History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 92

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1304

USA > Wisconsin > Dane County > History of Dane County, Wisconsin > Part 92

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In these engagements the following, of the "Randall Guards" (Company H), were wounded : Julius F. Randolph,* Captain, July 21, 1861; A. A. Meredith, First Lieutenant; G. M. Humphrey, First Sergeant ; Theodore D. Bahn, Fourth Sergeant ; S. M. Bond, Fifth Sergeant; Peter Morrison, Corporal ; G. A. Beck (taken prisoner), F. M. Buten, Thomas Canning, Thomas Murphy, E. L. Reed (taken prisoner), E. R. Reed, Henry Storm and J. M. Zook, privates. After the Bull Run battle, a number of changes took place in the officers of the regiment: Lucius Fairchild, formerly Captain of Company K of the First Regiment of three months' volunteers, was appointed Lieutenant Colonel; J. D. Ruggles, Quartermaster, and A. J. Ward, Surgeon, all of Madison.

The Third Regiment, Charles S. Hamilton, Colonel, was ordered into camp at Fond du Lac, and left for Harrisburg July 12. In this regiment were the "Dane County Guards" (Company K), of which William Hawley was Captain ; Theodore S. Widvey, First Lieutenant, and Warham Parks, Second Lieutenant.

The Fourth Regiment encamped at Racine, June 6, Halbert E. Paine, Colonel, in which Madison and Dane County were not represented by a company, but L. D. Aldrich, of Madison, was appointed Adjutant.

The Fifth Regiment was called to Camp Randall June 21, Amasa Cobb, Colonel. Madi- son was not represented in this regiment.

The Sixth Regiment was called to Camp Randall June 25, Lysander Cutler, Colonel. Of the commissioned officers, the following were from Madison : J. P. Atwood, Lieutenant Colonel; Frank A. Haskell, Adjutant ; C. B. Chapman, Surgeon. Col. Atwood resigned on account of ill health September 21. There were no companies from Madison.

The Seventh Regiment came to Camp Randall in the month of August. Its organization was completed September 2. Joseph Van Dor was Colonel. Of this regiment, from Madison were Charles W. Cook, Adjutant, and Ernest Kramer, Assistant Surgeon. Dane County was represented by a company called " Stoughton Guards."

The Eighth Regiment was organized September 4, Robert C. Murphy, Colonel, but was not called to Camp Randall until the 16th. The following commissioned officers were from Madison : George W. Robinson, Lieutenant Colonel ; John W. Jefferson, Major; Ezra T. Sprague, Adjutant, and William Hobbins, Assistant Surgeon. There were no Madison com- panies.

The Ninth Regiment was organized at Camp Sigel, at Milwaukee, and was recruited among the German population. Frederic Salomon was Colonel. The regiment was mustered into the service October 26. In this regiment, Company F was composed of the Madison Sharp-Shooters, of which company Dominick Hastreiter was Captain and Martin Voigle and John Gerber Lieu- tenants. Some changes, however, were made before they left camp, Martin Voigle becoming Captain, and A. P. Doerschlag, First Lieutenant.

*Capt. Randolph was killed at the battle of Gainesville, August 20, 1862.

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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.

The Tenth Regiment was organized at Camp Holton, Milwaukee, and mustered into service October 14, Alfred R. Chapin, Colonel. Benton McConnel was Quartermaster, the only per- son holding an office from Madison. No companies of the regiment were from Madison.

The Eleventh Regiment was organized September 18. It was intended at the outset to be a Dane County regiment, but it was soon ascertained that Dane County had already honored too many drafts upon her citizens to be able to fill up the regiment, and it was found necessary to do this, in part, outside of the county. The regiment was called into Camp Randall during the month of October, and placed under the command of Col. Charles L. Harris, of Madison, with the following field and staff officers : Charles A. Wood, Lieutenant Colonel; Arthur Platt, Major; Daniel Lincoln, Adjutant; Charles G. Mayers, Quartermaster ; James B. Brittan, Chaplain ; H. P. Strong, Surgeon ; E. Everett and C. C. Barnes, Assistant Surgeons. All of the above, with the exception of the three last named, were from Madison. Of the companies comprising the regiment, the following were made up of Dane County volunteers : Company A, " Watson Guards," officered by D. E. Hough, Captain; P. W. Jones and W. L. Freeman, Lieu- tenants. Company B, " Mendota Guards," J. H. Hubbard, Captain ; E. S. Oakley and James M. Bull, Lieutenants. Companies F and G, the " Harvey Zouaves" and " Randall Zouaves," were made up from Dane and other counties. Of Company F, E. R. Chase, of Madison, was Captain. The regiment left for the seat of war November 20, 1861.

