USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Memoirs of Milwaukee County : from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Milwaukee County, Volume I > Part 63
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general. He made an excellent record in the army and after the war located near Oconomowoc, where he was the owner of a large stock farm. The Light Guard led in the enterprise of the military conven- tion which opened in Milwaukee on Oct. 14, 1857, over which Maj .- Gen. S. B. Grant presided and Captain Townsend acted as secretary. The gathering was attended by officers representing five Milwaukee companies and others from Mayville, Cedarburg, Racine, Kenosha, Grafton and Burlington. Steps were taken to secure legislative action that would perfect the military organization of the state and the con- vention adjourned to meet in Madison on Nov. 3, 1858, where Com- pany A attended in a body and won many encomiums from state of- ficers and citizens. Probably the most notable event in the history of Company A was its trip to Detroit, Buffalo, Albany, New York, Roch- ester and other eastern cities. The start was made from Milwaukee on June 6, 1859, amid the cheers of thousands of admirers. It can be said without exaggeration that the visit of the Milwaukee company was the impetus which started the organization of many companies in other states which afterward became members of volunteer regiments in the war.
Circumstances rendered one of the early military companies of Milwaukee-the Union Guards-notable. During the winter of 1858 and 1859, the Sherman M. Booth trouble existed. There was a conflict between the supreme court of Wisconsin and the United States dis- trict court in the case of Mr. Booth. The decisions of the courts were different. The question arose as to what the military would do in case the Federal government called upon it to act, and what would be done in case the state government called upon it to act otherwise. Cap- tain Barry of the Union Guards asserted that in case of a conflict he would not call out his company in opposition to the authority of the United States. The governor of the state thereupon disbanded the Union Guard and ordered the arms returned to the state. The men of the disbanded company soon afterward perfected an independent com- pany, bought new arms and organized as the Union (Barry) Guard. In September the guards with two hundred citizens made an excursion to Chicago for the purpose of raising money to pay for the new arms and uniforms. On their return the greater part of the company lost their lives in the fatal Lady Elgin disaster.
THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD.
On April 15, 1861. the day after the fall of Fort Sumter and the day of President Lincoln's first call for troops, a war meeting was held
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in the Chamber of Commerce hall on Grand avenue, and was called to order by Dr. Lemuel Weeks. Horatio Hill, John Nazro and David Ferguson, constituting the committee on permanent organization, re- ported the name of Hans Crocker for president, with the following as vice-presidents : G. A. Starkweather, D. A. J. Upham, John G. Im- bush, George W. Allen, Winfield Smith, Andrew Dutcher, Otis H. Waldo, John Bradford, Charles H. Larkin, Francis Huebschmann and James Johnson. Edward P. Allis, John H. Tesch and Duncan Mc- Donald were named as secretaries and the committee on resolutions consisted of J. B. D. Cogswell. Daniel Newhall and J. S. Brown. The committee on resolutions presented the following report, which was unanimously adopted by the meeting :
Resolved, That the citizens of Milwaukee receive the intelligence of the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter with emotions of profound 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 isolated, though gallant garrison, reduced to the verge of destitution, is an out- rage which must meet the condemnation 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 recrimina- tion 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 combinations, 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 exigencies of the struggle.
Four days later another meeting was held and the city was aglow with patriotic ardor. On April 16 Governor Randall issued a call for volunteers to fill Wisconsin's quota and the work of enlisting was at once begun. To Milwaukee was assigned four companies of the First regiment, of which Capt. John C. Starkweather was made the colonel. The Milwaukee Light Guard at once tendered their services and the three other Milwaukee companies were the Milwaukee Union Rifles, the Black Yagers and the Milwaukee Riflemen. On April 23 the regiment gathered at Camp Scott, situated on what was then known as Spring street hill between Twelfth and Fourteenth streets, and on the 27th were mustered into the United States service by Judge Advocate Edwin I. Buttrick, who afterward commanded a Wisconsin regiment
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in the war. Colonel Buttrick died in November, 1908. The Milwau- kee Light Guard became Company A of the First Wisconsin; the Union Rifles, Company B ; the Black Yagers, Company D, and the Mil- waukee Riflemen. Company H. The regiment remained in Camp Scott drilling and being uniformed until Sunday, June 9, being mean- time presented with a flag donated by the ladies of Milwaukee. The regiment's baptism of fire occurred on July 2, in the skirmish which has become known in Wisconsin history as the Battle of Falling Waters, near Martinsburg, Va. One Milwaukee soldier, George C. Drake, of Company A. was killed on the field of battle and another, Serg. Warren M. Graham, of Company B, received wounds from which he died some weeks later. Drake was buried at Williamsport, but Graham's remains were brought to Milwaukee and interred with military honors in Forest Home cemetery.
