USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895 > Part 22
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 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95
made a brigadier-general before he is retired, which will be in 1897. Company B had four lieutenants, as follows: J. B. Kellogg, H. R. Bond, C. P. Foot and J. H. Butler. The civil officers of Company B were, president, G. A. Woodward; vice-president, C. P. Foot; secretary, W. L. Hins- dale; financial secretary, J. B. Kellogg. April +, 1857, the work of effecting a Light Guard bat- talion was completed, with the election of Rufus King as major; Frederick B. Miles, paymaster; Dr. Louis McKnight, surgeon; John M. Durand, commissary; John Nazro, quartermaster; Rev. J. P. T. Ingraham, chaplain and John L. Hathaway, adjutant. The promotion of Captain King left a vacancy in the captaincy of Company A which was promptly filled by the election of John C. Starkweather, who had been a member of the company from the start. Captain Starkweather gave Company A a lively experience from the day of his election until the beginning of the war, and then took most of its members with him to the front, in the First Wisconsin Infantry, "Three months men." He was a native of New York, born May 11, 1830, led the First Wisconsin as a three months regiment, and afterwards a three years regiment, until he was appointed, in 1863, a brigadier-general. He made a brilliant record in the army. After the war he located at Oconom- owoc, where he resided for some years-having a fine stock farm near the city-and served one term as postmaster, under General Grant. It is proper to go into details in this connection, because of the fact that the movements and the various demonstrations by the company, under Captain Starkweather, had a mighty influence in awaken- ing the military spirit that, a few short years afterward, was so important to the government. The Light Guard led in the enterprise of the military convention which began in this city on the 14th of October, 1857, over which Major- General S. B. Grant presided, while Captain E. E. Townsend acted as secretary. This was the first military convention held in Milwaukee. The con- vention was attended by officers who represented the following named companies : Companies A and B, of the Milwaukee Light Guard; the Union Guards, of Milwaukee; City Dragoons; Washington Artillery, of Milwaukee; the Milwaukee Rifles ; Mayville Rifles; Cedarburg Rifles ; Government Guards, of Racine ; Kenosha City Guard; Wash-
110
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE.
ington Light Guard, of Kenosha ; Burlington Rifles; the Black Yagers, of Milwaukee; the Grafton Rifles and the Jackson Guards of Racine. At this convention steps were taken to secure legislative action which would perfect the mili- tary laws of the state. A leader of the discussion, in favor of such action, was the late Senator Frederick W. Horn, who was then captain of the Cedarburg Rifles, and who, since then, has been prominent as a State Senator and assemblyman, and as Speaker of the Assembly during three sessions. The convention appointed the following committee to look after the required legislation : Major Rufus King, Captain E. O'Neil, Captain D. Leibhaber and Captain H. X. Haas. The conven- tion resulted greatly to the benefit of the state militia. It adjourned to meet at Madison, Novem- ber 3, 1858, and the attendance was very large. The Milwaukee Light Guard went to Madison as a company, and paraded through Madison, greatly to the delight of her people. Governor Randall made a speech to the company in which he praised the soldiers very highly for their fine appearance and soldierly conduct. He said he had never witnessed such a magnificent exhibition of skill and proficiency by any company.
