USA > Wisconsin > Rock County > Rock County, Wisconsin; a new history of its cities, villages, towns, citizens and varied interests, from the earliest times, up to date, Vol. I > Part 37
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July 1. Our rations for two days' picket service are a loaf of bread each, with a little sugar and coffee. On this picket one of us convinced a secesh cow that it was milking time and filled a tin cup. For this, his only act of foraging, he has since most sin- cerely repented not. We had to sleep on the ground if at all and be waked by falling rain. My sketch of that post shows Corporal Eben Kendall sitting disconsolately on the wet roadside with his feet in a ditch. The romance of war has vanished. Southern heat is steady and stifling. The standing guard alone one still hot night suggested these lines, to a familiar tune :
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I.
Oh, well do I remember my old Beloit home,
The bird-house on the ridge-pole, where birds would always come ;
Rock River bright behind it, the busy street before,
The vine-clad wall, those columns tall, the rose beside the door. Long years a call was sounded, of danger, through the land. Our fears proved not unfounded and many an earnest band Marched off to aid their country, with these among them then, So here are we in Tennessee, remembering home again.
Chorus.
Loud praise in song that dear Wisconsin home, Though late and long a soldier you may roam.
Low sing the song a sad and tender strain,
For here to-day, far, far away, we think of home again.
II.
Yet home's not in the old house or in the garden neat, Not bounded by the river nor by the bustling street, But in the hearts of loved ones I find it, full of joy, 'Who, distant, still think oft of Will, the absent soldier boy. To-night on post of danger a sentinel I stand,
To watch 'gainst hostile ranger and guard this little band Of comrades, silent, slumbering. The stars above me wane As comes the day and, far away, I think of home again.
Chorus.
Our chief danger, of course, was from short rations. The ditto hostile ranger was usually the southern mosquito, whose poisonous stab drew more northern blood than southern bayo- nets did.
"Sunday, July 10, occurred the first camp funeral. It was of a Mr. Small, Company F. Before night army mules tramped through the yellow clay of his grave. Those hoof tracks were new in a double sense.
"Monday we went sixty miles east from Memphis on train guard to La Grange. Last week three Iowa soldiers were shot at by guerillas on this road. We lay at full length on the roof of our freight car, both sides of the ridge, with our guns leveled across it ready to fire either side. (After a train or two had been
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fired on, each freight sent out was provided with certain promi- nent copperhead citizens of Memphis, who were obliged to ride on the tops of the cars with the boys. Usually there was one such guest for each car. We let our man have a prominent place so that of any attentions bestowed upon us he would be sure to get his share. Deacon Oliver J. Stiles doubtless remembers sev- eral of those guests.)
"La Grange, Tennessee, must have been a beautiful town before both armies battered it. Now, however, the churches are in ruins and used for stables, many fine houses have been burned or blown up, most of the inhabitants are gone, and the scene is one of desolation."
These letters, received from a boyhood playmate of Beloit about that time, explain themselves. He was in a battery com- pany : Eleventh Wisconsin Light Artillery.
"Camp near Clarksville, Tenn., July 18th, '64.
Friend W .- At the battle of Rodgersville last November we lost our guns. In that east Tennessee campaign under Burnside we suffered for the want of something to eat. For months we did not see even a hard cracker. We had to kill a beef and fry the meat on sticks and eat it without salt, as that article is very scarce in those parts. We had ear corn dealt out to us, two ears to each man for a day's ration. Out of the fourteen boys who left Beloit and went into this battery there are only two of us left.
The Same, August 6th, 1864.
Friend W .- In one battle we fought all day and got nothing but dent corn to eat. After leaving Knoxville last summer and fall we lived on just what we could pick up. But it is all for the best country that the sun ever shone on. I thank God I am per- mitted to fight for it and enjoy health.
I have a cousin in your regiment, Company I, 40th Wisconsin, Oscar Bishop. We here are expecting an attack every day from the old Johnson command, eleven miles distant. We will give them just as warm a reception as we can. In our last engage- ment we were badly whipped ; we must expect to get the worst of it once in a while.
Occasionally we have a guerilla fight but it doesn't amount to much, only it is certain death to fall into their hands. One of our
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own boys got caught and was shot with three more out of the 83d Illinois.
Our captain told us last night that in less than six weeks we would all be before Atlanta, Ga., but I hardly think we will leave this winter."
He did, though, went all the way around with Sherman and is living in Beloit to-day.