The first colonel of the Second Wisconsin Infantry, S. Park Coon, was a prominent Milwaukee lawyer. In the Fifth infantry, there were two full companies of Milwaukee men and a number of others joined the company recruited at Waukesha. Milwaukee contributed Col. Ly- sander Cutler to the Sixth Wisconsin and he won high honor for the city and state as commander of that regiment, and subsequently as commander of a brigade and a division. He returned to civil life after the war a major-general by brevet. His death occurred in 1868. There were two Milwaukee companies in the Sixth regiment, the Montgomery Guard and Company F. Captain John O'Rourke of the Montgomery Guard resigned to become commander of a famous Illinois battery. Lieut. P. H. McCauley of the Montgomery Guard served as captain and later as major of the Seventeenth Wisconsin. Private Thomas Kerr, of the Montgomery Guard, served as sergeant, lieutenant, captain, ma- jor and lieutenant-colonel in the Sixth Wisconsin, was wounded in five different engagements and at the cessation of hostilities came home in command of the regiment with which he went out as a private. Capt. 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 lientenant-colonel and seriously wounded at Gainsville, being obliged to leave the service as a result in 1863. While there were Milwaukee men in nearly all of the fifty-three 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 first three
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named being largely made up of Milwaukee men. Gen. Frederick C. Winkler, now one of the most prominent attorneys in the state, was first a captain in the Twenty-sixth, and as major, lieutenant-colonel and colonel he commanded the regiment at different times and for some time under Sherman in 1864 and 1865, he commanded a brigade. At the close of the war he was brevetted for distinguished service.
At the second war meeting held in the city an important auxiliary of the war movement came into existence. It was known as the Mil- waukee Volunteer Relief Association and was designed to raise and disburse money for relief of soldiers' families. In a single day members of the Chamber of Commerce subscribed over $11.000 to the fund, and over $12,000 more was subscribed the same day by the merchants of the city. The work of the organization until the close of the war. replenishing its treasury as occasion required by calling for voluntary contributions from the citizens of the city, and when there was no further need of the association existing there was a balance in the treasury which was turned over to the Soldiers' Home Fund. The women of the city organized to look after sick and wounded soldiers and sent many thousands of dollars' worth of hospital supplies to the front. They also established on West Water street a home where thousands of soldiers were cared for until they had recuperated or could return to the front or their homes. To the women of Milwaukee must be given credit for the origin of the idea of a National Soldiers' Home. as by fairs, solicitations and other means they raised nearly $150.000 for such a purpose before the government determined upon the estab- lishment of such homes. When the authorities located the first home at Milwaukee the women turned over to it all the property which they had gathered for the purpose.