Company A's great event in civil life was its trip to Detroit, Buffalo, Albany, New York, Rochester and other Eastern cities. The start was made from Milwaukee on June 6, 1859. The whole city seemed to have turned out to see the company escorted to the steamer " Cleveland " by the other military companies of the city. There was firing of cannon, cheering and waving of handkerchiefs as the boat steamed out into the lake. At Grand Rapids they were entertained, for a short time, by the Valley City Guards, the booming of cannon having announced their ar- rival. They reached Detroit early the next morn- ing, and for two days, the Detroit Light Guard, the city officers and the people generally, vied with each other in bestowing courtesies and honors upon the Milwaukee company. There were parades, reviews and dances, a banquet and social visits. At the banquet speeches were made by Henry L. Palmer, Rufus King, and Captain Starkweather of this city, and by Senators W. A. Howard and "Zack " Chandler of Michigan. The welcome and the demonstrations at Buffalo were, if anything, more hearty and more general than
they had been at Detroit. There was a stop of two days at Buffalo, with a round of pleasures that are still talked about and enjoyed by the survivors. One of the surprises of the trip was the reception and the many honors bestowed upon the American soldiers at Hamilton, Canada, where a fine banquet was tendered. The reception of the Milwaukeeans at Albany was simply an ovation. A representative of the Milwaukee Light Guard was known there to the military companies and by many friends. Private Rufus King had been ad- jutant-general of the Empire State, and had won a National reputation as an editor, and besides, at that time, there was a rapidly growing interest in
II. Lane, Captain F. W. Horn, Captain J. A. military affairs; all of these combined to make
the stay at Albany notable in many respects. They were received and entertained by the Al- bany Burgess Corps, an organization whose first beginning dates back nearly one hundred years. The Light Guard and the Albany company pa- raded, the afternoon of the 13th, attracting much attention and receiving high praise. The Albany company and the Light Guard formed a battalion and held a dress parade. There was some diffi- culty in deciding as to who should act as adjutant. Anyone who knows anything about a dress parade understands that the adjutant has intricate and important duties to perform. Captain Stark- weather said, " I have a private in my company who can perform the duties of adjutant, and asked that Private King step out of the rank and fill that station." Private King complied, and when the Burgess Corps, of which he had been captain previous to locating in Milwaukee, discovered him, they called "our old captain," and began to cheer him, and then the people, many thousand of whom had assembled, took up the cheers, and for a time this modest private of the Milwaukee Light Guard, who had held so many prominent positions before, and who afterward attained high rank as a soldier in the war and a foreign minister, was the lion of the occasion. The manner in which the improvised adjutant performed his difficult duties elicited more cheers, and the Albany peo- ple were so delighted with the Western company that they invited the Milwaukeeans to remain a month. From Albany, Captain Stark weather moved upon New York, where several well-known companies united in entertaining them through- out their stay of nearly three days. Speeches were made by distinguished civil and military of-
111
LEGENDARY WARFARE AND EARLY MILITARY HISTORY.
ficers and there were happy responses by Captain Starkweather and Private Rufus King. The re- ceptions and attention were none the less magnifi- cent at Utica and Rochester. The press of the whole country devoted much space to this memor_ able tour of the Milwaukee Light Guard. Within the next few months large numbers of military companies were organized in New York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and several in Wisconsin, and it was commonly understood at that time that the new interest was very largely the result of the tour of the Light Gnards, and the publicity given to its numerous parades, drills, banquets and re- ceptions.
These new companies, the outgrowth of Mil- wankee's advance through several states, furnished leaders to companies, regiments, brigades and di- visions when the time came for something more than playing soldier. Most of the men in that
grand old Light Guard company, whose triumphal tour has thus been alluded to, were soldiers from 1861 to 1865, and among them were division, brig- ade, regimental, battery and company command- ers. Particular stress is put upon the conduct of this, the best known and the most popular mili- tary company Milwaukee ever had, because of the good results which flowed from its early military experience. The work of that company consti- tuted one of the brightest, prondest pages in Mil- waukee's history. Our city had become so much attached to the Light Guard that after it went to the war, there was organized a Light Infantry company to partially take its place as a home company and to participate in celebrating on notable occasions ; but no sooner would the new company get proficient, than its ranks would be depleted by the enlistment, for the war, of its best members.
CHAPTER XXII.
MILITARY HISTORY OF THE WAR PERIOD.
BY J. A. WATROUS.
O N the 15th day of April, 1861-the day after the fall of Fort Sumter-in re- sponse to President Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand volunteers, which had been issued that day, steps were taken to hold a war meeting in Milwaukee. The first meeting was held on the evening of that day, in the hall of the Chamber of Commerce at 103 Grand avenue, and was called to order by Dr. Lemuel Weeks, for many years a prominent resident of the city. Horatio Hill, John Nazro and David Ferguson, constituting a committee on permanent organization, reported the name of Hans Crocker for president, with the following list of vice-presidents: G. A. Stark- weather, D. A. J. Upham, John G. Imbush, George W. Allen, Winfield Smith, Andrew Dutcher, Otis HI. Waldo. John Bradford, Charles H. Larkin, Francis Huesbschmann and James Johnson. Edward P. Allis, John H. Tesch and Duncan Mc- Donald were named as secretaries, and J. B. D. Cogswell, Daniel Newhall and J. S Brown as a committee on resolutions. The report of the Committee on Permanent Organization was adopted and the above-mentioned names of lead- ing citizens of Milwaukee have passed into history as officials of the first meeting held in this city to arouse a public sentiment in favor of the suppres- sion of armed rebellion. The Committee on Reso- lutions reported the following as the sentiment of the framers and it was made the sentiment of the meeting by unanimous adoption.
Resolved, That the citizens of Milwaukee re- ceive the intelligence of the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter, with emotions of pro- found regret and humiliation. We regard it as a national disaster that the flag of our country has been struck at the behest of traitors.
