USA > Wisconsin > Fond du Lac County > Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, past and present, Volume I > Part 25
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"Broad in his knowledge of general literature as in that of the law, and rich in abundant accumulations, carefully stored in a faithful memory, but kept ready for instant use as occasion requires, he is as delightful in conversation and com- panionship as he is dexterous, able and accomplished at the bar. His reputation is national. Wisconsin takes just pride in his career as lawyer, legislator, soldier and civilian. His name is associated with deeds of valor. His fellows say of him, he could not be Bragg if he were not brave. Yet his tenderness of heart was most touchingly illustrated when, during a visit at one of the charitable in- stitutions of the state, a lady asked him to tell a war story to an audience of ' orphan children, and he replied : 'I can face a cannon, but truly, have not the courage and cannot trust myself to speak to these orphan children.'"
General Bragg's military career has been sketched by colonel Rufus R. Dawes, brevet brigadier general, of Marietta, Ohio, who was next in rank to him in the same command during their four years of service :
"Immediately after the firing upon Fort Sumter Edward S. Bragg began the enlistment of a military company at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. His commis- sion as captain bears the date of May 5, 1861, and his company was assigned to the Sixth Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. The company was des-
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ignated in the line of battle as Company E. The regiment joined the army of the Potomac in July, 1861. Captain Bragg was promoted to fill the first vacancy among the field officers of the regiment and his commission as major is dated September 17, 1861. He was again promoted to be lieutenant colonel on June 21, 1862. Up to this time the regiment had not been engaged in battle. This year of preparation in camp and on the march had brought the command to a high standard of efficiency, and the men fretted with an impatient zeal for the experience of an actual battle service. General Irwin McDowell, himself an accomplished, exacting soldier, then commanding the army corps, said of the Wisconsin troops: 'Many times I have shown them to foreign officers of distinction as specimens of American volunteer soldiers, and asked them if they had ever anywhere seen, even among the picked soldiers of the royal and imperial guards, a more splendid body of men? and I have never heard an affirmative answer.'
"The first actual contact with the enemy is known as the Fredericks Hall Raid, an expedition sent out to cut the Virginia Central railroad and obstruct the passage of ammunition and supplies to General Lee's army, then advancing against General Pope. Colonel Bragg was second in command, and the leading spirit in the accomplishment of a complete success of this expedition.
"From August 20th to 27th, 1862, the regiment was engaged in skirmishing and supporting artillery. Colonel Bragg was at his post and received his bap- tism of fire, but on the evening of August 28th began our real experience in battle in the bloody engagement known as the battle of Gainesville.
Here our brigade lost one thousand men killed and wounded. In the midst of action our colonel, Lysander Cutler, was shot and severely wounded, and Lieutenant Colonel Bragg succeeded to the command of the regiment and gal- lantly led it throughout the struggle. Immediately afterward occurred the battle of Bull Run the Second. During the two days of engagement with the enemy Colonel Bragg commanded the regiment. After this weary and depressing week of hardship and defeat, while we rested for a day in camp, Colonel Bragg was invited by his fellow citizens to come home and run for congress on the union ticket. His answer was, 'I will run for congress on the union ticket, but I can- not leave my regiment in times like these.'
"The next engagement with the enemy was in the battle of South Mountain, September 14, 1862. In the ascent of the steep and snowy slope Colonel Bragg commanded and led the regiment. His ability as a leader of men in battle was nowhere better illustrated than upon this field. The action was under the eye of the commander of our army, George B. McClellan, and in describing the con- duct of the Wisconsin regiments he used this language : 'I have seen them under fire acting in a manner that reflects the highest possible credit and honor upon themselves and their state. They are equal to the best troops in any army in the world.' On the 17th of September, while leading his men in an early morn- ing attack by General Hooker's corps in the battle of Antietam, Colonel Bragg was shot and severely wounded. He mastered his weakness and charged to the front of the right wing of the regiment to save the men from the destructive fire of the enemy. This accomplished, he fell unconscious upon the ground. He was speedily taken up and carried in a shelter tent taken from the shoulders of one of the soldiers to a place of safety. We feared that his wound had dis-
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abled him, but later in the day the men of the regiment were astonished to see their commander, whose wound had been attended to, coming out to again take his place in the line of battle.
