USA > Wisconsin > Richland County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 76
USA > Wisconsin > Crawford County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 76
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February 3 .- The Ladies' Club, gotten np for the purpose of relieving soldiers' families and for social amusement, has been quite suc- cessful this season. They have relieved a num- ber and have funds in readiness to assist others. This is a noble object. People need amnse- ments and recreation; and if they can turn these to good account, the objeet is doubly blessed. Any person knowing of soldiers'
families who need assistance, will do well to inform us or the ladies, that assistance may be extended to them. We must and should care for, and keep from want or publie charity, the fami- lies of the defenders of our country. Read the following:
"PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Feb. 1, 1865.
"EDITOR UNION: Wishing to correct an erroneous report existing, with regard to the funds of the Ladies' Club, allow us to state that the club was organized for the express pur- pose of relieving veterans' and soldiers' fami- lies. We have already relieved several, and will be greatly obliged by your transmitting us the names of any of these worthy of relief.
"Respectfully, "EMMA HOUSTON, Treasurer.
"EMILY LAWRENCE, Secretary."
March 17 .- The men of Capt. Bottom's com- pany who came on the Wednesday morning's train were ordered to report to-day to receive their government bounty. The men seem in fine spirits. We wish them a year of health and the "olive wand" of peace as their trophy to bring back to us when they again resolve themselves into the various channels of busi- ness from which they have come forth to swell the number of heroes.
John Davidson, of this [Crawford] county, who went out a private in company C, 6th Wisconsin volunteers, in 1861, has been pro- moted to the Ist lieutenaney of company D, 6th Wisconsin regiment.
We are happy to learn that two very worthy veteran members of the "old 6th"-Christian Ammon and Gottlief Schweizer-have been promoted to the 2d lieutenaney; the former in company F, of the 48th regiment, the latter in the 45th regiment. These boys have richly earned their shoulder straps.
March 31 .- The Swift Hospital is recuperat- ing all of its patients, a death being of so rare occurrence, that one of the surgeons thinks of hiring some one to die!
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IIISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
Through the liberality of Col. Il. L. Dous- man the Swift Hospital has been donated the use of about thirty acres of excellent land for gardening purposes. Aid societies will confer a great favor upon the soldiers by collecting seeds and forwarding in season for planting. What is mostly needed is garden beans, peas and sweet corn. They may be directed to Swift Hospital, care of II. Beach.
April 7 .- Lients. Ammon and Smith gave us a call while here on a short visit before joining their regiment, the 48th, which is now in Paoli, Kan. We hope when they call again the reign of peace will be over all the land. May they come soon.
April 14 .- When the glad news came tremb- ling off the wires that Richmond was taken, it so electrified and enlivened the Nation that their joy seemed to know no bounds. Before these glad tidings subsided another signal rocket of success shot forth the surrender of Lee and his 25,000 remaining men. Our exult- ation now is unbounded and our cause is so just that it would be a sacrilege to be other- wise than exultant.
April 14 .- Gen. Grant through the heroic deeds of his officers and men, has caused Gen. Lee and his army to surrender. They were obliged to come to the terms offered by Grant. The sig- nal lights of our success have so lit the moral and social heavens, that the horizon of the old world has been tinged with the glow, and they will soon have caught the inspiring theme. Victory to the Union forces!
They will have forgotten their dastardly con- duct, their favoring eye to the would-be Con- federacy, and extend a warm greeting to the powers that be. We will, when our home diffi- culties are adjusted, with all Quaker humility, call upon Maximilian and suggest that he had better get him hence, or harm may come unto him. No distant future will settle the emperor question on this continent.
April 24 .- Assassination of President Lin- coln .- On Saturday last, the whole community were horror-stricken by a dispatch that on Fri- day evening, President Lincoln was assassina- ted, and that an attempt was made to assassin- ate Secretary Seward. All stood aghast! The ordinary pursuits of life as if by one accord, were suspended; desire failed; the merchant was no longer anxious for gain; the mechanic dropped his implements of skill; the house- wife ceased to ply her task; each looked upon the other with horror and astonishment; stal- wart men turned pale, faint, sick at heart, and reeled like drunken men; others with com- pressed lips, clinched teeth, and livid counte- nances, seemed nerved for desperate deeds; and even little children, with earnest, anxious looks, enquired what had happened. None could scarcely realize the terrible calamity that had bereft a nation of its executive head; that the bullet of the fiendish assassin had slain him, around whom, and in whom the hopes and affections of the Nation centered.
