USA > Wisconsin > Eau Claire County > History of Eau Claire county, Wisconsin, past and present; including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county > Part 17
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The Sixth Corps had proved to the enemy by the bloody bat- tle of Sailor's Creek that it was able and in position to prevent the rebel army from retreating south without exhausting its entire strength to defeat us. The victory and the capture of most of Ewell's corps by us had released the cavalry from its embar- rassed position, and Sheridan again at once placed it across the enemy's line of retreat. The cavalry moved out in the right
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after the battle was over and part of the Sixth Corps was sent out also to support it. This foree was fairly across the enemy's line of retreat and it had either to turn north, eross the Appomat- tox river and get that stream between its army and us or fight another pitched battle at once. Fighting was on all the time, day and night, but the opposing forces were moving on both sides, the enemy in retreat and our troops pursuing. The sound of the rattling fire of musketry kept up during the night after the bat- tle and kept moving away toward the west. The Fifth Wisconsin moved out in the rear of the Sixth Corps very early in the morn- ing. Stragglers, members of the regiment, both offieers and men, who were unable to keep pace with its two days' and nights' con- tinuous forced march to take part in the battle, kept coming up until, when the pursuit of the enemy began after the battle was over, most of them were with the regiment. In helping to bury the dead and care for the wounded I became separated from the company and was not with it when it marched with the regiment, and about a dozen of us started out to join the army next morn- ing, without rations. The sound of musketry had turned from west to north and was moving in a northerly direction, miles away from us. We started toward the sound of firing, across the country the shortest way, not following the line of march of the army, keeping together as protection against guerillas and bush- whackers and looking for something to eat. We sighted a man- sion surrounded by great fields and negro quarters and other buildings. We cautiously reconnoitered and found that the place was not guarded. We went there and asked for enough food to last us until we overtook the army, which we offered to pay for. They told us there was not a mouthful of food on the place. The proprietor, an old man, with his wife, a daughter and a young woman and two or three younger children, were sitting together on the porch and lying on the floor of the porch in their midst was a young man, the son, bleeding from several wounds he re- ceived the night or day before, suffering. His father and mother showed the anguish they felt and the children sat quietly, tears running down their faces. They expected if they did not pro- vide us with food that we would burn their buildings. We put out pickets to guard against surprise and began a search. In a store-room filled, as they said, with empty barrels, we found a barrel of flour at the bottom of the pile. One man found a pail of lard in the basement. Two or three chased down a few chickens that had been overlooked by former raiders and we had the old negro mammy cook some frying flapjacks and chicken. Artil-
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lery and musketry sound off to the northwest was very heavy. We each took a portion of flour and piece of friend chicken and moved fast toward the sound of the guns and overtook the regi- ment at Farmville, on the Appomattox.
The Johnnies had crossed the river at Farmville and fired the bridge and made a stand there, but our men had charged and drove them out and put out the fire. The Fifth Wisconsin took no part in that skirmish. Up to the beginning of the war, Farm- ville was said to be the largest primary tobacco market in the world. There were huge warehouses there filled with all kinds of manufactured tobacco when the troops hit the town. The troops halted there for a while and when we struck the town, just after our regiment had come up, the streets were literally carpeted with pig tails, twist, plug and other styles of tobacco. The lovers of the weed were in the seventh heaven. Davis, of Company K, emptied all his clothes from his knapsack and filled every inch of it with tobacco, making a load that staggered him, but he was one of the happiest men in the army for a while. Some of the buildings were set on fire and destroyed. The con- tinued pounding by the cavalry of the outskirts of Lee's army was crowding it en masse, and we were put in motion again. By rapid marches were pushed across his front, or on the south side, of his troops, in line of battle on April 9, 1865, in the edge of timber with a wide open field between us and his army. We stacked arms and with broken ranks were right by our guns, ready in an instant for any movement of the enemy, which we knew was just beyond the timber across the field in front. We all realized that the critical time was at hand; that the only chance for the enemy to escape was to break our line; that his escape meant aid for Johnston and the defeat of Sherman. Cheers came ringing down the line and with them word that Lee had surren- dered. This report was premature, but for the time it set the army wild. The report was soon contradicted, but later in the day another report came that he had surrendered, and this proved to be true.
