boy in his letter and made myself believe that he should know the present condition of his student, and dispatched him : " Simmons dangerously ill; not expected to live." The next day C. C. Washburn, who had been a Wisconsin congressman for several years, rode to our camp and hunted up the soldier who had sent lawyer Levisee of La Crosse, a dispatch, relative to George Simmons. Upon respond- ing, Mr. Washburn showed me this dispatch from John W. Levisee, La Crosse :
" Meet Simmons' mother at station Wednesday morning and escort her to sick son. See Blank of Co. - , - th regiment."
It was Monday night and I had just had a day's furlough. It was not easy to get out of camp. Taking the dispatch I showed it to the captain of my company and asked permission to again visit Washington, this time to see that the Wisconsin mother lost no time in reaching her dying son, upon the arrival of the train. I could go. When the train pulled into the old Baltimore depot and the passengers began to pour out I stepped up to a woman I thought might be Mrs. Simmons.
"Are you from La Crosse ? "
"Ask my husband, sir," pointing to a tall, slim, dark man.
"What is it, my man ?" asked the tall gentleman.
"I am looking for the mother of a dying soldier, that I may conduct her to the hospital; I meant no offense to your wife, sir."
" Of course you didn't ; mother, you get into the carriage and John will drive you home. I will help this man to find the poor boy's mother," said the homely tall man.
We easily found Mrs. Simmons. The tall gentleman called a car- riage and we three were hurried to the hospital.
" What is the sick soldier's name ?" asked the tall man. "George Simmons."
"You can't go in here," growled a guard, as we started for the ward where Simmons was.
"O, I guess we can; call the surgeon," said our stranger guide. " That is my name; please take us to private Simmons," and he showed the surgeon his card. There was no further delay.
Mrs. Simmons dropped upon her knees by the side of her pale, emaci- ated boy, put her arm under his head and kissed the thin lips. Slowly the eyes opened and were fixed upon the dear one. There was a smile of recognition. The thin, weak arms tried to twine about the neck of the mother, but fell limp on the army blanket. It was only a whisper, but
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we all heard it: "Oh, my angel niother, I knew you would come if you only knew. Now-I-will -get-well-and-go-back-to the- company."
Then the tall man stooped down, took one of the limp hands and said: "Now that your mother is here to nurse you, it will not be long before you will be able to go back to your Wisconsin home. If you get entirely well you can come back; if not, you can have a discharge."
Who was the man that seemed so interested in poor Simmons and his mother ? "Please ask him his name," said the lady in a side. whisper to me.
" May I ask who you are, sir ?"
" I belong to the army, my man." Then he wrote and handed me the following :
WASHINGTON, August 16, 1861.
Private Blank has permission to remain in hospital and help to take care of Private George Simmons until next Sunday. Word will be sent to Blank's captain explaining his absence.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
I shall let the reader imagine the surprise of that dear Wisconsin mother when she saw me suddenly rise, give a soldier's salute and say: "Mr. Lincoln, may I shake your hand?" His hand was extended and I shook hands with the commander-in-chief of all the land and water forces of the United States, the modest man who but a moment before had told me that he " belonged to the army." For nearly four years the vast army belonged to and loved him-loved him as but few men have ever been loved by men.
Early in October Simmons had so far recovered that he could accompany his mother back to their Marmon Cooly home. The lawyer met them at the station and sent them out to the humble farm home in his own carriage, and the following week rode out to visit his law student, taking along a number of law books for the young man to study while a patient.
"Your son will make a successful lawyer, madam. He can return to my office at any time. From what he tells me, however, I shall not look for him until the war ends, or he comes home minus an arm or a leg. He is very plucky and patriotic. His story of President Lincoln's visits to the hospital during his sickness was thrillingly interesting. I guess those stories we heard about Lincoln being one of the people- the stories so rife last year in the campaign which ended in his election- were true. I did not believe them then. I do, now, and I also believe that he is the right man to lead the nation in what it seems to me must prove the darkest, saddest journey of its life."
