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 18
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89
183
EAU CLAIRE COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR
brew hot coffee. The men would take a cup of coffee in one hand and hardtack in the other and make a large ring about the fire and take a dog trot and keep it up until coffee and hardtack were consumed, then off for the day's tramp. Only one day did we lose the trail entirely. That night we camped about three miles south of a rocky prominence on a high sugar-loaf hill, which, if I remember right, was called Chimney Rock. When I went to the wagon train to get a shovel to shovel the snow away so I could pitch my tent I met the wagonmaster and said to him: "I thought we passed north of that rock when we marched out." He replied : "You did, the road is at the north, but I tell you, cap- tain, no landmark ever looked so good to me as that very rock when I sighted it this p. m. I was lost all day." I replied that I did not know it. He said, "Of course you didn't know it. It was all I could do to fight the panic within me. Should I have let the situation be known there would have been 500 men in the damndest panic you ever heard of, and hell would have been pop- ping. I am just truly thankful to be here tonight."
Strange as it appears to me up to this day we lost no man on this march. Our drum-major, a man well along in years, and Jolın Wilkinson, a very large man, standing 6 feet 3 inches high and weighing 325 pounds, both gave out, and we put them in the wagon and covered them with blankets and left them at Fort Riley when we reached that point. I supposed that both lost their feet, but I met Wilkinson in West Superior twenty years later with both feet attached. He said the drum-major lost his feet, but he saved his, although they were not so good as he would wish. Our colonel froze his face so badly that both eyes were tempor- arily blind and we left him at Junction City, the border town.
He arrived in time to join the regiment before we left Fort Leavenworth and came back home with us. He was a young, sturdy man, who was duck-legged and could not wade through the snow, so he stuck to the saddle, and this came near costiug him his life. It is said that a man can stand more than a mule. This march proved this assertion to be true. When we left Fort Zarah we had thirty-six six-mule teams, as fine animals as I ever saw and in prime condition. When we reached Fort Leavenworth all but four teams were condemned as no longer fit for service and sold under the hammer at auction. The only thing that saved our command was the fact that we had so much transportation. This wagon train was returning empty from a trip to the West and was assigned to our men. We had been on the plains for months and nearly every man had one or more buffalo skins and
184
HISTORY OF EAU CLAIRE COUNTY
wolf pelts, and here were transportation facilities enough so he could bring them home, as well as all his clothing and heavy blankets. Under ordinary conditions a man would not have been allowed transportation for half the luggage each soldier had, and these same skins saved the lives of the men. Halters and ropes were stretched along the wagons attached to the box, top bows, or any place where a hitch could be secured. A guard was sta- tioned at each wagon to keep men from riding, as they would have frozen to death if they had ridden, but the halters and rope made a hold for the men and they could catch on and drag them- selves through the snow, which was from knee to crotch deep, thus making the march and keeping warm at the same time, other- wise not half the command would have survived the first eighty miles of blizzard and deep snow.
When we arrived at Fort Leavenworth after twenty-four days' march we were a little battered, but still in the ring. We were mustered out as soon as we could get our muster-out rolls made and turned over our camp and garrison equippings. We were dis- charged at Madison, where we received a grand reception on our arrival on the ninth day of January, 1866, if my memory serves mne right.
We did not put down the rebellion. We were never in a pitched battle. If we had been I would tell you of it, even if we ran, for " 'tis better to have fought and ran, than never to have fought at all." Lee may have surrendered sooner having known that the doughty Forty-eighth Wisconsin was under arms. I am not informed as to that. We did not smell much powder, except as we shot down the unsuspecting buffalo and wolves, but we had a lot of hard marching and we were "Johnny on the spot" when orders came for any kind of service. Of course there is no doubt but that General Taylor hustled to make the best terms he could when the Forty-eighth Wisconsin relieved the Kansas Jayhawkers. This may seem a joke, but there is room for truth. The Jay- hawkers were sometimes accused of whacking up with Taylor and his men in the divvy of stolen horses and other plunder. The Forty-eighth was there to protect lives and property, and I have never heard them accused of appropriating either people's stock or conniving at the acts of the guerrillas, or sharing the spoils with them. So General Taylor may have thought his occupation gone once we entered his domains.
