The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 83

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1082

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After the November draft had taken place, Provost Marshal Phillips' office was thronged night and day. The substitute business was also good, but more than one-half of those hired or purchased as "subs" decamped for Canada as soon as they secured the $300 bounty, with some additional local bonuses. These " bounty-jumpers " were mostly natives of Canada, who made a business of getting money in the manner mentioned.

The next draft was in October, 1864-the vigor with which recruiting was pushed making Fond du Lac able to escape a draft in January, 1864, even if it had not been postponed. There was another eall Marel 14, 1864, for 209,000 men for the navy, which, with the two previous calls for 300,000 and 200,000 men, respectively, swelled the number to 700,000. This made the number to come from Wisconsin large; but Fond du Lac County, as a whole, not only escaped this draft, but in some towns had credits ahead of her quota.

The Fond du Lac Reporter of April 26, 1864, said : " The Fourth District-Capt. E. L. Phillips, Provost Marshal-is now ahead, as it has been for a year past, of all other districts in the State in filling the calls made. It has furnished, also, a greater per cent of drafted men for duty and of commutation money than any other district in the State. This, we think, is due almost entirely to the able management of affairs at the headquarters of the district. The State does not have three more efficient officers than Capt. Phillips, Commissioner Burchard and Surgcon Carey."

The draft of October, 1864, was made in Spencer Hall, Fond du Lac, on Wednesday, October 5, for Fond du Lac County, or rather the towns of Eldorado and Auburn. Eden, Osceola and Ashford were behind, but before the draft for the balance of the district was com- pleted had fille l their quotas and no draft was had for their benefit. For Auburn, 132 names were enrolled as liable to draft, of which 74 were drawn. For Eldorado, 131 were enrolled and 84 drawn.

On the Saturday succeeding this draft, one of the Fond du Lac papers had the following, giving the names of the drafted : " More than one-half of the men drafted in Eldorado on Wed- nesday have run away."

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

On Friday, January 27, 1865, a supplemental draft was made for the more delinquent towns of the Fourth District, and the town of Eldorado was the only one in Fond du Lac County for which the draft wheel was turned. The deficiency was 17 at this draft, but only one man was secured.

The last draft in Fond du Lac County was conducted by Gen. Charles S. Hamilton, who was appointed Provost Marshal of the Fourth District, in place of Capt. E. L. Phillips, about the middle of March, 1865. This draft was for only a portion of the county, many towns and wards having their quotas more than full. The draft was for Eldorado, with a deficiency of 60 ; Forest with 21; Auburn, with 14; Osccola, with 16; Eden, with 11, and Ashford, with 7. The Marshal thought it necessary to post the law against draft riots in some of these towns. The men drafted this time never saw active service, the war closing soon after.

SCRAPS OF WAR HISTORY.

The first man to shed Wisconsin blood on a Southern battlefield in the rebellion, was Lieut. William A. Matthews, of Company G, First Wisconsin Volunteers, who was severely wounded at the battle of Falling Waters, in July, 1861, in Virginia. He enlisted at Fond du Lac, his home. The last Wisconsin blood shed was at the capture of Jeff Davis, in Irwin County. Ga., May 10, 1865, when several men were wounded by volleys fired by a detachment of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry upon a detachment of the First Wisconsin Cavalry.

The Third Regiment was quartered during several weeks at Camp Hamilton, in Fond du Lac City. Edward Pier and John W. Carpenter had the contract to supply the men with food, which they did for 38 cents apiece, per day. The regiment was commanded by Col. Charles S. Hamilton, and consisted of ten full companies, or about eight hundred men. This regiment broke camp at Fond du Lac and left for the front on Friday, July 12, 1861. The ladies gave to nearly every soldier some article of comfort before the regiment left Fond du Lac.

Capt. Emerson's " North Star Rifles," of Taycheedah, left for camp Monday, June 24, 1861, and Capt. E. S. Bragg's " Rifles " left July 1, 1861. His company consisted of 120 men. This company was raised by Capt. Bragg.

Col. Edward Daniels' regiment of cavalry was encamped at Ripon, on College Hill, and left for the front late in 1861.

Company A, of the Thirty-second Regiment, was in camp for a while in 1861, at the fair grounds in Fond du Lac, but soon afterward joined the regiment in Camp Bragg, at Oshkosh.