There were more than 6,000 men in the first six regiments that Wisconsin sent out to fight for the Union and over a thousand were from Milwaukee. Among the Milwaukee citizens who won distinc- tion as colonels during the first year of the struggle were Brig .- Gen. Rufus King, Col. John C. Starkweather, Col. Halbert E. Paine and Col. Lysander Cutler. Other officers contributed to the first six regiments were Maj. David H. Lane, Adjt. A. H. Chapin. Quartermaster E. M. Hunter and Chaplain J. C. Richmond of the Second; Maj. Frederick A. Boardman of the Fourth ; Adjt. Theodore S. West and Surgeon A. L. Castleman of the Fifth ; Quartermaster I. N. Mason and Chaplain N. A. Staples of the Sixth. Within three months after the outbreak of hostilities Milwaukee sent into the field nine full companies and seventeen field officers, beside which four companies of infantry, one company of artillery and one independent company of cavalry were partly recruited in the city within the same period. The nine com-
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panies were Companies A, B, D and H of the First, commanded re- spectively by Capts. George B. Bingham, Henry A. Mitchell, Pius Dreher and William George : Company K of the Second, under Capt. A. J. Langworthy : B and C of the Fifth under Capts. Elisha C. Hib- bard and William Behrens, respectively; and D and F of the Sixth under Capts. John O'Rourke and William H. Lindwurm. Five of the above nine companies saw active service during the first three months of the war, and lost six men killed and seven wounded in that period.
On March 30, 1862, the Eighteenth Wisconsin, which had been in camp in Milwaukee, was ordered to the seat of war. Within a week after leaving the city the regiment, unskilled in warfare, was forced into the battle of Shiloh and lost twenty-four killed, eighty-two wounded and 174 by capture. When the news of the engagement reached Milwaukee prompt efforts were made to relieve the sufferings of the Wisconsin troops that participated. The supplies contributed. sixty-two boxes in all, were sent to the field in charge of E. H. Brod- head. Governor Harvey, Commissary-General Wadsworth and Sur- geon-General E. B. Wolcott, with a staff of medical assistants, ac- companied Mr. Brodhead. It was while engaged in this mission that Governor Harvey lost his life by drowning in the Tennessee river.
In response to President Lincoln's call for 300,000 more troops, issued on July 1, 1862, patriotic enthusiasm was again aroused in Mil- waukee. Wisconsin's quota of troops under this new levy was five regiments of infantry, and one regiment was apportioned by Governor Salomon to the district composed of Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, Sheboygan and Dodge counties. At a meeting held in the chamber of commerce on July 23, over $12,000 was raised by subscription to pro- mote enlistments in the new regiment, which was to become known as the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. To this sum the Chamber of Commerce, aided by the Merchants' Association, subse- quently added a sufficient amount to enable them to pay a fifty dollar bounty to each soldier enlisting in the Twenty-fourth. A series of war meetings culminated in a grand rally on July 31. Fifty thousand per- sons were said to have been present on that occasion and a monster mass meting held in Kneeland's grove on Spring street, was presided over by Governor Salomon. The result of this gathering was the speedy filling of the ranks of the regiment apportioned to the Milwau- kee district and the other four regiments as well. During the fall of 1862 the Twenty-fourth was sent to Kentucky, leaving Milwaukee on Sept. 5. The Twenty-sixth, a German regiment with two-thirds of its roster made up of Milwaukee men, became a part of Gen. Franz Sigel's division in October. During the summer of the same year Mil-
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waukee troops participated in the battles of Gainesville. the Second Bull Run and numerous engagements in Virginia, Tennessee and Ken- tucky. The First, which had been re-organized and had re-enlisted for three years, participated in its first severe engagement at Perry- ville, losing heavily in both killed and wounded. The Fifth, of which two companies were made up wholly of Wisconsin men, participated gallantly in the battle of Williamsburg early in May. Toward the end of the summer of 1862 the state was called upon to raise over 17,000 men, 11,000 of whom were apportioned to the state under the draft or- dered by the governor in response to the president's call. The drafting was to have begun on Sept. 3. but the sheriffs of the several counties, who were to enroll all persons subject to military duty, were unable to complete the enrollment until October. In Milwaukee the drafting was begun on Nov. 19, the governor having placed the military forces in the city under the command of Col. John C. Starkweather. This was the only draft made under state authority and passed off quietly. Only one regiment was filled by the conscription-the Thirty-fourth- and it remained in camp in Milwaukee until Jan. 31. 1863. when it left the state for Kentucky under command of Col. Fritz Anneke.