As soon as the Indians found that this "unwhipped" regiment was assigned to garrison duty on the frontier there was "noth- ing to it." The five war tribes simply capitulated as soon as they
185
EAU CLAIRE COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR
could be induced to give up their white women prisoners and be sure they would be well fed and cared for during that cold winter. Colonel Dent was liberal with the annuities. Both of these con- ditions may have had something to do with it, but I think that the fact that "that Wisconsin regiment" was out there praying for a chance to shoot something put the final touch to the con- ditions and induced them to lay down their arms and take no chances until the grass was high enough for feed, and the roving deer and antelope returned to their usual haunts.
What I have given you is history as I recall it, but not much of it is war history, and I doubt if any of it will be of service to you. To be honest, the nearest we ever came to a fight was to bury the dead at the Battle of Mine Creek. Our service with bushwhackers and Indians was inglorious and unsatisfactory. We, however, endured hardships and experienced enough fatigue to make us rejoice at the opportunity of returning to-if not more peaceful haunts-at least more congenial.
Respectfully yours,
H. M. STOCKING.
EXPERIENCE OF JAMES F. ALLEN.
Narrative of the Prison Experience of James Fred Allen, of Eau Claire, Wis., Private in Company K. 16th Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers, Who Enlisted When Only Seven- teen Years Old and Whose War Experience Was Prac- tically All in Rebel Prisons.
After the battle of Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864, we remained in- active until the 12th. That night after we had turned in, we received orders to pack up, fall in and move out quietly and with as little noise as possible. We of the rank and file didn't under- stand the meaning of this, to us, unnecessary caution, but learned later that Wade Hampton's Legion (cavalry) was suspected of being in our vicinity and would hang on our flanks ready to at- tack any of our troops they felt able to get away with, hence the caution which some of us later found to our sorrow was well timed. We moved out, as I remember, about 9 P. M. and after marching about two hours, the night being very dark, we were overtaken by a courier with the information that we, with a portion of the command had somewhere after starting taken the wrong road in the dark and must about face and get back in quick time, but with the main command now far in the front. We made a supreme effort to catch the command, but just before
186
HISTORY OF EAU CLAIRE COUNTY
reaching it we got whispered orders to stop for a breathing spell and a few minutes rest. This was our undoing, for in a moment we were stretched along the side of the road in the woods out of the mud and were sound asleep, as indeed, many had been for some time while marching in the ranks, and when a little later the order to fall in again was passed, still in whispers, some of us for obvious reasons, failed to respond, and it being still very dark were not missed by our comrades or by the orderly whose busi- ness it was to get us into line, until too late. It was broad day light when we awoke, and when we realized the situation our feelings can better be imagined than described.
But we pulled ourselves together and made another effort to catch the command; this however, soon proved futile for we hadn't gone a mile when we were halted by a command to sur- render by a squad of cavalry who stepped into the road ahead of us, and as they outnumbered us we at once saw the point of their argument and like good soldiers, obeyed orders, but before they could get to and disarm us we had the satisfaction of spoil- ing the efficiency as well as the beauty of our new Springfield rifles by bringing their stocks suddenly in contact with near-by trees. This precaution in the interest of our eause, was however, strongly resented by our captors and had it not been for some of the older and eooler heads among them it would certainly have gone hard with us, for at that period of the war the most impor- tant capture a reb could make next to a live Yankee, was a new Springfield musket.
We were, as near as I can remember, about seven miles from Richmond to which city we started as soon as they stripped us of everything of value to them and arriving there were immediately put in Libby prison on the third floor, a hungry and tired lot of boys. We remained here about two weeks, being treated fairly well and little dreaming of the horrors in store for us when the gates of Andersonville closed behind us later.