August 21, 1862, the town of Fond du Lac voted to pay $100 for volunteer recruits.

Col. Edward Colman (Sheriff in 1878 and 1879) had a recruiting office over the office of the Bank of the Northwest. Other recruiting offices were opened by Sergt. M. W. Petters and Sergt. Iliggins, during 1862.

The town of Empire held a war meeting August 22, 1862, and voted $3,000 for bounties to those who would enlist before the draft, which was expected to take place on September 1, fol- lowing.

The "Fond du Lac Mill Boys " composed a company of 104 men, enlisted by Capt. Alex- ander White, in Fond du Lac, in August, 1862, nearly every one of whom was a mechanic, machinist or millwright. As Capt. White, Deputy Warden of the Wisconsin State Prison since 1878, was a splendid machinist and mechanic, being one of the owners of the Hiner & White Iron Works, it was said of his company, that they could build and equip a railway with cars and locomotives ; build a mill, make a rifled cannon, erect a truss bridge, or do anything in the mechanical line, even to making clocks and watches. In this company, five Derusha brothers and six of their brothers-in-law enlisted. No company in Fond du Lac ever got such a large number from one family. This company went into camp at Oshkosh September 1, 1862.

In October, 1862, nearly one hundred negroes-men, women and children-arrived in Fond du Lae, from Northern Alabama, in charge of the Chaplain of the Fourteenth Regiment. They were mostly taken as servants in the city of Fond du Lac.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

In November, 1862, Roswill M. Sawyer and William A. Dewey were placed upon Brig. Gen. C. S. Ilamilton's staff.

Gen. Lyman M. Ward, now of Benton Harbor, Mich., enlisted at Fond du Lac as a private, and won all his promotions by "gallant conduct on the field of battle."

Prairie Grove was one of the hottest battles of the war. Capt. Strong's company. from Ripon, was highly complimented for the part it took in that engagement.

In December, 1862, Timothy F. Strong, Jr., was promoted to First Lientenant of Com- pany H, First Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers.

In the Ripon papers of December, 1862, was a long letter giving a description of govern- ing cities in the South by military law, and particularly how Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va., were being governed by Maj. Alvan E. Bovay, who was Provost Marshal of those cities until the latter part of 1863.

In February, 1863, Kingman Flint, son of the late Judge Flint, was promoted to Second Lieutenant in the regular army. A few months later, he died at Pensacola, of black vomit. He was a wonderful man, physically.

In December, 1862, the County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution to furnish aid after that date to the families of volunteer soldiers. Each person so aided was required to fur- nish evidence to the nearest Supervisor, that he or she was a relative of a volunteer soldier, and dependent upon him for support.

In April, 1863, Col. Bragg sent home the regimental colors, riddled from staff to tassel. A new set of colors had been provided.

Gen. O. H. La Grange, afterward for several years Superintendent of the United States Mint at San Francisco, enlisted at Ripon, and traveled to his final high position from the bot- tom round of both the military and civil ladders.

The Turners, of Fond du Lac. raised a company for Gen. Sigel's regiment, and turned over every dollar in their treasury to pay bounties for new recruits.

Jerome B. Johnson, now Superintendent of Mails at Milwaukee, was shot through the groin at Bull Run, and lay six days upon the field, without food or attendance. He lived, and, in October, 1862, was able to return to Fond du Lac. But he never was able to return to his regiment.

A Mr. Temple, of Lamartine, anxious to get into the service of his country as soon as pos- sible, went to the front and enlisted, being assigned to Company D, of the Third Regiment. Next day he was shot dead in battle.

In October, 1862, occurred one of the largest funerals in Fond du Lac. It was at the burial of Grier Tallmadge, a son of the late Gov. Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, who died at Fortress Monroe in September.

In March, 1863, Edward S. Bragg was promoted to the coloncley of the Sixth Regiment.

In April, 1863, the ladies of Wedge's Prairie collected fifty barrels of provisions and some cash for the soldiers. They then formed themselves into an Aid Society and continued the work of doing for the soldiers.

In April, 1863, the members of Company A, Thirty-second Regiment, sent home to their families, as the surplus saved from three months' pay, the sum of 84,263.

The first work of the Soldiers' Aid Society of the town of Byron, in 1863, was to collect, for the boys in blue, two loads of food and clothing and $110 in cash. The society afterward did much more in the same direction.

