USA > Wisconsin > Waukesha County > The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources; an extensive and minute sketch of its cities, towns and villages etc > Part 83
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"That must have been a terrifically exciting moment to those on the little launch, with the vast mountain of iron towering above them, the fire-lit mass of foes upon the shore, and triumph and eternity in the next moment. Lieut. Cushing stood at the bows of the launch, with several lines before him ; one of these lines was attached to the howitzer, one to the ankle of the engineer, one to the officer who was to lower the boom carrying the torpedo, one was that by means of which the torpedo was to be slid under the ram, another was the exploding-line, which should pull away a pin and let a grape-shot drop on the percussion-cap beneath. The howitzer had already been discharged. The line attached to the engineer was pulled : the engine stopped. The boom was lowered, the torpedo slid slowly off and under, the air-chamber at top bringing it up in position beneath the ram. The last line was pulled, the grape-shot fell, just as the rifle-gun went off-and the rebel ram and the launch blew up together, and columns of water shot up and fell again, heavy with dead and dying. But just as Lieut. Cushing pulled the exploding line he had cried out to his men to save themselves, and throwing off arms and heavy garments, had struck out into the water. The surface was being rippled up with shot, boats were already out picking up the wounded, and dying men were going down with gurgling groans around him ; but he boldly made for the other bank, and was just reaching it, when he heard the voice of his own men in a sinking state, and turned to relieve, if possible, one who had shared such peril with him. Finding the man, he supported him with one arm and kept him afloat for several minutes, when all at once he went down, leaving the Lieutenant alone on the water, swimming with faint strokes, with what seemed interminable distances before him, but so firmly resolved to escape that, perhaps, after voluntary power was expended, the muscular motion still continued mechanically, and carried him at last to shore, where he fell, with his feet still in the water, and lay, not more than half conscious, till morning, when the bright, invigorating sunshine showed him that he had gained a piece of swamp not far from one of the forts, and from whence he could see the angry and excited town, with a curious sense of power in the midst of all his weakness. The sentinel, meanwhile, was walking his round on the parapet, and in order to make any shelter it was necessary to rise and run for it the moment his back was turned. Doing so, he was obliged, at the instant the sentinel turned about again, to drop where he was, between two paths of the tall grass, which partially sheltered him, since, being covered with mud from head to foot, he was hardly distinguishable from the soil, as he presently found when a party of men came down one of the paths and passed so near him as almost to tread on his arm without discovering him. Knowing it would be impossible to remain there safely for any length of time, he lay on his back, planted his elbow and his heel firmly in the ground, and thus hitched himself slowly along till he gained the cypress swamp, a mass of bog and brier, through which, barefooted, bare-headed and bare-handed, he had to force a path till the blood flowed from his innumerable wounds and bruises. Entering at last a clearing, a fresh danger appeared, in the shape of a group of soldiers, behind whom he had to pass at a distance of twenty yards, creeping through a corn furrow. He was now in the outskirts of a wood, and encountering an old negro,
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he gave him a piece of money which had chanced to remain about him, and sent him back to town to bring him news of what had happened there over night; for he wished to be sure that he had done the work there thoroughly before making any more effort to get back to his ship ; and famished, exhausted, and with every nerve strung to its utmost tension, it seemed to him that if he had failed he did not care to get back at all. Vibrating, in his suspense, between a fear that the man might betray him and a confidence that he would not, he rested there till the messenger came back, bringing him news of the complete destruction of the rebel ram, and he plunged gayly into another swamp, so dense that he could only direct himself by the sun, emerg- ing from its tall reeds and brambles, a couple of hours past noon, upon one of the deep and nar- row creeks that wind in and out through all those regions, exactly opposite a fresh detachment of soldiers on the other bank, and who, as fate willed it, had a little skiff made of four or five rough boards, with the seams pitched with tar, 'toggled to the root of an old cypress tree that squirmed like a snake into the inky water ,' as he described it. Lying in wait in the dense greenery and shade till the men went back to their rude meal, he gently slipped between the reeds and slid into the water, swimming softly till he reached the skiff, loosened it, pushed it before him round the first curve, when he clambered in and paddled away for dear life ; paddled all day, into sunset, into twilight, into starlight-such starlight as sifted down through the great shadows of the swamp and the cypressed-lined and moss-hung banks of the creek. At last he was in the Roanoke, at last in the open water of the sound, where a swell would have swamped the frail skiff, but where the night was singularly still and soft-though, as it was, he was obliged to paddle all upon one side to keep his boat on the course which he laid for himself by the stars. When he came, after a weary while, in sight of the picket vessel of the fleet, and, after what seemed a longer and still wearier while, within hail, he gave his " Ship ahoy ! " and dropped, gasping, benumbed, and half dead, into the bottom of the boat. But immediately on his hail the vessel had slipped her cable, and had got out her boats to take measures against infernal machines, firmly convinced that the skiff was a piece of retaliation on the partof the rebels, and, in response to his assertion that he was Lieut. Cushing, loudly assuring him that Lieut. Cush- ing was no longer in existence ; and it was still some time before he found himself on board refreshed, clothed and in his right mind, and on the way to the flag-ship, where, in honor of his. return, rockets were thrown up and all hands called to cheer ship, even before the success of his expedition was announced. And for once valor had its due acknowledgment and reward."