About the first of July we were loaded in cattle cars recently used for transportation of cattle, and after a trip of four days' jolting and bumping over the worst roads imaginable, and filled with hardships and suffering, we reached Andersonville Prison, that horrible hell-hole of the Confederacy in the interior of Georgia, where in a stockade of thirty acres were confined as many as 33,000 Union prisoners at one time, packed in so closely that the space equally divided would allow only four square feet to a man. Here during the last year of the war were confined about 50,000 of whom over 13,000 died from starvation, exposure, This is prism Irri allen grandper Fonds hefte was held-
187
EAU CLAIRE COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR
scurvy and loathsome diseases. No pen can tell what we suffered in the months we were held there till the close of the war.
Around the inside of the stockade, twenty feet from its base, ran the dead line and should a person step over the line acei- dentally or purposely he was shot by the sentinels on the stock- ade. Many driven half insane by the horrors of their daily exist- ence deliberately walked to death by erossing this dead line.
A swamp was the center of the prison and through it flowed a small creek, which furnished all the water that was to be had for the daily use of the prisoners and in addition it was the sewer for thousands of men crowded together, who had to drink of its pestilential waters.
Most of us were without shelter from the winter storms or summer heat and the rags which we wore did not cover our nakedness. We yearned for the refuse food in the swill pails of our northern homes.
No attempt was made by Wirz, the inhuman rebel monster in charge of the prison, to lighten our sufferings and make us eom- fortable, but his every effort was to prolong and intensify our sufferings. Refuse bacon unfit for any human being, and un- bolted cornmeal was our diet. It could not and was not meant to support life. Men were dying like flies each day, feet and ankles rotting off, limbs swollen to thrice their normal size. Unable to protect themselves, their food was stolen from them by their crazed comrades in their desperate fight for life. Although green eorn and vegetables eould easily have been furnished them, they were withheld so that scurvy could do its work.
No elothing was given to us to wear or soap for washing, nor medical assistance in sickness. Chills and fever were rife and diarrhoea ever prevalent, while the stench was unspeakable and always with us.
In October, just before Sherman started on his march to the sea, and doubtless in anticipation of his attempt to liberate us, we were hurriedly put in cattle ears and run to Savannah, Ga., and put into a temporary stockade, pending the completion of the stockade at Millen, Ga., and after a short stay in Savannah were taken to the new one at Millen. This was a vast improve- ment over Andersonville in many ways, not the least of which was our escape from the monster Wirz, which, however, was only temporary, for those of us who survived until fall were destined to have more experience with that fiend in human shape. Our stay in Millen prison was about two months, and in November, on the day of the general elections in the north, and at the insti-
188
HISTORY OF EAU CLAIRE COUNTY
gation of the rebel authorities themselves, we held a mock elec- tion, the result of which was very disappointing to the rebels as we elected Lincoln over Mcclellan two to one, which showed them, plainly the war would be prosecuted to the end without compromise and that the loyal people of the country were in the majority. Some time in the first part of December when Sherman was nearing Millen, we were again loaded on box cars and sent back to Savannah and from there without changing cars on to Blackshear, a station on the coast railroad near Thomasville. We were placed in the woods with a heavy guard around us and kept here a few days and then on to Thomasville, Ga., where we stayed two weeks when, Sherman having gone to Savannah, we started on a four days' march across the country to Albany, Ga., sixty miles, taking the cars again at this point and on Christmas Day 1864, were back in Andersonville again. At this time our num- bers had been greatly reduced by death, exchange, and transfer to other prisons, so we did not number more than three or four hundred. We suffered greatly from the cold and many died from cold and exposure who otherwise might have pulled through. But all things have an end and so were our days in this hell on earth. And when on the 28th of April, 1865, we were ordered to the depot to take cars for our lincs at Jacksonville, Fla., our joy knew no bounds. It came so sudden and was such a shock, that to say, some of us acted like lunaties in our great joy over the prospects of deliverance, would be putting it very mildly. But we got off finally and after a ride of two or three days in our old friends- the cattle cars, without much to vary the monotony we reached Baldwin, Fla., twenty miles from Jacksonville; the track being torn up between two places, we were escorted for a short distance by a rebel guard and then without further ceremony were turned loose and it was then every man for himself and a great strife to be the first to reach God's country, our friends, and the Stars and Stripes, which I had not seen for about eleven months.