After the surrender of General Lee we marched back to Burks- ville Junction and went into camp, from whence we expected to be transferred to Washington to take part in the grand review, plans for which were begun. We had hardly gone into camp when the report came that President Lincoln, his cabinet and General Grant had been assassinated. The report had a peculiar effect on the troops. The Sixth Corps continued under the sepa- rate command of General Sheridan from the time it was sent to
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him by Grant to help him out of the hole that Ewell had him in at Sailor's Creek, and he was now doing his best to be allowed to go to Washington so that he could ride at the head of his army in the grand review, but General Grant ordered otherwise. The terms that Johnston had gotten from Sherman for the sur- render of his army was not satisfactory, and Sheridan, with the Sixth Corps and his cavalry, was ordered south. The march to Danville was a forced march, the only incident of special note on the march were the extraordinary beauty of Southern Virginia, across which we passed. We had scarcely reached Danville when Johnston surrendered on the same terms given Lee, and the effect of our march was completed. After Johnston's surrender, the Fifth Wisconsin did guard duty on the Southern railroad, guard- ing Confederate government property, which was being gathered up and shipped, generally to Washington. After the property had been shipped we were marched to Washington by the way of Richmond and Fredericksburg. We marched to Arlington Heights and camped there. We were impatient to be mustered out and go home, but we had to remain there until the accounts of the officers and men with the government were squared. Finally an officer came over from Washington and condemned our tents, guns and accoutrements. After remaining in camp at Arlington for some time, we were finally ordered home.
J. F. ELLIS.
The last company that went out from Eau Claire county for the Civil War was recruited in February, 1865, with Hobart M. Stocking as captain and Mark Sherman as first lieutenant, and was mustered into service as Company G, of the Forty-eighth Wisconsin Infantry. I give below the names of those in this company who enlisted from Eau Claire county or vicinity. I also furnish you a letter re- ceived several years ago from Captain Stocking, in response to a request from me that he tell the story of his company. It is a very interesting and valuable addition to the Civil War history of Eau Claire county. Although Captain Stocking was unable to furnish a war-time picture of him- self, I was fortunate enough to find a small picture of him in uniform, which I am furnishing you with this article.
Following are the names of those in the company who enlisted from Eau Claire county or vicinity.
Captain Hobart M. Stocking. First Lieutenant H. Sherman.
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ENLISTED MEN.
Hans Amundson, Warwick Ayres, Francis C. Baggs, Lewis Bartz, August Bartz, Joseph Beau, George Betz, Ford Britton, August Brummund, Henry S. Bullis, Charles J. Bussey, John G. Claire, Horace F. Clark, William Clark, Henry E. Cole, Howard W. Craft, Stewart A. Davis, Joseph Denny, John Denny, Sylvannus Edson, Samuel Ellison, John G. Emerson, Nathaniel Flagg, Jr., Orange S. Frizzell, Roland Fuller, Benjamin F. Ilaines, William J. Hall, Samuel J. Hamilton, Phillip Hammer, Amasa Hathaway, Thomas C. Higgins, Alonzo E. Holden, Horace Hotchkiss, Actor Hun- ter, August B. Kaatz, Thomas F. Kenyon, Levi S. Ketchum, Squire B. Kidder, Andrew Kopp, George Kopple, Peter Launderville, Eriek Leidiger, Sylvester M. Macomber, Fred- erick Martin, La Fayette Mattison, George W. Mattox, Nicholas Mergener, Julius Moldenhause, Curtis Z. Nicholas, Ever Oleson, Manum C. Olin, Asabel-Putney, Royal Russell, Elias Salverson, James O. Sanborn, Christian Schwankee, John M. Shong, James Sloat, Horace H. Smith, James J. Simth, Marshus L. Snow, Joseph Spehle, Louis Spehle, Hortentio R. Stone, Sylvester P. Swan, Henry Tallmudge, John Teske, Charles Thayer, Charles F. Warren, Samuel Wilke, John Wilkinson, Freeman Williams, Henry L. Will- iams, Frederick Wittee, Obadiah Works, George B. Wright.
Although this company went out near the close of the war, they suffered severe hardships and in common with the recruits who went earlier, they made good and were a credit to the county.
In the preface to his letter, Captain Stocking states that he was unable to find a picture of himself in uniform, but an Eau Claire friend of the captain has unearthed a small picture and I am sending it to you, also a picture of Lieu- tenant Mark Sherman. I am sorry that I have mislaid the later picture of Captain Stoeking, which is mentioned in his letter.