Resolved, That the action of the so-called southern confederacy in refusing supplies to, and opening fire upon a small and insulated, though gallant garrison, reduced to the verge of destitu-
tion, is an outrage which must meet the condem- nation of the civilized world.
Resolved, That the events of the 13th and 14th of April should satisfy all men that it is vain longer to attempt to conciliate the seceded states by soft words and submission to repeated insults.
Resolved, That forgetting party differences and burying recrimination for the past, we recognize it as the imperative duty of all good citizens to sustain and support the President of the United States in his efforts to suppress treasonable com- binations, to sustain and enforce the laws, and to repossess the forts and property of the Union, and that we approve the governor's recommendation to the state legislature to prepare for the exi- gencies of the struggle.
The first war speech delivered in Milwaukee was made while these resolutions were being formulated in committee, by Hon. George W. Allen, and a notable feature of the proceedings during the evening was the entire absence of par- tisan feeling or political rancor. Republicans and Democrats alike denounced the rebellious uprising of the imperious southrons, and although the sen- timent expressed in the above quoted resolutions was mild in comparison with the warlike utter- ances of a later date, it evinced the determined purpose of loyal men to abandon former political affiliations and stand shoulder to shoulder in de- fense of the Union and the doctrine of national supremacy. Four days later another war meet- ing was held at the same place, and on that occa. sion William Young-who was then a British subject, although a business man of high stand- ing in Milwaukee-presented a flag to the Chamber of Commerce, evoking great enthusiasm in a short, but eloquent speech, evincing his love of his adopted country and his fealty to the gov- ernment in the struggle which was then com- mencing. Matt II. Carpenter, Joshua La Dne, Jonathan E. Arnold, George II. Walker, S. Park
112
8
113
MILITARY HISTORY OF THE WAR PERIOD.
Coon and others made speeches glowing with patriotic fervor, on that occasion, and within the brief space of a week after the fall of Sumter the city was aglow with patriotic ardor and was per- vaded by the martial spirit.
On the 16th of April Governor Randall had issued his proclamation calling for volunteers for three months to fill Wisconsin's quota of troops, and the work of enlisting men began without a moment's delay. The Milwaukee Light Guard at once tendered their services to the governor, and the Milwaukee Union Rifles, the Black Yagers and the Milwaukee Riflemen-three other companies-began recruiting at once.
Captain Starkweather, of the Light Guard, was commissioned colonel and authorized to re- cruit a regiment. Four companies were promptly formed, and the regiment was made up in a few days, greatly to the disappointment of a dozen or more companies that desired to get out with the First Regiment. The Light Guard Company, for the First Regiment, was filled April 20th, and the list was as follows : Captain George B. Bing- ham, who became colonel of the First upon the promotion of General Starkweather ; first lieuten- ant, Charles Dudley; second lieutenant, Geo F. Williams; first sergeant, Gilbert E. Bingham ; second sergeant, John C. Goodrich ; third ser- geant, Hiram M. Booth ; fourth sergeant, Wm. H. Starkweather; first corporal, Henry M. Hill; second corporal, Thos. Forbes ; third corporal, Henry S. Lee ; fourth corporal, Frank W. Cutler. Privates: Lyman J. McCracken, Orrin M. Buttles, Chas. H. Messinger, John W. Plummer, Julius O. Smith, Wm. Plummer, Matthew H. Reed, Jr., George E. Prentiss, John G. Gerber, Wın. H. Sib- ley, Edwin D. Hewitt, Arthur B. Weelock, Henry D. Phelps, Edward Phelps, Ilerbert W. Keyes, Rob- ert E. Foot, Frank S. Stayner, John B. Colby, Alex W. Porter, John Van Ells, Albert Webber, George C. Drake, Edward Furguson, Alonzo Baker, Wm. Wilson, Jr., Wmn. J. Denney, Henry C. Palmer, Conrad Kirst, Minot Marsden, Darwin C. Merrill, Oscar A. Dunbar, Wm. B. Sherman, Lafayette Smith, Galen E. Green, George Bleyer, Edward H. Sivyer, Joseph Bramhall, Jas. M. Langworthy, Francis W. Parsons, Wm. W. Swan, Robert W Nickles, Frank A. Smith, Albert Mantz, Cyrus C. Rice, Isaac F. Simonds, Abram B. Simonds, Jr., Walter C. Hutchins, John E. Newman, Frank Keller, James Hunt, Thos. Johnson, Frank T.