The heat, which rose to 132 degrees, and some special expos- ure, brought me to the hospital sick with fever. A box came from Beloit and on waking one morning I found under my head a white pillow marked with the name of my mother. One must be sick in the army to appreciate such comforts. August 6, Sergeant Sherrill died and Bushnell August 10, and W. H. Shumaker, in the cot next to mine, August 13. Sunday, August 21st, we sick boys were waked by the boom of cannon. What's that! "Forrest has attacked Memphis with his cavalry and artillery and our boys have gone out." One invalid managed to dress, found that his gun seemed to weigh several hundred pounds, so started without it towards the firing. The 40th regiment was at the extreme front and under fire about three-quarters of an hour. A shell burst in a stump behind Company B, and one of its fragments slightly wounded a lieutenant, Harson Northrup, doing no other damage. Forrest retreated, our boys marched back and some of them found that invalid on the road, they say, and brought him in.
On board the hospital steamer, Silver Wave, Sept. 9, 1864. "We left Camp Ray and Memphis yesterday and started north. Our boat is crowded with more than two thousand invalid sol- diers. A few miles below Ft. Pillow we stopped to bury a boy of the 39th who died last night. At Cairo we buried four more. Lying on the bare upper-deck back of the smoke pipes, sick with fever, partly protected by my blanket from dew and falling cin- ders, what a joy it gives me at night to see that we are pointed towards the north star and are actually going home."
September 14. At Alton, Ill., we convalescents were packed in freight cars, as many as could lie in each, stretched crosswise on the hard floor. At every bang of the rough cars our fevered heads felt ready to split. Water was scarce on the way and welcome scarcer. We reached Chicago (where someone stole my canteen ) on the evening of the 15th, when our term expired,
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were kept at Camp Randall, Madison, several days and then duly discharged. The boys of the 40th came home, some all the stronger, one to die on the day he reached home, and many to feel the ill effects of that summer for several years, but most of them no doubt better and wiser for their hundred days' service.
School Boys in the War.
An interesting feature of the patriotism of the people of Rock county, is the manifestation of it in connection with our public schools, academies, colleges and churches. Up to 1866, 310 students of Milton Academy entered the army and forty-three died or were killed. That academy raised substantially one company for the 13th Regiment, one for the 40th, and parts of companies for the 2nd and 49th. The school had representatives in forty-four Wis- consin regiments or batteries, and in thirty-one regiments of other states. Sixty-nine students received commissions from that of second lieutenant up to brigadier general. Beloit College was represented by thirty-five Wisconsin regiments or batteries, in thirty Illinois organizations, and twenty-four of other states ; in nine eolored regiments and in other positions, more than one hundred in all. Two hundred and seventy former teachers and students of the college up to 1866, were in the loyal service ; none, so far as known, in the rebel service. One hundred and forty-five of these held positions of honor and trust, of whom eighty were commissioned officers. Among these were two chaplains, one brigadier general, seven colonels, five adjutants and twenty-six captains. After the war, more than sixty proved that they were not demoralized by returning to the institution and resuming their studies.
At a later date, when the number of the alumni of the college and academy had increased, it was found that about four hun- dred had been soldiers of the Civil War, and only one a deserter.
Without separate statistics for the ministers, church members and sons of ministers, of all the churches of Roek county, never- theless, that we gave our share of the many such, who volunteered in our state, is unquestionable.
XVII.
AGRICULTURE.
When the settlers who came from New England, the pioneers of Rock county first beheld these rolling prairies lying dormant for lack of toilers to till the land ready to produce the wonder- ful results which later developed, they must have imagined this region a Garden of Eden, in comparison with the sterile hills they left behind, where, oftentimes, the yield did not compensate them for the cost of production; for here they found one of the most beautiful regions that ever gladdened the eye, with a soil so fertile, that a slight effort of cultivation would yield immense crops of all the varieties grown in the temperate zone.
The surface of the country at that time was an undulating plain, gently sloping to the southward, with the Rock river, the most beautiful stream in all the West, flowing from its source north of the county, between wooded banks, to its junction with the Pecatonica river a short distance south of the county line, which is also the line between Wisconsin and Illinois. At the time the county was surveyed a little more than half of it was prairie; the balance consisted of oak openings and heavy timber lands, nearly all of which could be cultivated, and aside from the Rock river, there were many small sparkling streams, and a number of small lakes.