Lawyer Levisee had not been known for the unselfish interest he took in other peoples' and the country's affairs, but from the time he
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heard of the good conduct of his law student in battle, and the gentle treatment accorded him by the president, he was foremost in his city in all efforts to sustain the government. The reader will hear more about Lawyer Levisee.
I received a number of letters from Simmons while he was in Wis- consin. In each he spoke of his intention to return to his company as soon as it would be prudent for him to do so. Early in December he fixed the day upon which he would reach Washington, and wanted me to meet him at the station. I did so. "Congress is in session; let us go and see what they do and how they do it," said he. Half an hour was spent looking at the grave senators, when Simmons said, " Let's go over to the other House; this is too solemn and poky for me." We watched the representatives as long as they were in session, and he was greatly interested.
On the way to Arlington Heights, back of which our camp for the winter of 1861-2 was located, Simmons talked about the men we had seen in congress, what they did, and drew, what many a boy before him had drawn and others will draw, a highly seasoned picture of a congress- man in that great capitol, going so far as to picture the glowing accounts the press gives of the doings of the great men, and dilating upon the welcome their constituents would extend to the especially competent, successful and brilliant congressman. "After the war I think I will complete my law course, practice for a few years, and then go to con- gress. Come and look down at me, as we looked down upon the great men to-day, will you not?" My only answer was a sharp, troubled look at the poor boy-a look and a search for evidence that the blood poisoning that made him crazy a few months before, had wholly disap- peared. There was superior material in the young man, and I thought very much of him, but the idea of that little fellow, not pretty of feature, with his thick clusters of sorrel freckles, and his big shock of red hair, getting into congress, was actually appalling. It was nonsense, and without saying a word I told him so, and he knew I told him so, for he was quick to analyze a look. The young man managed to go to Wash- ington several times that winter and spent most of the time, while in the city, looking at the house of representatives, but he never invited me to go with him, though we remained the same good friends.
"Governor Salomon, good morning." "Good morning, Brother Levisee; what brings you away from La Crosse ? I'm glad to see you. I have heard of your good works for Wisconsin troops and our cause, and now, before I forget it, I thank you for what you have done and bespeak more of the same kind."
It was in June, 1862, that the above conversation took place in the executive office at Madison.
" Governor, I have come to ask a favor. You are a republican and I am a democrat; I didn't vote for you and Mr. Harvey, but you are
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my governor and I want to use you. The greenest farmer boy you ever saw entered my law office a year before the war. I soon discovered that there was a good deal to him. Through the campaign of that year he went to all of the Lincoln meetings, marched in all of the Wide Awake processions, and cheered for Old Abe on the slightest provoca- tion, all of which was very offensive to me, but as he never neglected a duty about the office, and made better progress in his studies than any other student I ever had, I overlooked it without a complaint. I might have entered a protest if he had been old enough to vote, but he was only 18 years of age. When Lincoln -- am I taking too much of your time, governor ?"
"No, sir; go on; I'm much interested," said the handsome Salomon.
"When Lincoln called for volunteers, or the morning the news reached La Crosse, my student, to whom I had become very much attached, said to me the moment I entered the office: 'I must go, Mr. Levisee.' 'Go where ?' 'Home, sir, and get my mother's consent to enlist.' 'Nonsense; you are not fit for a soldier; you stick to your studies; you will make a good lawyer in time.' 'I must go, sir. Last year I wanted Lincoln for president ; this year he wants young men like me for soldiers. I'm going, Mr. Levisee; sorry to leave you, but I must go.' The next morning he was back in town, and that day he enlisted. He was wounded at Bull Run July 21, and came near losing his life because the wound was not attended to in time. He could have had his discharge, but refused to leave the service, and he's still there, though not well and strong, and I fear never will be. You have thanked me for what you are pleased to call patriotic efforts for our troops and the country. You had no occasion to thank me, sir. The patriotic, brave, self-sacrificing conduct of that green country boy, my law student, a soldier in King's division, is responsible for any good work I may have done. His example woke me up. Now that I have laid the foundation, here's the favor I want : My law student ought to have a commission. Will you make him adjutant of the -th regiment, about to be raised ?"
"Orderly, ask Adjutant General Gaylord to step here," said the governor.
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