April 24 .- Funeral solemnities, Wednesday, April 19th .- At the meeting of citizens held at Union Hall, Tuesday evening, of which Horace Beach Esq., was president, and S. N. Lester was secretary, measures were adopted for the observance of the funeral obsequies of the late President Lincoln. A committee of arrange- ments, consisting of John Lawler, Capt. Cutler, John Thomas, A. Baldwin, T. L. Brower, and B. W. Brisbois, were appointed by the meeting, and reported the following officers for the occasion: President, H. L. Dousman; vice- presidents, B. W. Brisbois, T. A. Savage, II. Baldwin, J. N. Congor, J. Plummer; marshalls, Col. Thomas, Capt. Cutler. Pall bearers, John Lawler, Dr. Kelly, E. W. Pelton, J. Farnechon, T L. Brower, H. Beach, C. M. Seely, B. Dunne. Chaplains, Rev. II. W. Carpenter, Rev. J Gier- low, Rev. L. Gaulthier, Rev. F. W. Delap.
A committee consisting of William Dutcher, IIon. Ira Brunson, Dr. Huntington, R. Scott
530
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
and J. S. Lockwood, were appointed to draft resolutions.
RESOLUTIONS:
"WHEREAS, In the midst of our rejoicing, on the events of our victories with which Heaven has helped the efforts of our brave and patriotic army, and while the President of the United States was in the full discharge of his duty in the bosom of the Nation, he has been stricken down by the hand of a cowardly assassin,
"Resolved, That, in the death of Abraham Lincoln, a great and good man has untimely fallen, and the Nation plunged into the deepest gloom and sorrow,
"Resolved, That, while we mourn the loss of our noble and beloved President, we bow with humble submission to the dispensation of an All-Wise Providence, and are consoled by the conviction that, in his wise and judicious ad- ministration of our government, and in his firm and unswerving fidelity to its principles, he has won the respect and confidence of the Nation; and the Old World acknowledge him as their peer, and gaze with wonder on the glorious achievements of our brave and heroic army un- der him in the gigantic work of crushing out this treason and rebellion.
"Resolved, That our heart-felt sympathies are hereby tendered to the bereaved family of President Lincoln, and we commend them to the care of Him, who tempers the winds to the shorn lamb, for their future hope and consola- tion,
"Resolved, That, confiding to the fullest ex- tent in the ability, patriotism and integrity of Andrew Johnson, upon whom the Presidential office now devolves, we, with all the loyal men of the country, will rally around him, and give his administration of the government, the same cordial and generous support which was accor- ded to that of his lamented predecessor."
Gen. Thomas Curley, was a resident of Mis- sonri when the conflict commenced, and bore a gallant part in the Nation's struggle for supre- macy, and is now a resident of Prairie du Chien.