The county contains 450,285 acres and a fraction; it is the writer's firm belief that there is no territory in the United States of equal size that has produced more net profit per acre than has the soil of Rock county, for the length of time that it has been under cultivation, the products of this county and their aggre- gate value are increasing with each succeeding decade, as will be shown by the comparative tables which are here submitted. At the time of the first settlement of Rock county, wheat was the staple crop grown, the soil being new and containing all of the elements necessary to produce large yields ; but as the years went on, and the continued cropping of the ground exhausted the
400
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phosphates, and the nitrogenous compounds that are so abso- lutely essential to the production of grain, the result was dimin- ished yield; this combined with low prices, which ruled for a number of years, and the competition of the great wheat belt of the West and Northwest, compelled the farmers to adopt differ- ent methods of farming; this course they pursued, so that at this time, while there is still a large acreage of corn planted yearly, by the improved methods of farming, the yield of this staple is satisfactory. Wheat raising has almost entirely ceased, and in its place they are raising tobacco and sugar beets.
The tobacco culture had proved to be remunerative and on farms where stock raising, dairying, and clover predominate, the fertility of the land is sustained and is yearly growing better under the skillful management of the Rock county farmers, so that at the present time the growing, curing and packing of tobacco in Rock county has been reduced to a science, and will be treated in this work in a separate article by writers who are thoroughly familiar with the subject.
The cultivation of the sugar beet, and the manufacture of sugar, is receiving considerable attention, and is not an experi- ment, for it was proven as early as in 1867 at Fon du Lac and at Black Hawk, Sauk county, in 1870, that the soil and climate of Wisconsin were suited to the successful growth of the sugar beet. The failure of these enterprises was due, however, to lost interest in these particular products by the farmers. The sugar factory now in operation at Janesville is meeting with success, and is a source of revenue to both the grower and the manu- facturer.
In writing of the dairying interests, and keeping in mind the fact that the state of Wisconsin stands in the front rank, in the production of butter and cheese, it must be also kept in mind that Rock county is on the star list, in these commodities; with the nearness to market, and the right kind of soil, the best of grass, and the purest of water, they can and do produce butter and cheese that cannot be surpassed by even the most favored localities in Europe.
The growth of this branch of agriculture has veen very rapid, but has never yet exceeded the demand, which is constantly in- creasing. And not only has this industry been a source of immense revenue, it has completely revolutionized the methods
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
of farming that were in use twenty-five years ago, when nearly all of the land was plowed up each spring, and planted to wheat and corn, then in addition to the washing away of the loose soil by the spring rains, came years of short crops, low prices, and innumerable trials and troubles, that arise from depending wholly upon the success of one growth of an uncertain crop.
It must be remembered that the farmers of Rock county are so generally engaged in the dairy business that they look to this line for a large portion of their income.
The following comparison will be of interest and show the increase or decrease of the number of acres of various commodi- ties and their yield, for Rock county for ten year periods. Start- ing with 1880, and ending with 1907, according to the statistics in the county clerk's office :
In 1880 the total acres of wheat was 18,637, with the yield of 295,319 bushels; 711,7911/2 acres of corn, with the yield of 2,134,- 348 bushels; 54,554 acres of oats yielding 1,536,872 bushels; 22,6173/4 acres of barley, produced 452,839 bushels; 5,131 acres of rye, with a yield of 104,621 bushels; 2,497 acres of potatoes. producing 189,481 bushels; 603/4 acres root crops, yield 16,256 bushels; 6.2371/2 acres of tobacco, produced 3,506,670 pounds. There were 15,237 milch cows valued at $299,661.00; 1,226,693 pounds of butter was made and 768,340 pounds of cheese.
In 1890 there were 8,433 acres of wheat, producing 109,073 bushels ; 71,455 acres of corn, from which were gathered 1,652,450 bushels; 49,857 acres of oats sown, 1.613,679 bushels harvested ; 26,947 acres of barley, with a yield of 721.154 bushels; 5,761 acres of rye, with 67,207 bushels harvested; 2,545 acres of pota- toes, producing 230,677 bushels; 7.383 acres of tobacco, produc- ing 6,891,499 pounds. This year there were made 524,485 pounds of cheese and 1,765,393 pounds of butter.
In the year 1900 there was a total of 1,929 acres of wheat, with a crop of 7,935 bushels; 122,694 acres of corn, which yielded 3,580,321 bushels ; 15,711 acres of barley, which produced 388,655 bushels; 91,888 bushels of oats, with a yield of 72,101,547 bushels ; 5,741 acres of rye, which harvested 36,797 bushels; 2,611 acres of tobacco, from which were gathered 10,206,544 pounds. This year 3,369,911 pounds of butter, and 287,300 pounds of cheese were made.