BY CAPT. H. M. STOCKING.
St. Paul, Minn., August 5, 1907. Mr. W. W. Bartlett, Eau Claire, Wis.
Dear Sir: I neglected answering yours of the seventh ult., thinking I might be able to find some record which would refresh my memory and enable me to answer your inquiry in detail, but
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I have looked from "cellar to garret" and not a vestige of record can I find, nor can I find a photograph in uniform, so I send you today, under separate cover, a photograph taken a few months ago. Forty-one years is a long time to remember, especially when one has been busy with other pursuits and interests, but I shall do the best I can.
The regiment to which I belonged did not put down the Re- bellion nor force the surrender of Lee and Johnston. We were late in the field and had barely left the state when Lee sur- rendered. I presume he got news of our muster and was afraid we might be marching his way. It was my privilege to command Company G, Forty-eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, which I recruited at Eau Claire. We were mustered in early in the year of 1865, either in February or March. The company was the heaviest in weight of any which ever left the state ; rank and file, the average weight was 153 pounds. This included my drummer boy, who weighed 90 pounds, and myself, who weighed 93 pounds. This distinction caused us extra labor during our first march through Missouri in April, where we literally carried the wagon train across the western part of the state. My company being the largest and coming from the pineries, the colonel got the im- pression that we could endure, and whenever the wagon-train got stuck, which was often, he would ask me if I could take it out, and I think it is no exaggeration to say that I wheeled my com- pany out of line each day a half dozen times or more and literally carried the heavy wagons and contents to good footing. There was never a swollen stream to ford, and they were many, for it was a wet spring, that Company G did not take the advance and "set the example." The colonel would say, "Captain, if you can take your men across there, half the regiment will follow the example; the water is deep and so cold that I dislike to order men to ford, but as your men are from the pinery and can stand hardship, if you will just take the lead you will oblige, etc." We always took the lead. So much for the reputation of being big and strong. In this case it was a handicap.
I think I was one of the youngest, if not the youngest, officer who ever left the state. I was mustered as captain two months before I was eighteen years of age. I forced my age a year in order to muster. The regiment was organized in Milwaukee at Camp Washburn, and early in March we were sent to Benton Barracks, Mo., to drill. We only remained there one week and were then ordered west to garrison posts along the Missouri and Kansas border, where the bushwhackers were still troublesome.
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Our march through Missouri was uneventful, save for the mud and water and the trifling annoyances of bushwhackers, who were hovering about our flanks day and night. Being infantry, we could hardly go after the mounted bushwhackers, and they were very bold at times, burning houses and pillaging and mur- dering frequently within sight of the command. Before we could reach the spot to offer assistance they were mounted and off.
Our first stop was at Paola, Kan., where Companies G and F were detached. Our stay was limited, however, as the night of the second day after being detached I received orders to proceed to Mound City, thirty-five miles south, with all possible dispatch and take command of the post there. We made this march in thirteen hours. At one point, "Big Sugar Bottoms," for seven con- tinuous miles the water was from waist to shoulder deep. It was a hard march and when I got there and reported to General Blunt by wire, I received in reply a complimentary dispatch, in which the general expressed surprise at the fact of our reaching our destination so soon, saying he expected it would take two days. I was young and inexperienced and supposed the order which read "all possible dispatch" meant all it said, and I fulfilled the order to the letter. We marched the distance in thirteen hours. I don't believe we could have cut off two minutes from the time, as it was heavy footing, and while in many places the water was too deep to wade with ease, it was hardly deep enough to swim with knapsack weighing from sixty to eighty pounds on one's back. We were ordered to Mound City to relieve a company of. Kansas Jayhawkers, as the reckless Fifteen Kansas was called. Captain Swain, a former captain of this company, who had a few weeks before been sentenced by court martial to a term in military prison at Jeffersonville, Mo., had made his escape and was in hiding. A troop of regular army cavalry was scouring the country trying to find him. The captain in command of this troop suspected he was in hiding in the vicinity of Mound City and that this company was shielding him, hence we were ordered there to relieve the command.