"At Fredericksburg. Colonel Bragg commanded the regiment. On March 24, 1863, he was promoted to be colonel of the regiment. On April 29th, pre- liminary to the campaign of Chancellorsville, the Sixth Wisconsin and Twenty- fourth Michigan were selected to cross the Rappahannock river in pontoon boats in face of the fire of the enemy, and established a lodging on the southern shore. There were not boats enough launched to carry the men of the two regiments. With his accustomed quickness of apprehension, Colonel Bragg ordered his regi- ment to move on the run by the right of companies to the front, and directed each company to seize a boat. The Twenty-fourth Michigan moved by the flank in a column of four ranks, but the Sixth, having a shorter distance and being in better form, filled nearly all the boats, and under the leadership of their gallant little colonel, clambered up the banks on the southern shore and captured the rifle pits of the enemy, taking ninety prisoners. Throughout the trying campaign of Chancellorsville Colonel Bragg commanded his regiment. The hardships of that defeat, enhanced by cold and storm, were trying upon the morale of the officers and men. The cheerful spirit and courageous endurance of Colonel Bragg were most conspicuous and went far to keep up the nerve and courage of his men. Soon after this campaign he was severely injured by a kick from a horse and was obliged to go to the hospital for treatment.
"The next campaign in which he was engaged was Mine Run. It was an undertaking of hardship rather than of bloodshed. The weather was intensely cold. The regiment was engaged in a short skirmish with the enemys cavalry, which had raided upon our ammunition train, and this was our most active service ; but Colonel Bragg showed the moral courage here which distinguished his service as much as his conduct upon the field of battle. In the council of war to decide whether the enemy's entrenchments should be attacked Colonel Bragg voted 'no.' After a careful personal examination he was satisfied that we could not succeed.
"On May 5th and 6th, 1864, was fought the great battle of the Wilderness. Through the bloody struggle in the tangled chapperal of that remarkable field, Colonel Bragg bravely and skillfully led his men. On the morning of May 5th he was placed in command of a brigade of Pennsylvania troops, known as the Junior Bucktails. This was a gallant body of soldiers who had achieved distinc- tion by heroic service in the battle of Gettysburg. That a Wisconsin colonel should have been selected to command a Pennsylvania brigade and welcomed to the service by them, is sufficient evidence of the standing Colonel Bragg had gained as a brave and exceptionally capable leader of men in battle. He commanded this brigade in the battles of Spottsylvania, Laurel Hill, Jericho Ford, The North Anna, Tolopotamy and Cold Harbor. On the 5th of June the brigade was removed from our division and Colonel Bragg returned to the command of his regiment, but on the 8th of June he was assigned to the command of the Iron Brigade, which he led in the assault on Petersburg, June 18, and he commanded it during the long and weary siege which followed.
"In June, 1864, his nomination as brigadier general, made by President Abraham Lincoln, was confirmed by the senate. On July 30th he commanded
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the Iron Brigade during the engagement known as the Mine Explosion, and he was also its commander in the bloody battle known as the Weldon Road, which took place on August 19th. General Bragg, when in battle, always maintained a perfect self-possession. He was quick to see, prompt to act and his manner and bearing was always an inspiration to his men. As a commander in camp he was exceedingly solicitous for the comfort of his men. He knew every man in his regiment by name and he possessed their personal friendship as well as their confidence and admiration. He endeavored always to stimulate the esprit de corps and to arouse the pride of his men in the achievements of the regiment in battle.
"It was always for the glory of the Old Sixth as much as for the justice of the cause that he appealed to them in battle. For the rights and for justice to those who were under his command he stood against the world, the flesh, the devil, and the war department. When another regiment took possession of our winter quarters after a terrible march, he was about to drive them out at the point of the bayonet. Seeing our forlorn condition, they generously offered to go, when he invited them to share the cabins with us. When the war depart- ment issued an order that practically coerced the officers of the veteran regi- ment to a service they had never volunteered, General Bragg made up their case so clearly and strongly that the war department recognized the justice of his position and modified their order.
"This beautiful letter may illustrate his manner of expression and his spirit as a soldier :
" 'HEADQUARTERS SIXTH REGIMENT WISCONSIN VOLUNTEERS. "'Near Belle Plaine, Virginia, April 4, 1863. "'His Excellency the Governor of Wisconsin :
"'SIR-On behalf of the regiment I have the honor to command, I return to the state of Wisconsin the regimental color presented this regiment in the sum- mer of 1861.