He was born in Tremane Co., Rascomman, Ire- land, May 8, 1825; received a common school education, and is a farmer by occupation. Hle emigrated to the United States in 1851, settling in St. Louis, Mo. In 1867 he removed to Mt. Sterling, Crawford Co., Wis., thence to Haney town, and after the loss of his residence by fire in 1883, to Prairie du Chien. In 1860 he en- tered the military service as Ist lieutenant in the Southwest Battallion of Missouri. He had previously been an active member of several militia companies, and had served six months on the frontier of Missouri. In June, 1861, he enlisted in the volunteer service of the United States, and was commissioned major of the 7th Missouri Infantry. He was promoted in May, 1862, to lieutenant-colonel, and in July was called home to recruit, raising in a short time the 27th Missouri Infantry, of which he was made colonel, and at which time he was pre- sented, by his friends, with a $1,000 sword. Gen. Curley participated in the seige and cap- ture of Vicksburg, the capture of Jackson, the campaign of the 15th army corps from Vieks- burg to Chattanooga, in the battles of Lookout Mountain, where he fought with Gen, Joe Hooker above the clouds, Mission Ridge, with Sherman in his march to the sea, Resaca, Dallas, Kennesaw Mountain, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Sta- tion, the capture of Savannah, Fort McAllister, the well known campaign before Atlanta, which lasted four months, with its great strategie movements and brilliant achievements, and in the campaign through South Carolina, capturing Charleston and Columbia. At the latter place he was instrumental in saving a Catholic church from the fire. Ile was also in the battle of Bentonville, capture of Raleigh and in many minor campaigns. He was commissioned brig- adier-general, March 17, 1865, for meritorious services during the war. On his arrival home, in St. Louis, with his regiment, he was present- ed with a new stand of colors, with the names upon it of the sixteen battles in which his regi- ment had fought. Gen. Curley has never been
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531
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
an aspirant for political- honors, but has held various local offices in the town in which he re- sided. Yielding to the solicitations of his political friends he was an unsuccessful candi- date for the Assembly in 1878, but running again in 1882 on the same ticket, he was elect- ed, and served in the session of 1883 with honor to himself and to the satisfaction of his consti- tuents. Ile received 1,042 votes against 1,037 for T. L. Brower, republican, and 264 for S. L. Wannemaker, prohibitionist. He lost his valu- able sword and the set of colors that he re- ceived at St. Louis at the burning of his resi- dence. The charred and warped remains of the sword is all that is left him of those highly treasured trophies of the war.
CRAWFORD COUNTY PENSIONERS.
The following shows name of pensioner, cause for which pensioned, and monthly rate allowed:
BELL CENTRE.
Purington, Lucretia. widow 1813 $8 00
Kast, Jeremiah N. injured left hand. .. 8 00
Turk, Alexander H. wound left knee. 1 00
Thompson Jefferson H. wd. hcad. caus. epilepsy. 4 00
Young, Cornelius R. poeu. res, bron and phths. 6 00
Lawrence, Nancy. widow 8 00
Fillmore, Peter. wounded right hand. 7 00
BRIDGEPORT.
Blunt, Sarah E. widow. 8 00
Clifton, Thomas. ch. dia. and rheum 6 00
Adams, Charles, wound left side. 6 00
Bean, AAlbertus C. wound left knee
Jacobs. Milton. elironic diarrhoea. 6 00
6 00
Jacoby, Peter. wound left thigh
EASTMAN. 8 00
Brady, Frank. wound left leg. 4 00
McClure, Samuel. chr. diar. catarrh, res bron. 8 00
Harrington, Geo. II. chr. diar. res dis abd. vis. 4 00
Kussmaul, Rudolph, wound right arm 12 00
Fisher, Louisa. widow.
8 00
Jones, Sarah. widow 8 00
Ostrander, Christiana. widow 8 00
Beach, Zenas, loss right eye imp vis left 6 00
FERRYVILLE.
Campbell, John. wound right forearm 12 00
lIntson, William J. chronic diarrhoea
FREEMAN. 4 00
Peterson, Peter. wound right arm 4 00
-
HURLBUT'S CORNERS.
West, Alice. mother .. 8 00
Churchill, George W. wd. I. shld., res dis lungs 18 00 Byers, Margaret. mother 8 00
Brickner, Wmn. typ. pneu. res dis. h'd and chest.º 8 00 KNAPP'S CREEK.
Fardy, Thomas. wd back. 8 00
LOWER LYNXVILLE.
Corey, Warner J. wound right hand 4 00
Davis, Elisha. Father. 8 00
Pease, Livas E. wound right foot .4 00
Hobbs, Andrew J. wound right thigh. 4 00
MOUNT STERLING .