I arrived at Mound City and went at once to headquarters and found there in command a much bewhiskered officer, faultlessly attired in regulation uniform, who received me with much for- mality and addressed me as "orderly." On reading the order he did not seem well pleased, and asked, "Where is this Captain Stocking ?" I replied, "Here." With surprise and a slight sneer he looked me over and said, "You Captain Stocking?" I replied
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in the affirmative and forgave him the sneer, as I certainly was a rough looking kid, a beardless boy in fatigue uniform, without a strap or bar to indicate my rank, and my clothes literally bespat- tered with Missouri clay. One could hardly blame the man for not wishing to turn over the command to such a youthful-looking tramp. On recovering from his surprise he asked, "When do you wish to take command?" I replied, "Immediately." He said, "Surely not tonight." I said, "You have read my orders, which say 'immediately.' You can consider yourself relieved now." He did not take this kindly. I had a man shot on picket duty that night, and when we were rolled out at midnight the situa- tion had me guessing for a time. The night was dark as a pocket, with a strong wind and heavy rain, and the location entirely new, as I was too tired to reconnoiter much before retiring that even- ing. I really was at a loss to know whether it was an attack from Taylor's band of bushwhackers, which were operating in that vicinity, or a shot from some straggling horse thief who was trying to open the corral where the post was located. I had the satisfaction of ordering a detachment of twenty-five men from the Jayhawkers to roll out and seout in the dark and rain until daylight. I also reinforced the picket with mounted men from, that command, which took the last man from their quarters and there was some swearing done on their part. After the fullest investigation I came to the conclusion that my man was shot by one of these self-same Jayhawkers in a spirit of revenge or an effort to stampede the "Doughboys." A stampede did not occur and I never was able to fasten the crime on them. The one satis- faction I had was in keeping their company out all night in the storm. They were a lawless bunch, and if I could ever have fastened this attempted murder on them they would have cer- tainly received a sample of discipline of which they were in sore need, and with which they were not entirely acquainted.
We garrisoned this post about four months. Our duty here was light and rather uninteresting. Bushwhacker scares among the natives were frequent, as they were very nervous, having been frequently raided. We gave them the fullest protection, however, and in return we were treated better by the citizens than we would have probably been treated in our own state.
In August, General Taylor, seeing the "jig was up," and that they could not divide the spoils with the troops then garrisoning the border, capitulated to our colonel, who was in command at Fort Scott, twenty-two miles distant. He surrendered a band of
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153 mounted guerrilas, who were taken to prison at Fort Leaven- worth. This wound up the guerrilla warfare, and there was no further need of our services there.
We were ordered to Lawrence, Kan., to rendezvous as a regi- ment. We expected to be mustered out, but instead were sent west to relieve the Eighth United States "Galvanized" Rebels, who were garrisoning posts on the western frontier. This service was scattered from Forst Ellsworth on the east to Fort Union on the southwest. Fort Ellsworth was on the Smoky Hill Fork, and Fort Union was at a point about 100 miles southwest of Pike's Peak.
Companies E and G were stationed at Fort Zarah. Our colonel with four companies was at Fort Larned, twenty-four miles west. The remaining four companies in command of Major Butt were, I think, stationed at Fort Union. A little excitement was threat- ened shortly after Captain Hutchinson of Company E took com- mand at Fort Zarah. The troops, who were rebels taken from Rock Island and other prisoners, officered by Union officers, and placed in the Indian service on the frontier, were really as bitter rebels as ever. We had 800 of them assembled at Fort Zarah awaiting marching orders to Fort Leavenworth, where they expected to be discharged. The order was slow in coming and the command mutinied and refused to do duty. Captain Hutchin- son ordered that the arms be taken from the men and they con- fined to quarters on prisoners' rations. The men refused to give up their arms. The situation was threatening and it required courage to meet it, as they were 800 to our 135; they occupied quarters and we occupied tents, but Captain Hutchinson had the nerve requisite, and he made good, quelled the mutiny and the troops did duty until their orders came. Our service at Fort Zarah was strenuous if not exciting. It consisted of the ordinary garrison duty and escort duty, which in some cases was very dis- tasteful. Colonel Dent was at the Big Bend of the Arkansas a few miles south, with a supply camp, issuing annuities to the Indians. Bodies of chiefs and head men of the tribes would come to the fort, and the commander would give them a liberal body- guard in command of a trusty officer to protect them from the desire of revenge on the part of the soldiers, on their way to receive the presents of the government at the hands of Colonel Dent. The situation was further aggravated by the knowledge that a half-breed son of this same Colonel Dent was in command of a body of Sioux warriors, murdering and pillaging on the Platte route, only thirty-five miles north. Stage coaches were
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held up, passengers murdered, the stock stolen and coaches burned by this blood-thirsty band. Woe be to the straggling soldier who fell into their hands. Some of the most fiendish tortures imagin- able were meted out to these self-same soldiers. We were lucky in escaping them, but they got some of the Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry and tortured them to death, sometimes in sight of Fort Fletcher, where a detachment of this regiment was stationed.