William Frost, of Eden, went to Memphis, where he had one sollier son dead and another fatally ill, in May, 1863, and, a few days later, his family received word that he, too, was dead, having been lost overboard while crossing the Mississippi.

War speakers were occasionally hustled, and some of them injured, in some portions of the county. At Taychecdah, R. B. Charles was set upon while speaking in favor of the war and the Administration, and quite severely injured. While this was going on, his harness was

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

destroyed and his wagon torn in pieces. At Ripon, there were two or three who made demon- strations of disloyalty ; but after one of the parties had been led to the mill-pond, and had the depth of the water taken before him, with the understanding that water was considered excellent for treasonable utterances and demonstrations, the balance subsided.

A military company was formed in the southeast towns of the county in June, 1863, with the following officers: Captain, Fred Baldwin ; First Lieutenant. Nicholas Gaffney ; Second Lieutenant, E. C. Coon ; First Sergeant, E. A. Whitney ; Second Seargeant, O. P. Ilowe ; Third Sergeant, E. C. Airhart ; Fourth Sergeant, A. A. Bratt; Fifth Sergeant, G. N. llatch.

The " Badger State Guards" were raised by C. K. Pier, at Fond du Lac, in the summer of 1863, with the following officers : Captain, C. K. Pier : First Lieutenant, C. T. Carpenter ; Second Lieutenant, F. R. St. John ; First Sergeant, D. M. Wilson ; Second Sergeant, John Miller : Third Sergeant, W. R. Allen; Fourth Sergeant. John Markle; Fifth Sergeant, Solon W. Elson. This company went out, after being drilled by Capt. Pier, as Company A, Thirty- eight Regiment, three years. Pier was made Colonel of Regiment, and Carpenter Captain of Company.

The " Union Guards " were raised at Ripon, with Herman Stempel, Captain ; W. T. Whit- ing, First Lieutenant ; Lyman B. Everdell, Second Lieutenant, and N. Bowerman, of the Prairie City Record, First Sergeant. The company was organized in September, 1863.

One of the largest funerals ever held in Eden was that of Sergt. Walter S. Ronse, who was buried August 2, 1863.

E. W. Pride recruited fifty men at Ripon for the gunboat service. He also secured a large number in other portions of the county.

In August, 1863, Dr. Walker took from the tongue of F. II. Farr, of Company K, First Regiment, two double teeth, which had been there imbedded about a year previously by a minie ball.

Sergt. Maj. George W. Driggs, son of the late J. J. Driggs, of Fond du Lac, was war cor- respondent for the Madison Patriot.

Col. C. K. Pier and Joseph Arnold were war correspondents for the Fond du Lac Reporter. In October, 1863, four small children, whose mother was dead, gathered in Eden as mourn- ers at the funeral of their last relative, Peter B. Miller, their father, of the Nineteenth Regi- ment. It was a sad sight.

In January, 1864, all there was left of the Fourteenth Regiment returned home, time of enlistment having expired. The regiment, which contained only 302 privates and 19 officers, was given big receptions at Chicago, Milwaukee and Fond du Lac. At Milwaukee, eloquent mention was made of Michael Mangan, of Fond du Lac, for his conduct at the terrible charge at Gettysburg. Every man in the regiment re-enlisted. Speeches were made at Fond du Lac by Gen. C. S. Hamilton and Col. Lyman N. Ward.

Capt. Woodruff recruited forty-five men for the Thirty-second Regiment, at Waupun, in the latter part of 1863.

In January, 1864, Oakfield held a festival and raised $200 in cash for the soldier boys.

In January, 1864, the Common Council of Fond du Lac voted to pay a bounty of $100 for recruits for the city, and, a week or two later, increased the amount to $200 for each recruit.

Charles II. Benton was promoted, in April, 1864, to be Second Lientenant of Company G, First Regiment, and Thomas Bryant, First Lieutenant of Company HI, Thirty-second Regiment. Soon after, Lieut. Benton was made Quartermaster of the First Regiment.

Up to June, 1864, there had enlisted from the High School at Fond du Lac seventy stu- dents.