White, Charles. wound left thigh. 4 00
Keyes, Richard W. fr. thigh bone, inj. right hd. 2 00
Hutchins, Lucy P. widow. 10 00
Bellows. Darius R. survivor 1819 8 00
Thompson, Agrim. wound left leg. 2 663
Thompson, Edwin. wound left hand 4 00
Spencer, Alfred. wound left arm 4 00
Abhey Rollin W. wd left hand. 4 00
Harding, Theodore W. wouud right arni. 6 00
Newcomb, Henry C. dis. of ab. vis fri ch diar. 4 00
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN.
Royce, Prudence. mother 8 00
Bottum, Edwin A. chronic rheumatism 10 00
Villemin, Jean. father 8 00
Fonda, John H. father 8 00
Vanvickle, Edson W. chronic diarrh. 4 00
Ilobbs, Frank T. wounded forearm 10 00
Hewitt, Byron. wound left side 4 00
Stafford, Otis. loss right arm 18 00
Hamilton, Louisa. widow. 8 00
Boucher. Harriet. widow. 10 00
Deneaux, Joseph. wound pelv. aff right hip and
leg. 14 00
Plummer, Mary E. mother 25 00
Specht, Louisa. widow 8 00
HIenderson Joanna mother 8 00
Miller, Olivia D. mother. 8 00
Mosgrove, Mary C. mother 8 00
Fairfield, George. wod tp. head and above l. c. 6 00
Foster Geo. W. rhem, heart dis. wd. If hand .. 8 00
Bull, Norman S. wound face res debility 31 25
Biedermann, Louis. wound right thigh. 6 00
Bulda, Joseph. diseased heart. 1 00
Fenley, Patrick inj right side, res abscess 12 00
Brunson, Alfred. chronic diarraboea 20 00
MeClure, John. injured right knee 8 00
Clark, Hugh. diseased eyes. 18 00
Row, Adam. wound left shoulder. 6 00
Bronson. Duff G. wound both thighs. 5 00
Whaley Edward A. loss right leg. 24 00
Zeeh, Joseph G. chronic diarrhoea 4 00
532
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
RISING SUN.
Finley, Timothy. father. 8 00
Finley, Mary. mother. 8 00
Nash, Ole T. wound left leg. 4 00
Seveasou, Ole. loss part index fin. and mid r. h. 4 00
SENECA.
Gay, Lot. chonic diar. and rheum. 8 00
Deane, Plebe. widow 1812. 8 00
Lewcey, Peter. wound right hand 6 00
Marston, Charlotte. mother. 8 00
Porter, James A. wound left shoulder. 8 00
Chapmau, George. diseased lungs and neuralgia. 6 00
Copsey, John, chron. rhem. left hip and leg .. 6 00
Cragan, John, wound left hand. 4 00
Sterling: Geo. II. inj. r. sider. hip., pt. in, loss fin. g s, W. 6 00
Kenueson, Martin S. chron rheum. 6 00
Casey, Peter. inj. spine invol kidneys 8 00
Wood, George W. wound right leg. 6 00
Tichenor, Mary. widow .. 8 00
Lawler, Edward. diseased lung. 6 00
Newton, George W wound right thigh. 4 00
SOLDIERS' GROVE.
Richardson, Eva A. widow" 10 00
Briggs, Nathene A. widow 8 00
Hill, Elizt. widow .. 8 00
Smith, Jonathan. chron diarrhoea 18 00
Nicholson, Samuel. diseased lungs.
4 00
Nelson, Peter. resec. head r. humerus. 18 00
Murphy, Patrick. chr. diarr. and dis. of abd vis. 6 00
McCabe. Terrence. wound in back. 14 00
Connelly, Rachel. mother. 8 00
Baker Charles W. wound face. 4 00
Johnson, Richard M. wd through right leg 6 00
STEUBEN.
Kast Henry C. C. injured knee. 6 00
TOWERVILLE.
Thompson, Ann. mother ... 8 00
Mettick, Matthias, wound right leg. 4 00
Rogers, John S. pt. paral. r. arm and shoulder. 6 00
Parker, Ellen. mother 8 00
Flick, Marion, wound left hand. 4 00
WAUZEKA.