Being mounted, the tendency of the men was to straggle and hunt buffalo. I had a party of twenty men, who had been kept busy getting wood for winter for several weeks, and who were enjoying the hunt which had been promised them, when we came nearly running into the jaws of this blood-thirsty band. Some hunters discovered our camp fire and warned us of the close proximity of the Indians, and we stood not on the order of going, but "got" for the fort as soon as we could get our stock, which had stampeded, and run to the fort that evening. It seems an interposition of Providence that saved us, for that very day the men had been hunting in parties of ten within a few miles of Fort Fletcher, and that same day the Indians captured two stage coaches, shot the passengers one by one as they were trying to escape, burning the coaches and running off with the stock. They caught two soldiers of the Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry within sight of the fort and tortured them to death in a manner too revolting to put on paper. Little wonder the soldiers were ready to retaliate on sight and that it was necessary to strongly guard the parties who came for annuities. The father issuing annuities and the son murdering and torturing in the same vicinity was an aggravating situation.
Kit Carson, the famous scout and delightful man, later went into camp five miles north of us on the Walnnt. As guests he had for a time the secretary of the legation of Belgium and the assistant secretary of the legation of Prussia, whom we often entertained at mess. Both were trying to enjoy the hunting of buffaloes, but they had some sad experiences, the Belgian shoot- ing his horse through the neck by accident and getting a bruising fall when the horse went down. They soon got tired of the sport and returned to civilization at the first opportunity. We enjoyed their visits very much, and when they left us they gave each officer an urgent invitation to call on them should we ever visit their country. It was my privilege to command an escort for Kit Carson on his final and successful effort to complete a treaty with the five war tribes, which was accomplished after days of, to me, aggravating parleying at a point called Plum Buttes. Each day's
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council would be broken up by the defiant chief of the Arapahoes, who had a white woman prisoner for his squaw and he refused to give her up, which was one of the conditions of completing the treaty. About 4 p. m. each day he would mount his horse and ride off, and all the chiefs would follow him, breaking up the council. The soldiers were very impatient, and the last day I suggested to Carson that we murder the whole band. He replied, "No, no, for God's sake put that out of your head. They will come to time in the end," and they did. Of this patient, per- sistent, quiet man I can only say he was one of the most delight- ful companions and straightforward, determined men I ever met. He believed in the Indians, or pretended to, and they swore by him. He deserved their confidence. This treaty was signed and peace reigned for a time. How long I do not remember, but for the few days we remained on the frontier it was safe to travel without fear of losing one's scalp.
Early in December we were relieved by regular troops and started on our homeward march. Here let me say, that I believe that for exposure and fatigue, no troops ever made such a march in America. The night before we left Fort Zarah a foot of snow fell. Our first two days' march was uneventful, the weather, although cold, was not severe. The morning of the third day a blizzard struck us, which continued almost uninterruptedly for four days. The first day the mules would not face it and we had to go in camp at the end of a five-mile march. Having only drawn enough rations to make the march, which, if my memory serves me right, was twenty-four days, we could not tarry or we would be out of supplies in that vast wilderness of snow and upon a bleak plain. The second day we started with a shovel corps of fifty men, who were relieved by a fresh detail of men each hour, and we literally shoveled our roads for eighty miles. The wagon- master would take his riding mule by the tail and start him out to find the trail. When he floundered the men would shovel him out, and they were shoveling him out most of the time. The snow was from three to thirty feet deep. Every ravine or depression in the plains was filled. Some of these ravines were twenty to thirty feet and often of greater depth. At night we would cut out a hole in the snow for our tents and pitch them. Companies E and G had only dog tents, properly called shelter tents, and these would often be covered up in the morning if the wind was high, making it snug and comfortable during the night, but "Oh, what a difference in the morning," when the cook's detail would roll out and make a fire of wet elm, over which the cook would
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