Hobbs, Augustas B. Mower, Wm. H. Whitney, Chas. C. Savage, Jobn Bingham, Wm. M. Quig- ley, Frank Fox, Mirabeau L. Bridges, John B. Johnson, Win. P. Graves, Edgar H. Mitchell, George B. Clason, William Ault, Thos. Lacy, Geo. Haywood, Thos. T. Keeth, Horatio M. Price.
On the 23rd of April the company entered Camp Scott, and on the 27th it was mustered into the service by Judge Advocate Edwin L. Buttrick, who afterward commanded a Wisconsin regi- ment, and has long been a prominent citizen of Charleston, West Virginia. Milwaukee contrib- uted four companies to the First Wisconsin, known respectively, as Company A, Milwaukee Light Guard ; Company B, Milwaukee Union Rifles ; Company D, Milwaukee Black Yagers, and Com- pany H, Milwaukee Riflemen. The American Cornet Band, the finest in the state, accompanied the regiment into the field, and all things consid- ered it entered upon a splendidly heroic term of service under exceedingly favorable auspices. A vacant lot on what was then known as Spring street hill, between Twelfth street and Fourteenth street, became the camp ground known as Camp Scott, and the First Regiment encamped there from April 23rd until June 9th. Here they were uni- formed and drilled, and here they received the regimental flag which was presented to them with great ceremony-in the presence of Governor Randall, General Rufus King and many distin- guished citizens-by Mrs. George H. Walker, as a gift from the ladies of Milwaukee. From Camp Scott they marched away to the front on Sunday, the 9th of June, and on the 2nd of July received their "baptism of fire" in what has passed into Wisconsin history as " The Battle of the Falling Waters." The battle was but a slight skirmish, which occurred at Hainesville, or Falling Waters, near Martinsburg, Virginia; but one Milwaukee soldier was killed on the field, and another died a few weeks later as a result of wounds which he received in the engagement. George Drake, of Company A, and Sergeant Warren M. Graham, of Company B, were the two men who thus gave up their lives in defense of the Union, and were the first Milwaukee soldiers to fall in the great con- flict, which later brought sorrow to many a Mil- waukee homestead. Drake was buried at Wil- liamsport, but Sergeant Graham's remains were brought back to Milwaukee and interred with military honors in Forest Home Cemetery. His
114
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE.
was the first military funeral given in Milwaukee to a soldier who fell in battle after the civil war began, and the solemnity and grief of the occa- sion has left its impress upon the minds of many residents of the city who witnessed it as children. Elsewhere in these volumes will be found brief sketches of the lives of the two young patriots who fell first victims to the Moloch of war.
The first colonel of the Second Wisconsin In- fantry, S. Park Coon, was a prominent Milwaukee lawyer. In the Fifth Infantry there were two full companies, and a number of Milwaukee men joined the company recruited at Waukesha. Milwaukee contributed Colonel Lysander Cutler to the Sixth Wisconsin, who won high honors for the state as commander of that regiment, commander of a brigade and a division. He returned a brevet- major-general, and resumed business where he had left off, four years before. He died in 1868. There were two Milwaukee companies in the Sixth-the Montgomery Guard and Company F. Both of these companies contributed many excel- lent officers for that and other regiments. Cap- tain John O'Rourke, of the Montgomery Guard, resigned and became commander of the famous Illinois Battery. Lieutenant P. H. McCauley, of the Montgomery Guard, served as captain, and later as major of the Seventeenth Wisconsin. Pri- vate Thomas Kerr, of the Montgomery Guard, served as sergeant, lieutenant, captain, major and lieutenant-colonel in the Sixth Wisconsin, having been wounded five times, and at the end of the war came home in command of the regiment with which he went out as a private soldier. He is still living in Milwaukee, but for years has been a constant sufferer from wounds received in battle. Captain Frederick Schumacher, of Company F, was promoted to major of the Twenty-first Wisconsin, and was killed at the Battle of Perryville. Joseph Van Dor, of Milwaukee, was the first colonel of the Seventh Wisconsin, and Charles A. Hamilton, also of Milwaukee, first major. Major Hamilton was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and seriously wounded at Gains- ville, and was obliged to leave the service in 1863 He is still living in Milwaukee, and has served as circuit judge. While there were Milwaukee men in nearly all of the fifty-two regiments of infantry, four regiments of cavalry, one regiment of heavy artillery and in most of the thirteen batteries, there were several companies in other regiments
£
than those already named, including the Ninth, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-sixth and Thirty-fifth. The Ninth was very largely made up of Milwau- kee men, and so was the Twenty-fourth and the Twenty-sixth. Of these three regiments the Ninth, Twenty-fourth and Twenty-sixth were among the very best in the service. General Frederick C. Winkler, the eminent lawyer, was first a captain in the Twenty-sixth, and attained the rank of brigadier-general, a promotion never more worthily bestowed. The regiment suffered seriously in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. The Twenty-sixth joined the Army of the Tennessee, and from that time on was com- manded by Major, Lieutenant-Colonel and Colonel Winkler. He was brevetted for distinguished service throughout the war. It is estimated that fourteen thousand citizens of Milwaukee were sol- diers in the Union Army, during the War of the Rebellion, and Milwaukee's record in the great war was a proud one.