The Twelfth Regiment was called to Camp Randall during the month of October, under the charge of Col. George E. Bryant, of Madison, formerly Captain of Company E, " Madison Guards," First Regiment (three months). Of the other staff and regimental officers from Mad- ison, were De Witt C. Poole, Lieutenant Colonel ; Andrew Sexton, Quartermaster; James K. Proudfit, Adjutant (formerly Second Lieutenant, Company K, "Governor's Guards," First Regiment, three months), and Rev. L. B. Mason, Chaplain. There was no Dane County com- pany in the regiment.

The Thirteenth Regiment was organized September 17, 1861. It was made up from the counties of Rock and Green, Maurice Malony, Colonel. The regiment rendezvoused at Janes- ville.

The Fourteenth Regiment was organized in November, and rendezvoused at Camp Wood, Fond du Lac, David E. Wood, Colonel. There was no representation in this regiment from Dane County.

The Fifteenth Regiment was organized in December at Camp Randall, and was known as the Scandinavian Regiment, Hans C. Heg, Colonel. Hans Borchsenius, of Madison, was Ad- jutant.

The Sixteenth Regiment was organized and ordered into camp at Madison early in Novem- ber, Benjamin Allen, Colonel. Of the field and staff officers from Madison, were Cassius Fair- child, Lieutenant Colonel ; Thomas Reynolds, Major; George Sabin, Adjutant. There were no Madison companies in this regiment.

The Seventeenth Regiment was not fully organized until 1862, although a few of the field officers were appointed in October, 1861. Of this regiment, John L. Doran was Colonel ; Will- iam H. Plunkett, of Madison, was Adjutant, but afterward promoted to Major ; Thomas Rey- nolds was Quartermaster, but, December 10, was promoted Major of the Sixteenth Regiment. It had no Madison companies.

The Eighteenth Regiment was organized the latter part of October, and was expected to occupy Camp Randall as soon as the Twelfth had commenced to move for the seat of war. James S. Alban was appointed Colonel. The remaining officers were from the northeastern portion of the State.

The Nineteenth was an "independent " regiment. The Colonel, Horace T. Sanders, re- ceived his appointment from the War Department. The regiment rendezvoused at Racine, and, April 20, 1862, was ordered to Camp Randall to guard rebel prisoners. Dane County was not represented by any companies.

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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.

In addition to the above eighteen regiments of infantry sent into the field in 1861, there were three cavalry companies organized. Of Company G, First Cavalry, Stephen V. Shipman was First Lieutenant, promoted to Captain of Company E in 1862; E. A. Calkins, Major, and John D. Welch, First Lieutenant and Battalion Adjutant of Company L, Third Cavalry ; and ten batteries of artillery. The officers named were from Madison.

The Twentieth Regiment was mustered into the service August 23, 1862, at Camp Ran- dall, Colonel, Bertine Pinckney.

The Twenty-first Regiment, Benjamin J. Sweet, Colonel, was organized at Oshkosh Sep- tember 5, 1862, and left the State on the 11th of that month.

The Twenty-second. Regiment, Col. William L. Utley, was organized at Racine, and mus- tered into the service September 2, 1862.

The Twenty-third Regiment was composed, in part, of Dane County men, the following officers being from Madison : W. G. Pitman, Adjutant. Company A, William F. Vilas, Cap- tain, and Sinclair W. Botkin, First Lieutenant. Company D, Joseph E. Green, Captain; J. W. Tolford, First Lieutenant, and F. A. Stoltze, Second Lieutenant. Company E, James M. Bull, Captain ; Henry Vilas, Second Lieutenant. Company I, A. R. Jones, Captain ; J. M. Sumner, Second Lieutenant.

Camp Randall .- During the war, this was one of the most attractive spots in Dane County. A writer gives his impressions of the " camp " while in existence, as follows :

"Camp Randall is located about one mile and a half westward of the capitol square. It comprises an area of perhaps thirty acres, of an irregular outline, and is entered by a gateway near the northeastern angle, where you will be confronted by sentinels that guard the only ingress and egress to the limbo of Camp Randall. If you are unacquainted with the regulations of camp life, let me inform you that the place you are about to enter is a little world of itself, with laws and ceremonies unlike those outside its limits, and is in one respect like a bad scrape, much easier got into than got out of. You pass the guards with a deferential air, and find yourself in a place where everything assumes a military aspect, and the Federal blue demolishes all outward distinctions of rank that prevail in civil life.