Johnson, Isaac. chr. dair. and dis. eyes. 8 00
Miller Abgiail. mother. 8 00
Barr, Samuel father. 8 00
Dwoark, John injury of abdomen 3 00
Phillip, Henry. chron rheumatism. 6 00
Lawrence, Robert A. gun shot wound left arm. 4 00
Cole, Truman W. injured spine. .. 4 00
WHEATVILLE.
Turk, James W. injury to abdomen. 8 00
IN MEMORIAM.
When Pericles was called upon to deliver the oration over those who had fallen in the first campaign of the Peloponnesian war, he began by extolling Athens ; and, having expatiated upon her glories, her institutions and her sciences, he concluded by exclaiming : For such a republic, for such a Nation, the people whom we this day mourn fell and died." It is "for sneh a republic-for such a Nation" as the United States of America, that the people of the north, by thousands, "fell and died" during the war for the Union ; and, to those thousands, Crawford county contributed her share.
Crawford county's war record is of such a character that her people may ever refer to it with pride and satisfaction. One of the early counties in the State, as we have seen, to re- spond with volunteers in the hour of gravest peril, she never faltered during the entire strug- gle, weary and disheartening as it oft times was. Her old men were not wanting in counsel, nor her young or middle aged in true martial spirit. With a firm, unswerving faith in the righteous- ness of the Union cause, her, citizens, with scaree a distinction in age or sex, were imbued with a determination to conquer or die rather than survive defeat. It was this kind of patriotism that bore the Union cause through defeat as well as victory, whenever the oft- repeated news was brought home of depleted and scattered ranks. Crawford county valor is attested upon every street of her hospitable villages ; upon her broad sections of fertile land ; and last, but not least, within the silent enclosures of her dead. It is here that with each recurring anniversary the graves of her heroes are moistened with the tears of sorrow, as loving fingers bedeck them with beautiful flowers.
Although there are in the preceding pages some facts which may remind the citizens of Crawford county of the deeds of those who fought the good fight until the end, yet without these records, those days of peril, of suffering,
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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
and of victory at last, would not be for- i gotten by the present generation; they are too deeply engraved in the hearts of all. Each of the citizen-soldiers from this county who stood loyally by the country's standard through the war, has wrought his name in characters that live as monuments to the memories of men.
Many gallant sons of Crawford, who went out from home to battle for the Union, with only the benediction of a mother's tears and prayers, came back to those mothers' arms with a glorious record. Many returned having left a limb in the swamps of Chickahominy ; on the banks of the Rapidan; at Fredericksburg, Get- tysburg, Vicksburg, or in the Wilderness. Many still bear the marks of that strife which raged at Stone River, Iuka, Chickamauga, or on the heights of Lookout Mountain, whence they thundered down the defiance of the skies ; or of that strife which was waged before Atlanta, Savannah and in the Carolianas.
But there were many who came not back. They fell by the wayside, in the prison, on the battlefield, or in the hospital. Their memory, however, is held in the most sacred keeping. Some sleep beside their ancestors in the village churchyard, where the violets on their graves speak not alone of womanly sweetness, but in tender accents of the devotion of those beneath
the mounds of earth. All, all, whether buried in the distant South or at home, are remembered as they slumber on in a peaceful, glorified rest.
"Winds of Summer, Oh whisper low, Over the graves where the violets grow. Blossoming flowers and songs of bees, Sweet ferns tossed in the summer's breeze,
· Floating shadows and golden lights, Dewy mornings and radiant nights, All the bright and beautiful things That graeions and bountiful summer brings, Fairest and sweetest that earth can bestow, Brighten the graves where the violets grow."
Many of the brave soldiers who battled for the Union-many, very many-have "gone be- fore;" and they now wait upon the threshho'd of Paradise for the coming of those loved ones left behind, when they, too, shall have exchanged the feeble pulses of a transitory existence for the ceaseless throbbing of eternal life. Faith- ful and fearless, on the march, in the strife, at victory.or defeat, they at last laid down at the mysterious frontier, leaving the exalted hope behind that, though the world was lost forever, there would be unfurled another realm of un- imaginable glory, where they and all whom they loved on earth, might realize the promise which the Great Ruler of the universe has made to the just.