In 1905 there were reported 27 creameries, valued at $7,139.00,
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AGRICULTURE
with 1,854 patrons, with 20,875 cows, while 68,170,819 pounds of milk was received, producing 1,046,036 pounds of butter, for which was received $660,733.00; the same year there were 11 cheese factories, valued at $7,906.00, with 163 patrons; 2,009 cows; 5,029,675 pounds of milk received, and 475,862 pounds of cheese made, with returns of $45,216.00.
The year 1907, there were sown or planted 687 acres of wheat, with a yield of 10,181 bushels ; 83,274 acres of corn, which produced 4,366,177 bushels; 41,299 acres of oats, yielding 1,083,- 442 bushels; 33,615 acres of barley, from which was gathered 750,542 bushels; 7,7331/2 acres of rye, which yielded 70,171 bush- els; 2,821 acres of potatoes, with a erop of 262,290 bushels ; 1,141 acres of sugar beets, producing 22,689 tons; 7,818 acres of to- bacco, from which was gathered 8,428,841 pounds. There were 27,764 milch cows, valued at $668,929.00. During this year there were 1,020,334 pounds of butter made on the farms, valued at $175,429, while the number of pounds of cheese made by the same people was 2,200, valued at $2,500.00. This same year there were 30 creameries, valued at $110,925.00, with 2,225 patrons, from whom were received 7,543,210 pounds of milk, from which were manufactured 3,229,967 pounds of butter, from which was received $830,284.00. At the same time there were 13 cheese factories, valued at $8,325.00, with 166 patrons, with 2,147 cows. The amount of milk received was 6,665,504, and 615,361 pounds of cheese were made, and $69,060 was received.
Rock County Agricultural Society.
The preliminary steps toward the formation of an agricultural society in Rock county were taken November 19, 1850, at which time a call was made on the farmers of the several towns of the county to meet at the court house in Janesville on the first Mon- day of January, the 6th, to make arrangements for their own benefit by association.
On the day appointed a meeting was held. J. P. Wheeler, of La Prairie, was called to the chair, and O. Densmore, of Brad- ford, was appointed secretary. The object of the meeting having been stated by the chairman, remarks were made by Messrs. Hodson, Neil and Russell, of Janesville, and E. A. Foot, of Center. On motion of C. C. Cheney, of La Prairie, it was resolved that the
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
meeting proceed to organize an Agricultural Society and Mechan- ics' Institute.
The following persons were elected officers: J. P. Wheeler, president; W. F. Tompkins of Janesville, Ansel Dickinson of Harmony, Orrin Densmore of Bradford, Joseph Goodrich of Mil- ton, J. M. Burgess and A. W. Pope of Janesville, vice-presidents ; Josiah F. Willard. of Rock, recording secretary; Andrew Palmer, corresponding secretary; and John Russell, of Janesville, treas- urer. A board of twenty directors, one for each town in the county, was also elected, viz. : William Stewart, of Clinton ; Peter D. Wemple, of Bradford; J. A. Fletcher, of Johnstown; Paul Crandall, of Lima; G. W. Ogden, of Milton; Harvey Holmes, of Harmony; Guy Wheeler, of La Prairie; John Hopkins, of Turtle; W. Yost, of Beloit; Z. P. Burdick, of Rock; L. D. Thompson, of Janesville; R. R. Cowan, of Fulton; D. Lovejoy, of Porter; E. A. Foot, of Center, H. C. Inman, of Plymouth ; John L. V. Thomas, of Newark ; A. Kenny, of Avon; R. R. Hamilton, of Spring Valley ; E. Miller, of Magnolia, and II. Griffith, of Union.
The society having become fully organized, it was resolved to make the experiment of holding a fair, to see whether the farmers of "young Rock" had sufficient enterprise to get up anything like a creditable show.
The result was highly gratifying. The fair was held on the first and second days of October, 1851. at Janesville, and at least five thousand persons were present. The annual address was given by J. P. Wheeler, president. At the close of the year the treasurer reported the receipt of $291.91; the expenditures for premiums and other expenses, $206, leaving a balance of $86 in the treasury to the eredit of the next year.
The annual meeting of the society for the next year succeed- ing was held on the first Monday of December, 1851. The officers elected were : J. F. Willard, president ; Z. P. Burdick of Janes- ville, J. A. Fletcher of Johnstown, James M. Burgess of Janes- ville, I. S. Love of Beloit, John Winston of Porter and Jesse Miles of Janesville, vice-presidents; Orrin Guernsey, recording secretary; John P. Dickson, corresponding secretary and treasurer.