" 'We part with it reluctantly, but its condition renders it unserviceable for the field service. When we received it, its folds, like our ranks, were ample and full; still emblematical of our condition, we return it, tattered and torn in the shock of battle. Many who have defended it "sleep the sleep that knows no waking ;" they have met a soldier's death ; may they live in the country's memory.
" 'The regiment, boasting not of deeds done, or to be done, sends this voice- less witness to be deposited in the archives of our state.
" 'History will tell how Wisconsin honor has been vindicated by her soldiery, and what lessons in northern courage they have given southern chivalry.
" 'If the past gives any earnest of the future, the "Iron Brigade" will not be forgotten when Wisconsin makes up her jewels.
" 'I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, " 'EDWARD S. BRAGG,
" 'Colonel commanding Sixth Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers.'
"In giving this inadequate summary of the wonderful battle experiences of General Bragg I have not used figures which, after all, best disclose the character of battle service. According to Colonel Fox the brigade in which his service Vol. I-14
-
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was rendered had the greatest number of men actually killed in battle of any brigade in the army of the Union, and of the two thousand regiments which lost men in actual battle, the Sixth Wisconsin Regiment is number ten upon the list.
"General Bragg was advanced to the command of his division and became an acting major general. He had entered the service as a captain, hampered by an entire lack of military experience, and had literally fought his way to this high position. The brevet of a major general was at his command, but he never asked for it. His soldierly qualities, trained in so many battles, had shown him to be of the highest type as a commander of men; but, his duty performed, like a true American volunteer, he returned to achieve his career in civil life."
President Cleveland, during his first term, appointed General Bragg minister to Mexico, and President Roosevelt appointed as minister to Cuba and consul general to China. He also served several terms in Congress. Early in the spring of 1912, President Taft called upon him while visiting Fond du Lac and in a few weeks thereafter the commander of the Iron Brigade passed to his reward.
DAVID BABCOCK
David Babcock was born in Utica, New York, in 1835. He received a com- mon-school education, served in the Civil war as a private in Company I, First Regiment Wisconsin Infantry, returned to Fond du Lac, read law in the office of J. M. Gillet, and was admitted to the bar in 1864. For ten years he was asso- ciated in practice with George P. Knowles. He served as clerk of the circuit court two terms. Mr. Babcock married Sarah L. Strong in 1864, and his only daughter became the wife of Dr. Wiley.
SAMUEL WOTTON BEALL
Samuel Wotton Beall was born in Maryland in 1807, was educated at Union College, Schenectady, New York, and studied law at Litchfield, Connecticut. He was admitted to the bar in 1829. He came to Wisconsin in 1840 the second time, locating at Green Bay, his former choice as a place of residence, having been assigned there as receiver for the sale of public lands. In 1846 he was a delegate to the first constitutional convention of Michigan and a short time there- after became a resident of Taycheedah, this county. He was lieutenant governor of the state in 1850 and 1851 and removed to Denver, Colorado, in 1859, return- ing to Wisconsin, however, in 1861. He served honorably as lieutenant colonel of the Eighteenth Wisconsin in the Civil war and was severely wounded at the battle of Shiloh. He subsequently located at Helena, Montana, where he met an untimely death by being shot in an altercation with George M. Pinney.
ELIHU COLMAN
Elihu Colman was a native of Brown county, Wisconsin. His father, Rev. H. R. Colman, a clergyman, located at Fond du Lac in 1847. Elihu Colman attended the public schools and Lawrence University, at Appleton, graduating from the latter institution in June, 1865, after which he took up the study of law in the
JUDGE N. C. GIFFIN
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office of Blair & Colman in Fond du Lac, and was admitted to the bar in 1866. At various times he was a member of the following firms: Houser & Colman, Colman, Carter & Kent, Colman & Kent, Colman & Sutherland, and Colman & Parkinson. In 1890 he was appointed United States district attorney for the east- ern district of Wisconsin. Later he devoted his time principally to corporation law. He was a veteran of the Civil war. In 1867 he was appointed register in bankruptcy, and in 1872 took his seat in the Wisconsin general assembly.