" Direct your steps to yonder eminence in the rear of the center of the grounds, surmounted by a terraced building, over which floats the American flag, designating it as the headquarters, or sanctum sanctorum of Camp Randall. It is a lovely afternoon in October. Away in the distance to the eastward, the bright waters of the beautiful Lake Monona are sparkling in the golden sunlight, and its well-defined and gracefully curved shore sweep far away to the south -. east, with many a cove and headland.

"To the left, the capitol and other public buildings arise to view, with a foreground sloping down to the borders of the camp, set with neat residences, looking out from groves of shade, now touched with the rich hues of autumn. To the left of this view, and nearer, arise the lofty walls of the State University-the crowning glory of Wisconsin's free-school system. Thus, side by side are the school of the civilian and the school of the soldier. Facing to the right, the landscape assumes a rural aspect, in which farm cottages, grassy meadows, rolling fields and shady groves present a pleasing contrast to the view of the city in the opposite direction. Facing again to the front, we will contract the boundaries of our vision to the objects and moving things within the high paling that surrounds the encampment, and around which guards stalk lazily up and down their beats, and beyond which it is a soldierly sin to go without permission.

" Yonder, to the right of the entrance, is a range of ten long, low buildings, neatly white- washed, and separated by alleys a few paces in width. In front of the center of the line stands a larger and more imposing structure for the accommodation of officers. Moving to the west, you pass the Government stables and commissary on your right, and, ascending a slight elevation, the hospital buildings are before you-a long building with wings extending at right angles to the east of the main structure. These, with the fixtures and yards adjacent, occupy about an acre of ground in the northwest angle of the inclosure, and are flanked on the south by Surgeons' quarters, over which waves the hospital flag, a signal of relief to the suffering tenants of Camp Randall.

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" South ward, and extending to the foot of the hill on which we have taken our standpoint of observation, extends a double row of barracks, like those before described, with all the streets and alleys of a miniature city, fronted also by a two-storied structure for the gentry of rank and shoulder-straps, ' captains of hundreds, and captains of thousands.'

" On our right, and occupying different points in the view, are two more rows of barracks of similar construction. To the rear, the view is interrupted by the massy foliage of a grove of. oaks, that is permitted to straggle even into the barren precinct of the encampment, amid which a line of officers' quarters are arranged, and where, on pleasant days, the pionsly inclined may assemble to worship in temples not made with hands. On the grassy slope of the hill on which we stand, may be seen groups of soldiers lazily reclining in the warm sunshine, conversing of home and friends, or in dreamy reverie indulging in sweet memories of the past, or in delightful anticipations of the future ' good time coming.' On the open parade ground in front, beaten hard by the thousands who have trod over it, are synads of men engaged in the disciplinary exercises of the soldiers, dressed in the uniforms of the several branches of military service, or in no uniform but the uniform variety of the citizen; and here and there, are groups, sitting, standing, lying, talking, laughing, joking, and doing everything that human ingenuity can devise to pass away the wearisome hours, burdened by an almost insupportable weight of dullness.

"Yonder approaches a phalanx of men, bearing on their shoulders what at a distance reminds you of the palankeen of an oriental grandee, but which proves to be only a hand-carriage for the transportation of provisions from the commissary's to the several kitchens. Yonder comes a long line of men arrayed in the loyal blue of Uncle Sam's livery, wending their way toward head- quarters to report for duty ; and on every side men doing nothing but laboring, as the poet says, "To lash the lingering moments into speed,' and hasten the transit of the year of service before them.

" Square in your face, and just across the parade-ground, is the notorious Camp Randall ' Bull Pen,' a sort of moral hospital, and 'a terror to evil-doers.' It is a small but well- secured inclosure, with a paling not less than twelve feet high, surmounted by a terraced walk, and watch-houses on its corners, and sentinels pacing round about it. Various classes of offenders against military discipline are here confined, such as bounty-jumpers, fence-jumpers, and the like, for be it known that a love of liberty, however great a virtue in a general sense, is a sin not to be tolerated in Camp Randall ; and he who, ignoring the high fence and its dignified sentinels, breaks out like a fractious colt, is rewarded, if caught, by a night in the Bull Pen and furnished with ' double rations.' .