We stayed in Jacksonville long enough to gain strength to stand the trip north, which was about two weeks, for we were taken in hand at once by the doctors, who put ns on a strict diet to keep us from killing ourselves by overeating. First of all we were led to the St. John's river, and after casting our rags in a common pile and being furnished with soap and towels, were ordered into the water for a general cleaning after which each was given a new uniform, a welcome exchange for the rags we had been wearing so long, and which we proudly donned.
We boarded a river steamer about the first of May for Fernan-
CHARLES WHIPPLE Lieutenant Colonel
Vriend & weight of na Eugen Panel was by rail road
CAPT. A. M. SHERMAN Second and San ciang at end of new fail on comer
it of alidjust
-
HENRY W. BUTLER
189
EAU CLAIRE COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR
dina, where we transferred to an ocean transport for parole camp at Annapolis, Md. I will not attempt to describe our passage north, further than to say that of the six hundred on board probably seventy-five per cent were very seasick, which in many cases lasted during the trip, and when it is considered that we were all confined below deeks, it will not require a very vivid imagination to realize the condition we were in when reaching our destination, and that our joy on reaching port was only second to that when being released from rebeldom.
We stayed a few days in Annapolis, received our commuta- tion of ration money, which in my case amounted to $72.00 at twenty-five cents per day, and were forwarded to the distribution camp for western men at St. Louis and a few days later we Wis- consin men were sent to Madison and home.
Edward Nolan and John Cunningham from my company were captured at the same time. Of the others taken at the same time from the regiment were two from Company I, Bogley and Par- sons. They both died in Andersonville. I found Parsons dead at my side one morning.
I did not attempt to escape by tunnelling under the stockade, as many did, for none of the three locations I had was near enough the dead line to warrant it. Many got out, but few suc- ceeded in getting away and when caught were subjected to hor- rible and inhuman torture by buck and gagging, being strung up by their thumbs and starving. I did escape for a time how- ever, with two others, when lying in the woods at Albany, Ga., waiting for a train to take us back to Andersonville. Although a line of guards was around us we succeeded in elnding them one dark night and slipped through. We made a clean getaway for the time being, but when it became light enough to see we fonnd we had traveled in a circle and were back to the point of starting. We started again and reached the home of a planter. We were nearly famished and decided to attempt to get food from the planter's negro slaves, who as a rule were friendly to the Yankees and would do all they could to help escaping prison- ers. We cautionsly approached the cabin furthest from the plan- tation honse, but unfortunately someone saw us and reported to the planter who, with revolvers in his belt and a pack of vicious dogs at his heels, came down to interview us. Under ordinary circumstances we would have thrown up our hands and given up in despair after taking in the situation, but we had been up against similar situations many times and were by this time sea- soned veterans and decided to make the best of it, and to this
190
HISTORY OF EAU CLAIRE COUNTY
end our spokesman, a comrade by the name of Mckinley from a Pennsylvania regiment who was one of us, in a few well chosen words (he was good at that) told him that we were escaped prisoners, were nearly famished and that we had come out for something to eat. Mr. Mercer, for that was his name, looked us over and, probably under the influence of Mack's eloquence changed his aggressive look, dropped his hand from his revolver and in a friendly voice told us to come up to his house. Arriving there he ordered his cook to get us something to eat, others to make a big fire in the yard and still others to bring out chairs for us to sit on, and then he himself brought a large black bottle with glasses, and, being his guests and knowing the custom of the country and the sensitiveness of the people in such matters, we laid aside for the moment any conscientious scruples we might have had and helped ourselves. This put is in fine condition to do justice to the breakfast which soon followed, and which we ate still in the yard. To say that we enjoyed it but feebly ex- presses the intense satisfaction of being filled up again after our long fast on half rations. After finishing breakfast Mr. Mercer again sent his servants for meal, sweet potatoes, etc., for us to take with us. Then he made us a little speech in which he said he was not a soldier, being exempt on account of having a certain number of slaves, but it was his duty to take us back to camp; that he deplored the war and wished it was over; that he sym- pathized with us in our troubles and hoped we would finally reach home safely, etc., and now if we were ready he would take us to the provost marshal in Albany, which he did, and that night we were placed in the guard house and next morning turned in with the rest of the prisoners. This happened many years ago, but it seems but yesterday, so vividly was it impressed on my mind. It was the only bright spot in my prison experience and I shall never forget it.