CHARLES A. ELDRIDGE
Charles A. Eldridge was a native of Vermont, born in 1821. He secured his preliminary education in New York, where the family had moved, and was ad- mitted to the bar. He came to Wisconsin in 1848, settling in Fond du Lac. He was state senator in 1854 and represented his district in congress in 1863 and before retiring therefrom had served twelve years. He became prominent as a politician and as a member of congress secured a wide reputation. During a con- siderable part of his congressional career he was a member of the judiciary com- mittee. He died at Fond du Lac, October 26, 1896.
NATHAN C. GIFFIN
Nathan C. Giffin became one of the prominent lawyers not only of Fond du Lac, but of this section of the state. He was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, October 10, 1833. He entered Wesleyan Seminary at Gouveneur, New York, at the age of fifteen, where he prepared for Union College, at Schenectady, from which institution he was graduated in 1859. Soon thereafter he entered the law office of Isaiah T. Williams, a leader of the New York city bar, and in 1860 was admitted to the practice. In the fall of 1863 Mr. Giffin moved to Fond du Lac and for a half century practiced a profession which he honored in all his dealings. For a few years he was associated with O. T. Williams, after which the legal firm of Giffin & Sutherland was organized and continued for a num- ber of years and became very prominent in practice. Mr. Giffin served as city attorney from 1865 to 1870; he was alderman from his ward for some time, and president of the city council. He served on the village board and held the position of county judge for a term of four and a half years. His sympathies were always with the things that tended toward the advancement of the com- munity, and for many years he was connected with the public library, of which he was president for three years. He was also a trustee of Lawrence Univer- sity, at Appleton, for nine years and was a trustee of Rienzi cemetery. He was one of the best known Masons of the state and was for many years grand lecturer of the grand lodge. Many complimentary things might be said of Judge Giffin. He died in 1911, regretted by all who knew him.
MAURICE MCKENNA
Maurice McKenna, who is now and has been for ten years president of the Fond du Lac County Bar Association of Wisconsin, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, May 31, 1846. He was the son of Maurice and Mary .(Mullane)
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McKenna, both of whom were natives of County Kerry, Ireland, and came to the United States in the spring of 1832, settling first in Boston. Later they removed to Springfield, Massachusetts, and afterwards to Niagara county, New York, locating near the city of Lockport, where the father was engaged in farming. In 1854 they came from Buffalo by way of the Great Lakes to Wisconsin, where they settled on a farm in the township of Eldorado, Fond du Lac county, arriv- ing there October 10th of that year. The land at that time was all in timber, and, clearing away a small tract, they erected from the trees that were cut down, a small cabin. On this farm they reared their family and spent the remainder of their lives, the father dying in 1866, at the age of fifty-seven, and the mother in 1886, at the age of seventy-three. They were the parents of six children : Mary, who became the wife of James McGowan, and is now deceased; Maurice, the supervising editor of this volume; Daniel, an attorney at Charles City, Iowa ; Honora, who died in 1865, at the age of seventeen; Dennis W., an attorney, residing at Aurora, Illinois; and Thomas, who was graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan, and died soon after his graduation.
Maurice McKenna grew to manhood on his father's farm and attended school in an old fashioned log schoolhouse, later becoming a student in the high school at Fond du Lac. On May 21, 1864, when he was eighteen years of age, he enlisted in the Civil war, joining Company I, Thirty-ninth Wisconsin Infantry, and served as a private until his term expired, which was in 1865, just before the close of the war. He then reenlisted and was dressed in uniform, ready to go back to the field, when the news came that peace had been declared. After the close of the war, he taught school for several years, having earned the money that paid his way through school by working on a farm. Subsequently he took up the study of law with the firm of Colman & Blair, and in June, 1876, was admitted to the bar and has practiced in Fond du Lac county continuously since that date, with the exception of one year spent in Iowa. His work has extended to many important cases in the supreme court of the state, in which court he was admitted to practice in 1886, as well as in the other courts of other states. Mr. McKenna was connected with the Fond du Lac Company for twenty-five years and was its secretary, treasurer and manager for over fifteen years. When the city of Fond du Lac took over the property of the Fond du Lac Water- works, it elected a commission of three citizens outside of the public officials. of whom Mr. McKenna was one, and he is still serving on that commission. He is a stockholder in the Fond du Lac National Bank and also in the Commercial National Bank.