In the battle of Stone's River, begun in the last two days of 1862 and extending into January, 1863, two Wisconsin regiments, the First and the Twenty-fourth, participated and the people of Milwaukee were again called upon to furnish supplies for the wounded. Early in the summer of that year people in the city were growing despondent over the prospects and were fearful of the final result. The more patriotic and enthusiastic citizens of the city determined to attempt to arouse the people from their lethargy and awaken the patriotic fervor which had been so evident at the beginning of the war. Accordingly a great demonstration was planned for the Fourth of July and the day was ushered in with the ringing of bells and the firing of cannon and later a great procession passed through the city to the strains of martial music. Despite the glamour of the pageant anxiety was apparent in the faces of the multitude as nothing definite had been heard from Gettys- burg and the people felt that the fate of the nation hung in the balance. The festivities ended with speech making on the lake shore at the foot of Division street, Governor Salomon and United States Senator James R. Doolittle being the orators of the day. In the midst of the latter's speech a telegram was handed him, and after hurriedly scan- ning it, he read this message: "The battle of Gettysburg, after three. days of hard fighting, has resulted, yesterday, in a complete victory to the federal army and the total ront of the confederates." Immediately the famous cannon which had been christened the "John F. Potter,"
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fired a salvo of thirty-four guns and the remainder of the day was given up to rejoicing over the great victory of the Union arms.
In November of the same year the second draft was made in Mil- waukee by United States provost-marshals in accordance with the conscription act passed by Congress in February of that year. The en- rollment began in May and was completed early in the fall. The total requisition under the draft for the district comprising Milwaukee, Ra- cine, Kenosha, Waukesha and Walworth counties was 7,492, which was reduced to 4,172 by enlistments and allowances for the previous state draft. The levy for Milwaukee county was 2,192 and for the city 1,763. The draft began on Nov. 9 and passed off peaceably. In Mil- waukee, as in all other communities, associations were formed for pro- tection against the draft, general funds being provided for the hiring of substitutes or for commutation purposes. Under the call for 500,000 additional troops, made by the president in July, 1864, another draft was ordered and was begun Sept. 19, and continued through the re- mainder of the month. Under this draft there was no commutation, personal service being required. It was the heaviest of any conscription in the city, 128 of every 298 men being taken from the city. It was not until January of the year following that this draft was filled in the city. Toward the end of the year 1864 another call was issued for 300,- 000 more troops and another draft was ordered, but before it could be enforced hostilities had ceased.
In the spring of 1864 the governor of the state, together with the executives of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, tendered to the govern- ment for 100 days' extra service 85,000 men. The president accepted the offer and Milwaukee was again a great recruiting camp. Two of the regimets-the Thirty-ninth under Col. E. L. Buttrick, and the Forty-first. under Lieut .- Col. George B. Goodwin-rendezvoused in the city, and the Chamber of Comerce furnished two full companies in- side the twenty days allowed for filling up the regiments. These troops left for Memphis, Tenn., early in June and rendered effective service during their term of enlistment.
The Milwaukee Zouaves, one of the companies that went into the Fifth Wisconsin, played a prominent part in the bank riots in the city in 1861. The company had gone into camp at Madison, but was called back to assist in suppressing the rioters. The Montgomery Guard, under Capt. John O'Rourke, had been ordered to charge the rioters on Michigan street, near East Water, with instructions to hurt no one. It was thought that the charging soldiers would frighten the rioters, but they did not frighten, and it became necessary for the Zouaves to charge with fixed bayonets. It became apparent to the rioters that the
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soldiers meant business and they fled in every direction. The first captain of the Zouaves, E. C. Hibbard, later became lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin, and Private George Allanson became a captain in the same regiment. Many other privates and officers of the Zouaves won distinction as officers in other regiments. Previous to taking the name of Zouaves the company was known as the Milwaukee Light Guard Cadets, organized in 1857. Brig .- Gen. W. T. Duggan, United States army, and the late Brig .- Gen. C. F. Powell, United States army, were privates in that company.