I have always thought Mr. Mercer was a union man at heart and whether or not, he certainly was a man in the truest sense and stands out in violent contrast to all others with whom we came in contact while in the confederacy. I heard of him after we moved to Florida through a widow who came here from Albany. She always spoke very highly of him and that he was one of the solid men of that section.
On our way home from Andersonville the Government gave us stationery for writing home and instructed us to write on the envelope "Paroled Prisoner's Letter." This would allow the let- ter to go through the mails without postage being paid in ad-
191
EAU CLAIRE COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR
vance, but it would be collected at its destination. When my letter written from St. Louis reached home the postmaster J. W. Farwell, called Myron Briggs' attention to it and said that it must be from me. Mr. Briggs promptly paid the postage and took the letter to mother.
Previous to this an exchanged prisoner had reported that he knew me in Andersonville, had divided his last morsel with me and saw me die. A funeral sermon was preached in Eau Claire by reason of that report to which all gave credence.
I reached home a few days after the Free Press announced (May 25, 1865) that I was still alive.
SOME NEWSPAPER NOTES DURING THE CLOSING MONTHS OF THE WAR.
The Free Press of June 30, 1864, records the return of Company C, Capt. Victor Wolf, and the survivors of the Eagle company. There were but fifty-six left, and of this number thirty re-enlisted for the remainder of the war.
Nearly every issue records the death of one or more sol- diers who went out from this county.
In the summer of 1864 an attempt was made to recruit Chippewa Indians for service in the war, but the plan proved a failure.
In the Free Press of September 8, 1864, is found a very complimentary mention of Lieut .- Col. Charles Whipple. This Charles Whipple was a brother of Capt. D. C. Whipple and was an early Chippewa river steamboat man. He received a commission as lientenant-colonel and served for a time in the navy, later being transferred to the Nine- teenth Wisconsin Infantry.
In the Free Press of September 22, 1864, is recorded the return of Capt. (later Major) John R. Wheeler, of the Sixteenth Wisconsin, severely wounded in both legs.
In the Free Press of November 10, 1864, complimentary mention is made of Capt. A. M. Sherman, of the Second Cavalry, who had just resigned his commission and returned to Eau Claire.
In the Free Press of February 16 is recorded the promo- tion of Capt. John R. Wheeler of the Sixteenth Wisconsin to major of the regiment, and a very complimentary men- tion of the man.
The Free Press of March 9, 1865, records the departure
192
HISTORY OF EAU CLAIRE COUNTY
of Lieut. (later Captain) H. M. Stocking with his company for Milwaukee to join the Forty-eighth Wisconsin Infantry.
The Free Press of April 20, 1865, appears with heavy black lines, and the announcement of the assassination of President Lincoln.
A CLOSING WORD.
In the preparation of this Civil War chapter my only aim has been to give a true and unbiased presentation of the part taken by Eau Claire county in the Civil War. The extracts from Civil War letters, newspapers and records have been given as found, and these records and the pic- tures furnished will be allowed to speak for themselves. It is for the reader to judge whether or not our county meas- ured up to its full duty during those trying years from- sixty-one to sixty-five.
WILLIAM W. BARTLETT.
CHAPTER XII. EAGLE POST, G. A. R.
By L. A. BRACE.
The Grand Army of the Republic was organized at Decatur, Illinois, April 6, 1866, by Dr. B. F. Stephenson, of Springfield, Illinois, who had served as surgeon of the Fourteenth Illinois Infantry. At the close of the war he resumed his practice in Springfield, where, in February, 1866, he first suggested the organization of the G. A. R., and made a draft of a ritual. Through his efforts, assisted by comrades, the first post, known as No. 1, was organized at Decatur, Illinois, April 6, 1866, Dr. Stephenson being in general charge of the organization of posts in other states. On October 31, 1866, he issued a call for a national convention of the G. A. R., which was held in Indian- apolis, November 20, 1866. Gen. John M. Palmer, the first depart- ment commander, presided.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.