On the 19th of August, 1874, Mr. McKenna married Miss Nellie Fagan, a daughter of John and Mary (Cody) Fagan. To Mr. and Mrs. McKenna have been born two daughters: Minnie V., the wife of Dr. T. A. Hardgrove, and Nora E., the wife of Dr. F. M. McGauley, of Fond du Lac. Mr. McKenna and his family are members of St. Joseph's Catholic church. In politics he is a republican and he was a member of the Fond du Lac county board of supervisors for about twenty years and chairman of the board for about twelve years, receiv- ing the votes of the board regardless of politics. He was clerk of the courts from the first Monday in January, 1871, to the first Monday in January, 1877. The prominence Mr. McKenna has won in the legal profession is indicated by the position to which he has been elected on the county and state bar associations.
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His readiness to respond to the call for service in the Civil war is typical of the interest he has always taken in the public welfare. He has given much attention to school work and has been a member of the board of education of Fond du Lac for two years. He is the author of a volume entitled "Elva Lee and Other Poems ;" and a second volume, which was published in 1890, entitled, "Poems, Rhymes and Verses." His productions were given a place in "Poets of America" and have appeared in other standard works. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Columbus, with the Catholic Knights of Wisconsin, and with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, being one of the directors that erected the Elks building in Fond du Lac. He is also a member of E. A. Brown Post, No. 130, G. A. R., Department of Wisconsin. He is a member of the Academy of Science, Arts and Letters of the State of Wisconsin and also of the State Historical Society.
EDSON C. PRESCOTT
Edson C. Prescott was born in Fond du Lac county in the year 1852. He was educated in the public schools and the University of Wisconsin, and in 1879 was admitted to the bar. He then entered the practice in connection with Alexander Craven, at Sheboygan.
AUGUST E. RICHTER
August E. Richter, who has been county judge for the past quarter of a cen- tury, is a native of Saxony, Germany. He came to Fond du Lac with his par- ents in i865, where he received a liberal education and then entered the drug business. On the expiration of ten years he received the republican nomination for clerk of the circuit court and notwithstanding the county was democratic he was elected by a liberal majority. While looking after the duties of his office he became a student of law and in January, 1885, was admitted to the bar. In 1889 the republicans elected him county judge and in the duties of the office he ยท has continued satisfactorily and well to the present time.
NATHAN P. TALLMADGE
The greater portion of the career of Nathan P. Tallmadge was lived before he became a resident of Wisconsin. He was born at Chatham, Columbia county, New York, February 8, 1795. He was graduated from Union College and ad- mitted to the bar in 1818. He was elected to the legislature of New York in 1828; served in the state senate from 1830 to 1833; in the United States senate for two terms; appointed governor of Wisconsin Territory, June 21, 1844, by President Tyler ; served in that capacity from November 16, 1844, to May 13, 1845. Upon retiring from office he became a resident of Fond du Lac and entered upon the practice of his profession. He died at Battle Creek, Michigan, November 2, [864.
*
The bar of Fond du Lac early became recognized for the ability and legal attainments of its members. Charles A. Eldridge, E. S. Bragg, J. M. Gillet, Wil-
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liam H. Ebbetts, E. L. Browne, John C. Truesdell and William Dodge were known near and far as lawyers of great ability and in their time many causes were tried by them of an exciting character and vast importance.
The two lawyers who first became identified with the bar, were John A. East- man, son-in-law of Dr. M. C. Darling, and S. S. N. Fuller. They lived at Fond du Lac. Soon after their arrival John Horner located at Ripon and hung out his shingle there. Eli Hooker located at Waupun and was the pioneer lawyer of that place. A. T. Glaze, in his history of Fond du Lac county written in 1905, gives the following list of attorneys practicing at this bar in 1850 and living in Fond du Lac: Edward S. Bragg, E. H. Bissell, Samuel W. Beall, Edward L. Brown, Edwain A. Brown, Jerod Chapel, James Coleman, Alexander B. Davis, William C. Dodge, Erastus W. Drury, John A. Eastman, Myron C. Eaton, Wil- liam H. Ebbetts, Charles A. Eldredge, Judge Robert Flint, S. S. N. Fuller, J. M. Gillet, Carson Graham, E. Hodges, Albert W. Paine, Amos Reed, Judge A. W. Stow, S. D. Stanchfield, John J. Swett, I. S. Tallmadge, Judge C. M. Tomp- kins, John C. Truesdell, O. B. Tyler, Judge F. H. Waite, Judge David E. Wood.
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