At thesecond war meeting held in this city, an important auxilliary of the war movement came into existence. It was known as the " Milwaukee Volunteer Relief Association," and was designed to raise and disburse money for relief of soldiers' families. In a single day members of the Cham- ber of Commerce subscribed over eleven thousand dollars to a fund to be disbursed under the auspices of this association, and over twelve thousand dollars more was subscribed the same day at a meeting of the merchants of the city. Messrs. E. H. Brodhead,. Alex. Cotzhausen, Thomas Keogh, E. D. Holton, S. H. Martin, R. W. Pierce, Charles F. Ilsley, J. C. U. Niedermann, and Charles Quentin, became the executive com- mittee of the relief association, and collected and disbursed the fund originally subscribed to encour- age enlistments by guaranteeing the support of soldiers' families and those dependent upon them. This organization continued its work to the end of the war, replenishing its treasury as occasion required, by calling upon the people of Milwaukee for further voluntary contributions, the response to such calls being so generous that when the war closed a small unexpended balance was transferred to the Soldiers' Home Fund.
The women of this patriotic city organized ladies' aid societies, early in the war, to look after the sick and wounded soldiers. They sent many thousand dollars worth of hospital and other sup-
115
MILITARY HISTORY OF THE WAR PERIOD.
plies to the front, and established a home on West Water street, where thousands of soldiers were fed and cared for until their wounds healed or health was restored so that they could return to the front or go to their homes. It was in Mil- waukee-and this is a fact greatly to the credit of the city-that the idea of a National Home for broken down Union soldiers originated, and the women originated it. By fairs, solicitations, speculation in real estate and otherwise, they raised in all nearly one hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars. The sum of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars they raised at a great fair, held the year the war closed, and which became virtu- ally a state fair. The ladies secured the assist- ance of a number of public-spirited, patriotic citizens to aid them in the great enterprise, but the women did most of the work ; and when the government decided to build a National Home near this city, they turned over to it their property and money, the whole of which was valued at about one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. From that home has come six other National homes and nearly twenty state homes, and the end is not yet. This also speaks loudly for Mil- waukee.
The return of the First Regiment at the close of its three month's term of service was a memorable and spectacular event in the history of Milwaukee. When the troops debarked from the train they were met with cheers of welcome from the assem- bled populace and escorted through the city by a military and civic procession, which made an im- posing demonstration. An address of welcome was delivered by the silver-tongued Matt H. Car- penter, and every evidence was given of the fact that these early soldiers had acquitted themselves in a way which made the city and state proud of them.
There were over six thousand men in the first six regiments which Wisconsin sent into the field, and of these Milwaukee furnished more than one- sixth. Brigadier-General Rufus King. Colonel John C. Starkweather of the First Regiment, Colonel S. Park Coon of the Second, Colonel Hal- bert E. Paine of the Fourth and Colonel Lysander Cutler of the Sixth Regiment, were citizens of Mil- waukee who achieved distinction as colonels during the first year of the war. Other officers contributed by the city to the first six regiments were Major David H. Lane, Adjutant A. H. Chapin, Quarter-
master E. M. Hunter and Chaplain J. C. Richmond of the Second; Major Frederick A. Boardman of the Fourth ; Adjutant Theodore S. West and Surgeon A. L. Castleman, of the Fifth ; Quartermaster I. N. Mason and Chaplain N. A. Staples of the Sixth Regiment. Within three months after the break- ing out of the war, Milwaukee sent into the field nine full companies and seventeen field officers, and four companies of infantry, one company of artillery, and one independent company of cavalry were partly recruited here within the same time. Doctor E. B. Wolcott, as Surgeon-General of the state was rendering services of inestimable value to the Union, and James Holton and E. L. Buttrick, both citizens of Milwaukee, were serving as Quartermaster-General and Judge Advocate Gen- eral of the state, respectively.
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.