534
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE NEWSPAPER PRESS.
Crawford county had been organized more than a quarter of a century before any newspa- per was printed and published within its limits. The people finally could not be longer without a county journal of some kind; so there was issued the Prarie du Chien Patriot.
The first paper in Crawford county was estab- lished in Prairie du Chien. The first number was issued Sept. 15, 1846, by O J. & II. A. Wright. It was a five column folio sheet, and called the Prairie du Chien Patriot. It was neutral in politics. The stock, materials and press of the Patriot were purchased by subscrip- tion, and became the property of the publishers by virtue of their conducting the paper a certain length of time.
In the first number of the paper appears the following cards:
BACK AGAIN.
Dr. S. S. Beach has returned to Prairie du Chien and offers his services to his former pa- trons and friends, as he has located himself permanently for the future in this place.
September 14, 1846.
ALFRED BRUNSON,
Attorney and Counselor at Law, Prairie du Chien, W. T.
P. A. BRACE,
Attorney and Counselor at Law, Prairie du Chien, W. T.
In the second issue (September 22,) is to be found the following:
DIED.
In this village, on the 11th inst., Mr. Ezra Pelton, aged 39 years.
In this village, on the 13th inst., Mrs. Nancy Pelton, wife of Ezra Pelton. aged 39 years.
In this village, on the 13th inst., Mr. Cham- pion Pelton, aged 43 years.
In this village, on the 3d inst., Joseph Mor- rill, aged 40 years.
In this village, on the 29th ult., Mr. James Ilendricks, aged 30 years.
On the 6th of October, 1846, the following paragraph appears:
On Thursday last, our village was visited by a number of Indians, having crossed the Mississ- ippi river, near the upper ferry. After making sad havoc among the swine, and committing other depredations of a similar nature charac- teristic to the race, they were put to flight by a sergeant's guard sent from the Fort [Crawford] by Capt. [Wiram] Knowlton. By some means the Indians were informed of the coming of the missive from the Fort and "the speed of the wind was theirs;" so that when the soldiers got where they were, they were not there.
The Patriot was published by the Messrs. Wright, until Nov. 9, 1847, when O. J. Wright left the firm. It was continued by II. A. Wright until it ceased to exist. Like many similar enterprises, the paper was established for a pet purpose; and when that object failed or had been accomplished, there being no fur- ther call for its influence its support ceased and the publication stopped. The materials and press were sold to parties who started with them the first paper printed at La Crosse, called the Spirits of the Times-that being the
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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
foundation of what was afterward the National Democrat.
It should be remembered that at the time of the starting of the Patriot in Prairie du Chien, as also for a long period subsequent, it was the only paper on the upper Mississippi, there being no other journal published at any of the river towns above it. The whole northwest then was but sparsely settled, inhabited prin- cipally by Indian tribes, United States soldiers, and Indian traders. Prairie du Chien itself was a mere trading post of the American Fur Company or its predecessors in the Indian trade. There were no conveniences of daily mails, no telegraph lines, no railroad communi- cation with all parts of the country, as there are now; but a semi-occasional stage coach and as uncertain a steamer, brought all the intelli- gence from abroad; and out of these scanty materials, the editor of the Patriot had to select and make up his paper. And yet the files of the first papers published in the county, will compare favorably with many papers prin- ted at the present day, and possessing the ben- efits of all their modern advantages. One reason why these old pipers are interesting is from the unmistakeable originality of the various articles and the tinge of fancy that pervades them, showing, positively, that the editor depended more on his fertile imagination than on the irregular mails to get subjects with which to interest his readers.
In a number of the Patriot of 1849, about three years after its commencement, we find an article entitled the "Press of Minnesota," which records the starting of a new paper at St. Paul called the Minnesota Pioneer (afterward Pioneer and Democrat,) and goes on to state that the proprietor is James M. Goodhue, for- merly of the Wisconsin Herald, that Mr. Goodhe was widely and favorably known in connection with the press of Wisconsin; that another paper, the Register was commenced about the same time by A. Randall of the United States Geological Corps of Wisconsin;
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