"Having completed a survey of the general features of the camp, we will inspect a little more closely the objects which I have pointed out. There are forty-five barracks on the ground, numbered from one upward, each about eighty feet in length and twenty in width, affording accommodations for one hundred men, in respect to eating and sleeping. A descrip- tion of one will suffice for all. The entrance is at the middle of one side, opening upon an alley some fifteen feet in width. On the inside are three tiers of bunks or berths on each side, one above the other, and extending the whole length, except nooks for windows and doors. There are two windows on each side, one in the gable end, and two sky-lights opening in the roof, serving the double purpose of windows and ventilators. Through the center runs a table, terminating in one end at the kitchen door. The movable furniture consists of a large box- stove at each end, with pipes extending the whole length of the barracks, and benches accom- modated to the length of the table. The kitchen is about twelve feet partitioned from one end, furnished with a large cook-stove, and dishes requisite to furnish the table, not with a china tea- set, but that which is fully as substantial-bright tinware-on which rations are served up three times a day, by a corps of cooks detailed for the purpose, and consist of the regular Govern- ment course, of bread, meat, coffee and sugar, and dessert of such luxuries as the soldier may indulge at in his own expense.

"Such are the abodes of the private soldier during the process of organization and prepa- ration for the field of duty. Here are thrown together representatives of almost every family

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circle in this broad State; some, alas! destined by the uncertain fortunes of war, nevermore to meet the loved ones at home. Here are a mass of incongruous human elements mingling together in a strange compound; the rich, poor, educated and uneducated, good and bad, forced to associate on a level as private soldiers, united only by the common bond of patriotism, and yet compelled by circumstances to form these unassimilated elements into new and strange associations.

"With habits entirely dissimilar, and tastes as diversified as the instincts and impulses of humanity, cut off from the accustomed vocations and amusements of home, and confined to the narrow limits of camp, the various amusements resorted to, to wear away the dull hours, form a scene both amusing and instructive to the student of human nature.

"For the better observation of the scene, let us enter the barrack at evening, when dark- ness has driven the soldiers from their outdoor sports to indoor employments. The candles are lighted, and the long table lined with the different classes of 'time-killers.' Here around the stove a knot of men, withdrawn as much as possible from the crowd, are conversing on topics inspired by the occasion. On one end of the table a cluster of card-players are intent upon their favorite game, frequently indulging in language anything but pleasing to the sensitive and pious ear. A little farther are seated a half-dozen with portfolios spread out before them, tracing cheering lines of comfort and encouragement to anxious friends at home. Seated upon the upper berth, a trio or more are engaged in singing to the few attentive ears around them. But a few steps, and you are in the midst of a group of jesters and story-tellers, who are 'skimming the cream of many a joke with many a laugh appended.' Yonder, a more sober group are reading the news, anon pausing to comment upon the all-absorbing questions of the day, and occasionally breaking forth into vehement discussion. In another corner, the sound of violin is heard, mingled with the clatter of many feet keeping time with the inspiring strains of the 'quivering catgut.' Here stands a professional barber, surrounded by the implements of his profession, and yonder a tailor plying his needle as he sits cross-legged upon the dinner- table. Sometimes the house resolves itself into a committee of the whole to listen to some gifted disciple of Peter Pindar, and thus the evening passes away, the scene varied by unmen- tionable sources of time-killing, but not till midnight have the noisy inmates gone to their rest, and left the contemplative mind a few precious hours of silence and repose.

" We will now visit the hospital of the camp, where the sick and suffering are cared for. The main building is about two hundred and fifty feet long, extending north and south, and has three wings, about eighty feet in length, projecting to the east. The extremities of these wings or projections are connected by a high picket fence, through which you pass into the front yard, decorated with shrubs and evergreens, and in summer with flower-beds. The building is divided into six apartments or wards, designated by letters attached to the doors. Each ward is under the superintendence of a wardmaster and its corps of nurses. The rooms are about eighty feet long, and wide enough to admit a row of cots on either side, placed with their heads to the wall, leaving a passage of convenient width in the center. The walls are whitewashed, and every- thing kept scrupulously neat and clean. The dispensary occupies one end of the room, whence prescriptions are compounded and dealt to the sick by the attendents. A ward accommodates about fifty patients, each of whom has a cot of his own furnished with soft pillows and white sheets, and is known by its number placed upon the wall over the head of the cot. Some of the wards are fancifully decorated with little flags and a variety of fantastic work showing unmis- takably the skill of a female hand. Thus are the unfortunate inmates surrounded by all the comforts and luxuries that wealth and skill can provide, with kind and faithful nurses to attend their every call, and wanting only the presence of a wife, mother or sister, whose magic influence would be more to the sick and languishing soldier than all the prescriptions of the most skillful surgeon, or nursing of the tenderest stranger hand.