William B. Cushing was born on Section 18, town of Delafield, Waukesha County, November 4, 1842. His father, Milton B. Cushing, was one of the earliest settlers of that town. Com- mander Cushing served one year in the naval academy three years before the breaking-out of the war, in which he was one of the first to enlist. At the close of the war, he married Kate Forbes, of Fredonia, Chautauqua Co., N. Y., who, with two sweet children, survived his death, which occurred at the Insane Hospital, in Washington, December 17, 1874. At his death the Wau- kesha Freeman said : " Many old citizens who remember the ragged little fellow of twenty years ago, playing on the banks of the Bark River in the village of Delafield, and who afterwards learned with pride that the same 'Billy Cushing' was performing some of the most glorious work of the war against secession, will be stricken with sorrow to learn of his untimely death."
The National Republican, of Washington, in its issue of Friday, December 18, 1874, said : "At half-past 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon, Commander William B. Cushing, one of the bravest officers who ever trod the deck of a vessel, breathed his last. This announcement will cast a shade of sorrow throughout the land, for where is the American who has not heard of the valiant deeds of him whose corpse is now lying at his late residence in the navy yard ? There was no officer who ever entered the navy whose record was brighter-not even that of Decatur- than that of the deceased hero." Some years before his death, Commander Cushing received large sums from the Government in reward of his valuable services, and his family has a com- petence. The disease that caused Commander Cushing's death was contracted while on duty in the Gulf of Mexico. It caused him to become insane, in which condition he died. On his
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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.
person, after death, was found an autograph letter, in which the strong pen of the late Gideon Welles returned the fullest thanks for the wonderful services which the brave Waukesha boy had performed for his country.
Had no other man entered the war of the Rebellion from this county, Waukesha would still be honored through all time as the birth-place of William B. Cushing.
Scraps of War History .- In April, 1861, two ladies of wealth, standing and with families, offered their services at the recruiting office as nurses as soon as the fighting began.
By May 1, 1861, Oconomowoc had subscribed over $2,000 to aid soldiers' families. Delafield had raised $400 for the soldiers on May 10, 1861.
The " Home Guards," a company enrolled at Waukesha for home protection in case of emergency, was fully organized by May 1, and consisted of the older men of prominence and property. Malcolm Sellers was Captain.
The "Constitutional Guards," organized for home protection, was a company composed of men considered too old, or physically unable to fight except in case of emergency, on May 7, 1861, elected officers as follows : W. S. Hawkins, Captain ; David Somer, First Lieutenant; Martin Shafer, Second Lieutenant; Leo Uhr, Sergeant ; John W. Lowry, Corporal. Gov. Ran- dall refused, however, to commission these officers, because, he said, the company was unfit for war.
June 1, a young son of Mr. Curtis, of the Oconomowoc Free Press, enlisted, and the patriotic father, in the next issue of his paper, said : " It is tough, but we cheerfully resign him at the call of the nation. And more-whenever necessity shall seem to require it, we shall as cheerfully go ourself, wherever duty may point."
Winchel D. Bacon, of Waukesha, was appointed by the Governor as one to purchase clothing for the Wisconsin soldiers. His first purchase was in June, 1861, and consisted of soldiers' equipage valued at $200,000.
In June, 1861, Fred Ring was chosen Captain of the " Waukesha Zouaves," and was immediately commissioned to enroll a company " without expense to the State."
In July, Edwin Hurlbut, of Oconomowoc, was commissioned State Agent for the Fourth Regiment.