The committee for locating the county fair reported that the town of Beloit had offered a bonus of $240, the highest offer of any town in the county, whereupon it was voted that the next
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county fair of the society be held at Beloit. The fair was held at the place appointed, September 28 and 29, 1852. An address by the president, J. F. Willard, was delivered on the second day, after which the treasurer made his report, in which it appeared that the receipts during the fair amounted to nearly $350, which, after paying premiums and other expenses, left about $70 in the treasury. Probably three thousand persons were present at the fair grounds during the exhibition. The first prize for farm and flower garden was given to Mr. Josiah F. Willard, whose farm of 340 acres was on the east side of Rock river about two miles below Janesville. The committee who visited his dwelling, called "Forest Cottage," may or may not have noticed one flower on that farm, the fragrance of which was destined to spread throughout the civilized world, that little flower, his younger daughter, Frances Elizabeth Willard, afterwards the peerless temperanee leader.
The next annual meeting of the society was held Deeember 6, 1852. The officers elected were: J. F. Willard, president ; Charles R. Gibbs, E. A. Foot, Daniel Bennett, S. P. Lathrop, Jesse Miles and E. H. Howland, vice presidents; Orrin Guernsey, re- cording secretary ; Mark Miller, corresponding secretary, and J. M. Burgess, treasurer. At the meeting held September 10, 1853, on motion it was resolved that an effort be made to purchase fair grounds by selling life memberships, to be paid by install- ments of $2.50 each, until the whole sum of $10 be paid. This proved to be a feasible plan for raising funds, and four aeres of land were purchased of J. J. R. Pease, which traet was fitted up at once for the fair, to be held there on the 4th and 5th days of October, 1853. It was held at the time appointed, and an address was made by the president, J. F. Willard. The executive committee subsequently gave notice that they had expended nearly $700 in purchasing and fitting up permanent grounds, and that they found their funds somewhat exhausted, leaving a defic- iency for premiums; that they did not feel at liberty to avail themselves of the reserved privilege of reducing the premiums, but should report them in full, preferring to fall back on the generosity of those friends who had drawn large premiums, and to ask such as were willing to do so to let theirs rest in whole or in part until next year, when the outlays would be much reduced and a surplus might reasonably be expected. The expenditures
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
of the society, as reported for the fiscal year ending December, 1853. were as follows: Purchase of fair grounds, $101.37 ; fencing and permanent fixtures, $559.31; premium list. printing and other expenses, $515.44; the net income being $1,176.62. leaving an in- debtedness of $334.08.
The next annual meeting of the society was held at Janesville, December 5, 1853, at which time the following officers were elect- ed : S. P. Lathrop. president ; C. Loftus Martin. J. A. Fletcher, Nathaniel Howard. Charles Colby, Mark Miller and Azel Ken- ney. vice presidents ; Charles R. Bibbs. recording secretary ; Z. P. Burdick, corresponding secretary, and S. A. Martin, treasurer.
The fair was held at the society grounds on the 13th and 14th of September. 1854. There never had been seen in the place a larger number of people gathered together. The amount of pre- miums awarded exceeded $2.000.
The succeeding annual meeting was held on December 5, 1854, when the following officers were elected: Z. P. Burdick, presi- dent ; D. Bennett, J. P. Wheeler. J. R. Boyce. J. P. Dickson. J. C. Johnson and J. A. Fletcher, vice presidents ; C. R. Gibbs, record- ing secretary; O. Guernsey, corresponding secretary, and J. F. Willard, treasurer.
Resolutions were adopted expressive of the sense of the so- ciety in view of the death of its late president, Professor S. Pearl Lathrop, of Madison University.
The fair was held on the 25th, 26th and 27th days of Septem- ber, 1855, and was a success. President Burdick delivered a valuable address before the society. The receipts of the fair were about $1,500, and the amount paid out for premiums about $700. The attendance was large and the fair grounds were too small to suitably accommodate the large number of persons present.
During that year the society disposed of their land and pur- chased ten acres in the southern part of the city; this was suitably fenced and improved for the fair, which was held from Septem- ber 30 to October 2. 1856. One feature was the ladies' equestrian match, which drew a large attendance to the grounds. It was believed that there were at least twenty thousand persons present on that day. A display of fire engines was also a new feature in the arrangements.
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