" The dining halls are in the rear, where those who are able to do so take their meals. Here also are the kitchens, furnished with all the machinery for the most approved methods of cookery, with a large bakery attached that supplies the whole establishment with bread as nice

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and white as ever came from the oven of the most fastidious housewife. Those, with various other attachments and conveniences too numerous to mention, constitute one of the most credit- able departments of Camp Randall."

" Camp Randall" is now the property of the State Agricultural Society, and there it holds occasionally its fairs. There, also, the Dane County Fairs are held. At the State Fair commencing September 6, 1880, there was present, as a guest of the officers of the society, U. S. Grant. In welcoming that distinguished man, George E. Bryant, the Secretary, spoke these felicitous words :

" Fifteen years after the battles are over and war drums have ceased to beat, we meet you, our loved commander, here upon old Camp Randall, the gathering-place-where a hundred thou- sand of the youth and manhood of loyal Wisconsin fitted for the fray. Here the wife gave up her husband, the mother her son, the maiden her lover, that the stars in our flag should not be lessened -- that the nation might live. Here, from 1861 to 1864, was gathered an army larger in numbers than was the proud army that marched with Sherman from Atlanta to the sea. From this spot, Wisconsin soldiers bore aloft the eagle of the free-' Old Abe,' the war eagle of Wis- consin. He draws no pension, though he is battle-scarred; but the State he served will give him rations so long as he lives. Was it not a happy deed that the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society should purchase these beautiful grounds, so oft remembered as the place where we donned the blue, upon which to hold our annual fairs ?"

" It is, indeed," replied the hero of Appomattox, "a most fitting thing that the beautiful grounds now occupied by this assemblage should have been transformed from a soldiers' camp to the uses of an agricultural association-it is a symbol of beating the spears of war into the plowshares of peace. I hope that these grounds may never again be the scene of warlike prepa- rations, never again be used for military purposes."

The University of Wisconsin in the War .- A military company was organized among the students of the University of Wisconsin at the beginning of the year 1861-the germ of the present military department of that institution. " All parties will agree," said the Faculty, in a communication to the Regents, " that the State University ought to be, from time to time, so modified as best to meet the varying exigencies of the commonwealth whose name it bears. Nor are Milton's words now less true than in the midst of that great English rebellion, when he de- clared that 'education, if complete and generous, must fit a man to perform justly, skillfully and magnanimously, all the offices of war no less than peace.' Indeed, no State has ever, for a long period, neglected military culture." Voluntary military drill was kept up by all the stu- dents through two-thirds of the year ; and, in their report of the next year, the faculty say that, "besides enabling most who have left us for the army to start as officers, it has heightened the physical vigor of all who have shared in it, and thus given a sympathetic aid to true mental efforts."

Although the catalogue of the University of Wisconsin for the year ending June 26, 1861, does not mention the names of any students as having entered the army of the United States, seventeen, at least, of the eleventh university year (1860-61) were, at its expiration, serving their country "upon the tented field :" G. W. Ashmore, James Bull, John A. Bull, C. M. Campbell, Edwin Coe, J. W. Curtis, B. R. Ellis, E. C. Hungerford, M. Leahey, E. G. Miller, William Noble, Otis Remick, S. S. Rockwood, P. Norcross, H. D. Smith, H. Vilas and W. A. Wyse. Of these, Ashmore, James Bull, Campbell, Miller, Norcross, Remick, Smith and Wyse were the first to enlist, joining the first company organized in Madison, Wis., for the three- months service. These were the patriots of the university who first " went forth into the bloody struggle of those historic years." By the end of the next university year, the number of enlist- ments among the students had largely increased. Before the close of the war, not far from one hundred had served in the army, being about one-third of the whole number connected with the institution during that period.

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History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 92

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1304

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1304