The fourteen-year old son of W. A. David, of Waukesha, went to Michigan and enlisted in a rifle company.
In June, the sixteen-year old sons of Samuel Reed and Thomas Chandler, of Ottawa, enlisted for three years.
In October, 1861, Henry Shears, of Merton, was commissioned to raise a company of volunteers.
In November, the ladies of Ottawa formed a "Nightingale Society," to aid the soldiers. They were very successful in all their undertakings.
In December, 1861, Gov. A. W. Randall was offered the commission of Major General. He wrote in reply to President Lincoln : "Whenever you want a caucus managed, send for me ; but the military business would be better left in other hands, for this country is in peril, and her affairs are not to be trifled with." That characteristic letter is still on file at Washington.
In December, seven months after making their enthusiastic pledges, a large number of the subscribers to the volunteer fund to aid the families of soldiers refused to pay their assessments. This brought a storm of letters from the soldiers, who complained bitterly that, while they were manfully " living up to their enlistment oaths in the field, those who pledged aid to their fami- lies at home were backing out like cowards."
In December, Capt. Shaw's Company went into camp at Janesville, as members of Col. W. A. Barstow's regiment of cavalry.
In January, 1862, Sergt. B. F. Cram returned to Waukesha with nearly $1,000 in gold for the families of those in his company.
While on the way to the front, during the last of March, 1862, eleven of Col. W. A. Bar- stow's cavalry were killed in a railway accident near Chicago, and twice that number seriously wounded.
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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.
Joseph Doty, an editorial writer for some time on the Waukesha Democrat, turned rebel and held a commission in the Confederate army. Three or four citizens of Waukesha County signed resolutions indorsing bis course and requested their publication, but met a prompt refusal from both the Democratic and Republican editors.
R. L. Gove and H. F. Potter, of Col. Edward Daniels' regiment, edited a paper at Girar- deau, Mo., called the Eagle, and made a good paper of it, too, during the spring of 1862.
In June, 1862, C. W. Bennett was commissioned Captain, to raise recruits. He opened an office at the court house in Waukesha about that time.
In August, 1862, John Hodgson offered $20 each to the first five men to enlist in Capt. Williams' company. He paid it, and, August 12, the company was full and ready to march.
F. B. Ward, the deaf printer of "Humbug City," near Waukesha, when asked by his third and last son if he should enlist, replied " Yes, yes, don't stay for me. I would go, too, if they would take me. I can care for myself; if not, it won't matter much." And his third son, less than eighteen years of age, signed the roll.
Mr. Curtis, of the Oconomowoc Free Press, who sent his son to the front early in the war, in August, 1862, enlisted himself, although age and physical disabilities nearly debarred him as a volunteer. He declared in his paper that when the country was in peril, every man should be able-bodied, and he, therefore, had shouldered a musket.
Dr. C. A. Leuthstrom announced that he would attend free to the families of all soldiers who should enlist after August, 1862. He kept his word.
On Thursday evening, August 14, 1862, C. C. White announced that he should raise a company of volunteers, and at midnight the following night the required number for a company had signed the enlistment roll. This was quick work.
Michael Thompson, in August, 1862, offered to furnish firewood to the families of any Waukesha village men who might enlist, and George Babcock offered to board free during the war the family of one volunteer.
The companies commanded by Capts. Enos, Townsend, Stevens, Williams and Meyer, belong- ing to the Twenty-eighth or " Waukesha Regiment," left for Camp Randall during the second week of September, 1862.
Three Waukesha County Assemblymen, in 1862, voted against allowing the soldiers to vote in the field.
The only vote in the Assembly against the measures to place Wisconsin on a war footing, at the breaking-out of the war, came from a Waukesha County member.
The town of Waukesha, in October, 1862, voted a bounty of $50 each, to the volunteers from that town in the Twenty-eighth Regiment.
Capts. H. A. Meyer and M. G. Townsend were presented handsome swords and belts before leaving for the front, in October, by their friends in the county.
The Twenty-eighth left Milwaukee for the front on Saturday, December 20, 1862.
Cushman K. Davis, afterward Governor of Minnesota, Elihu Enos, Sidney A. Bean, Mr. Curtis, Irving M. Bean, C. C. White, C. B. Slawson, Edward Daniels, B. F. Cram and sev- eral others corresponded regularly for the Waukesha County papers, and some of them wrote also for the Chicago, Madison and Milwaukee papers.