On Sept. 2, 1862, while a large majority of Milwaukee's able bodied men were at the front, occurred the "Indian Scare." People from as far away as Waukesha, West Bend, Port Washington, Oconomowoc and Madison flocked to Milwaukee to avoid what they thought was an Indian raid. The Milwaukee militia under Captain Lehmann was or- dered out by Governor Salomon and for hours scoured Ozaukee county without finding a trace of an Indian. Upon his return to Milwaukee Lehmann was so mercilessly lampooned by the Milwaukee newspapers that he drew his company up in front of the Sentinel office and severely whipped A. C. Wheeler, a prominent newspaper man of the time, with his scabbard. The scare was soon quieted and the people returned to their homes, which they found undisturbed.
THE PERIOD SINCE THE WAR.
After the return of the Milwaukee soldiers there was no organized military force in the city for a number of months. On Sept. 16, 1867, was effected the reorganization of the Milwaukee Light Guard, a num- ber of the original members being among those who sought to bring it again to its former high rank. The late George B. Goodwin, who had served in the war as lieutenant-colonel of the Forty-first Wisconsin, became the first captain of the reorganized company. Thomas Gwynne becoming first lieutenant, John P. Goodrich second lieutenant and F. W. Cutler, first sergeant. The company had a number of honorary members, among them some of the most prominent men in the city and state. The Guard continued to attract attention throughout the state for many years on account of its parades, banquets and balls. When Captain Goodwin resigned in December. 1869, he was succeeded by Capt. George R. Wright, who had been a soldier in the war. The lieutenants under Captain Wright were R. G. Trumble and F. W. Cut- ler. During his incumbency of the office Captain Wright kept up the reputation of the company as one of the best drilled bodies in the West. He resigned in May, 1873, and was succeeded by J. M. Arnold,
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who had resided in Milwaukee from his boyhood and had served with credit in the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin during the war, closing his term of service as major in the Third Tennessee cavalry. Captain Arnold's service with the company lasted until March 10, 1875, when Captain William Bloodgood took command, and he in turn was succeeded by Captain Joseph P. Rundle. Prior to 1870 several other military com- panies were organized in the city, including the Cream City Guard, the Sheridan Guard, the Milwaukee Zouaves, the Milwaukee Cadets and the Milwaukee Light Artillery. At a meeting held in 1870 it was de- termined to organize the Milwaukee companies into a regiment, and the following officers were chosen: colonel, John C. Starkweather ; lieutenant-colonel, F. C. Winkler ; and major, George H. Walthers. The two former had returned from the war as brigadier generals and the latter had commanded a Wisconsin regiment. The adjutant chosen was Patrick H. McCauley, who had been a major in the Seventeenth Wisconsin. Colonel Starkweather resigned a few months after his election and the promotions were made in order, Robert J. Trumble taking McCauley's place as adjutant. The second annual reunion of the regiment was held at Madison and was the occasion of great festivi- ties. In 1872 at the annual election of officers, Jolin L. Hathaway was made colonel ; Florian J. Ries, lieutenant-colonel ; Richard Rooney, major : and Charles Osthelder, adjutant. A year later James M. Ar- nold became colonel ; Charles Osthelder lieutenant-colonel : Thomas G. Shaughnessy major ; and W. P. O'Connor adjutant.
The feeling engendered in the pre-election period of 1875 between the followers of Fred W. Payne and Colonel Arnold grew so bitter that it resulted in the disorganization of the regiment. The Milwaukee Battery of Light Artillery disbanded in 1875, the Milwaukee Zouaves in 1874 and the Milwaukee Light Guard and the Cream City Guard in 1876. The Sheridan Guard kept up its organization, as did the Kos- ciusko Guard, the latter having become a part of the Milwaukee regi- ment after it was organized by the other companies. In June, 1879, the South Side Turner Rifles were organized and in February of the year following the Milwaukee Cadets, a company composed of boys, came into existence. Early in 1880 the first company of cavalry, which has become well-known as the Light Horse Squadron, was organized with Robert Hill as captain. Valentine Blatz as first lieutenant and George W. Peck as second lieutenant.
In 1883 the Sheridan Guard, Kosciusko Guard, South Side Turner Rifles and the Lincoln Guard organized a provisional battalion, without state aid or sanction, and M. A. Aldrich was made major. The state military authorities took cognizance of the battalion and on April 24,
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