In January, 1863, a large meeting was held at Genesee, to raise funds for soldiers' fami- lies. The result was satisfactory. The ladies of that town also had " Mite Societies," for the same purpose, securing considerable sums of money and large amounts of food and clothing.
In February, 1863, Henry Shears was appointed Postmaster of Beaufort, S. C.
February 26, 1863, Winchel D. Bacon, of Waukesha, was appointed Paymaster in the army, with the rank of Major.
After the passage of the " Conscription Act " by the State Legislature, the following were appointed, in May, 1863, to make enlistment rolls in the various towns : Waukesha, James Davis ; Menomonee, Cyrus S. Davis ; Merton, David S. Foote ; Lisbon, George Cairncross ; Oconomowoc, D. R. Thompson ; Summit, E. Baker ; Delafield, Samuel Thompson ; Pewaukee,
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J. M. Heath ; Brookfield, Dr. J. H. Bevier ; New Berlin, H. H. Hunkins ; Genesee, Henry . Bowman ; Ottawa, - Meigs ; Eagle, A. R. Hinckley ; Mukwonago, F. M. Payne ; Vernon, Ira Blood; Muskego, C. H. Babcock. These men were to discover and record the number of men fit for military duty in their respective towns.
At the battle of Port Hudson, Col. Sidney A. Bean threw aside his sword and coat, and, seizing a musket, loaded and fired incessantly, until mortally wounded.
In December, 1863, Lieut. Slawson, for Waukesha ; L. Barker, for Brookfield ; E. Oleson, for Oconomowoc, and C. Helwig, for Vernon, opened recruiting offices to fill up the Twenty- eighth Regiment.
In February, 1864, Brookfield, Merton and Menomonee voted to raise bounties for volun- teers. Oconomowoc voted the bounty proposition down. Mukwonago, Waukesha, Genesee and Pewaukee made arrangements for bounties a few days later, and March 1, 1864, Mukwonago had her quota full for the call for 500,000 men, made February 1, 1864.
In April, 1864, Genesee paid a Milwaukee firm $4,000 for re-enlistments, and Milwaukee had the men credited to the Second Ward of that city. Genesee afterward got back $1,000 of this money.
Some of the bundles sent out by the Ladies' Aid Society were curiously and touchingly marked. On a bundle containing bandages was written : "This is a poor gift, but it is all I had ; I have given my husband and my boy, and wish I had more to give, but I have not."
On some eye-shades was marked: "Made by one who is blind. Oh, how I long to see the dear old flag that you are all fighting under ! "
For several weeks after April 1, 1864, Irving M. Bean acted as Provost Marshal of this district, Mr. Tillapaugh having been deposed for crookedness.
In May, 1864, meetings were held for the purpose of raising 100-day men. Excitement again ran high, as it was thought the war was nearly at an end.
August 1, 1864, Mukwonago raised $2,600 to free the town from a draft consequent upon Lincoln's call of July 18, for 500,000 men for one year.
During the latter half of the Rebellion, the pay of soldiers was as follows : Sergeant- majors, $26 ; quartermaster and commissary sergeants of cavalry, artillery and infantry, $20 ;. sergeants of ordnance, sappers and miners, and pontoniers, $34 ; corporals of ordnance, sappers and miners, pontoniers, $20; privates of engineers and ordnance of the first class, $18 ; and of the second class, $16; corporals of cavalry, artillery and infantry, $18 ; chief buglers of cavalry, $23 ; buglers, $16; farriers and blacksmiths of cavalry and artillery, $18 ; privates of cavalry, artillery and infantry, $16; principal musicians of artillery and infantry, $22; leaders of brigade and regimental bands, $75; musicians, $16; hospital stewards of the first class, $33; hospital stewards of the second class, $25; hospital stewards of the third class, $23.
The contract for feeding the men drafted by Vernon Tichenor, in November, 1862, was let to Silas Barber, of Waukesha.
The first demonstration in Waukesha County of those who sympathized with the rebellion was at a public meeting held in Mukwonago, March 11, 1863, at which "secesh " speeches were made, and the name of every Union officer and soldier was reviled in the most shameful manner. Three days later, on March 14, a larger public meeting to denounce " the butcher Lincoln " was held in Robinson's Hall at Waukesha. William S. Hawkins was admitted and took opportunity to deliver such a speech for the Union as broke up the meeting. A few days later, a similar meeting was held in Merton, but it re-acted, resulting in the formation of a Union Club, which caused Confederate sympathizers to thereafter keep safely hidden.
The women did not join in these demonstrations against the Union. The wives of Confed- erate sympathizers were found at Union meetings, and were working as members of the " Soldiers' Aid Societies," while their husbands were condemning the war.
Late in April, 1863, the sympathizers with Jefferson Davis had another public meeting, and invited Alexander F. Pratt to be present and to make a speech. He did so, and delivered such a speech for the Union as those present had not heard for many a day. Although
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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.
impromptu, it was a fine effort, and sent dismay into the ranks of those who had gathered to give aid and comfort to the cause espoused by Jefferson Davis.
The greatest demonstrations in favor of Jefferson Davis were made at Oconomowoc, where numerous citizens wore copper cents for buttons, and the raid on the house of one Union man was, for a time, really dangerons.
This was about the last of secession demonstrations, as the atmosphere became altogether too hot for it.
THE GLOVER RESCUE.
The greatest and closing chapter in the noted Glover rescue-the final act of rescue-is credited to the Anti-slaveryites of Waukesha County. Joshua Glover was a fugitive slave, at work in a mill at Racine. His owner, with a guide obtained at Racine, found the house where Glover was staying, and, after striking him with some heavy instrument, put him into a car- riage, and, driving rapidly to Milwaukee, threw him into prison in that city. Sherman M. Booth, who had resided at Waukesha before that time (March 11, 1854), mounted a horse, and, riding rapidly through the streets, called out a very large crowd to rescue the fugitive slave from prison. Speeches were made by several Anti-slaveryites, and excitement was at the highest possible pitch. While the speeches were being delivered, a squad of excited men, led by Booth, secured a heavy beam, and with it upon their shoulders battered down the jail door, and soon had Glover in a carriage riding through the throngs that filled the streets. Further details as to the affair at Milwaukee are not necessary here, except to state that every city, hamlet and town in Wisconsin was in a fever of excitement, and that Henry H. Messenger, a strong Dem - ocrat, having his sympathy aroused, took Glover into his own carriage, because his horse was the fleetest in the country, and drove at all possible speed to Waukesha, as that was considered the surest avenue for the escape of all fugitives from slavery. When he arrived at Waukesha, his horse was pretty well used up, as the roads were heavy and he had been pursued for. some distance by men and officers upon horses, on foot and in carriages ; but, by dodging between two parallel roads, and by urging a fleet horse to its utmost speed, he escaped all pursuers, arriving at Waukesha late the same night. Knowing that Winchel D. Bacon was an Abolitionist, Mr. Messenger went direct to his house, which is now the upper portion of the Mansion House in the village of Waukesha, then owned by Mr. Bacon. It was not thought best to keep Glover, whose hair was still clotted with blood, and his clothing dirty and torn from maltreatment received at Racine, hidden in the village, so Vernon Tichenor, Dr. W. D. Holbrook, Charles Blackwell, and perhaps one or two others, were called in for consultation. Two things were necessary, a safe place and a reliable man. Finally, Vernon Tichenor went across the fields, in the mud and dark, to the house of Moses Tichenor, his father, about two miles south of the vil- lage, and aroused him from bed. Mr. Tichenor at once consented to take charge of Glover, and, on his return, Vernon Tichenor was chosen to act as guide in conducting Glover to his father's place. On arriving there, Mr. Tichenor saw several persons in the dim light at his father's house, and instinctively drew back, thinking Glover had been followed ; but, on looking more closely, he saw Mr. Bacon and Dr. Holbrook, who had kept silently along, to see that the fugitive was not captured. Glover was hidden in Mr. Tichenor's barn until Chauncey C. Olin had made arrangements to convey him to Racine, where, in proper disguise, he took a boat and escaped to Canada, never to be recaptured. Racine was chosen as the place to embark for Canada because it was thought the excitement had all been transferred from there, where it originated, to Milwaukee. This was a correct supposition, and Glover escaped easily from that point. At Muskego, Mr. Olin went to Richard Ely and said he was fleeing with Glover and must have a fresh team. "You can have anything I have got," said Mr. Ely, " and no matter if it can't be returned." He got a fresh team. During several days after Glover was in Waukesha, the houses, bridges, and roads were watched by the slave-hunters, but they were out- generaled, as they had always been in " that Abolition hole," as the village was for years called.
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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.
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