S. D. Pitcher and others, of the Second Regiment, arrived home June 25, 1864, after serving three full years.

One of the Fond du Lac papers of June 25, 1864, had the following :

"Col. Edward Stuyvesant Bragg, of this city, has been promoted to Brigadier General of Volunteers. Nearly three years ago, he entered the service as Captain of Company E, Sixth

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

Wisconsin Regiment. He rose, by grades, to be Colonel of the regiment, was in all the fights with the " Iron Brigade," and especially distinguished himself at Antietam and Gettysburg. During the recent battles in Virginia, at Spottsylvania and the Wilderness. he had command of a brigade, and handled his troops like a veteran, winning great favor from his commanders. For his gallant conduct on these occasions he has been commissioned. Gen. Bragg will be heard from whenever there is a fight, as he believes in striking to hurt."

I. W. Bowen raised a company of thirty-four men at Fond du Lac, and left for camp with them March 1, 1864.

Reuben Lindley took sixty-six men, whom he had recruited, to Madison on the 1st of March, 1864.

Charles T. Carpenter recruited fifty-eight men by April 1, 1864, for the Thirty-eighth Regiment, and was commissioned Captain.

Capt. W. W. La Grange, of the First Regiment of Cavalry, wounded through the body at Chattanooga, in December, 1863, died at Ripon. after a painful surgical operation to extract the shot, July 1, 1864.

By a general order from headquarters, Col. C. K. Pier was placed in command of the One JIundred and First New York Regiment in April, 1865.

Letters to soldiers who were prisoners within the rebel lines were required to have 10 cents upon them in Confederate stamps. Those who had friends among such prisoners were furnished with Confederate stamps free by John J. Beeson, at Fond du Lac, to whom they were sent by Lieut. Bannister. Lieut. Bannister had confiscated them. of course.

In August, 1864, the city of Fond du Lac had paid fifty-three bounties of $100, and one hundred and three bounties of $200 each.

On July 29. 1864, Capt. Eddy Ferris brought home a new rebel flag, captured at the bat- tle of Tupelo.

In July, 1864, Maj. George W. Driggs published a neat book, entitled "Opening of the Mississippi : or, Two Years' Campaigning in the Southwest."

Charles F. Sayre, who died at Port Hudson of sickness and wounds, was only sixteen years of age. He was the only support of a father who had been prostrated in the service.

Col. O. H. La Grange, of the First Wisconsin Cavalry, who was considered by the rebels such a valuable and successful officer that he was put " under fire" at Charleston by them. was exchanged in August, 1864. To put an officer " under fire " is where, when he is held as a pris- oner, he is placed so as to be exposed to the fire directed by his own side upon those who hold him.

From August to September, 1864, over three hundred men were enlisted in the city of Fond du Lac.

In August. 1864, Capt. Delos Ward was promoted to Post Quartermaster, to take charge of Fort Morganza, in Louisiana.

In October, 1864, substitutes in Fond du Lac County commanded from $700 to $1,000 eaclı.

The seventh one of the family of Derusha boys entered the army in November, 1864.

A soldiers' festival at Rosendale, in December, 1864, netted $125.

G. H. Clark, Company K, First Wisconsin, and Ed. MeGlachlin, who escaped from the rebel prisons, said that the greater share of the appalling number of Union prisoners who died in confinement was caused by starvation and brutal treatment.

In February, 1865, Edward Colman was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the Forty- ninth Regiment. At this time, Lieut. Crane, of Oakfield. was the only officer left in Company G, Thirty-sixth Regiment.

February 14. 1865, the city of Fond du Lac voted $30,000, to be used in paying bounties to soldiers enlisted to fill the quota of the city. It did so, and with some to spare.

After warm weather began in 1864, the arrival of dead soldiers in Fond du Lac County was of daily occurrence during several months. Some were brought home shot dead ; some after having died of wounds, and many after dying of malarious diseases.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

Capt. Milton Ewen, Miles Schoolcraft, Lieut. Col. Charles H. Morgan and others were many months in the prison-pens of the South. They finally escaped. Schoolcraft arrived home in December, 1864, but the others were kept in prison till the following spring. Ilis story appeared in print at the time, as follows :

" Miles Schoolcraft, of Company H, Thirty-second Regiment, arrived home Wednesday night. direct from Annapolis. He was taken prisoner while out with a foraging party, near Atlanta, last summer. He was first placed in prison at Eastport, Ga. During the march of nine days on the road, the rebels only issued three crackers to each man. From there he went to Andersonville, and remained there three months and thirteen days. During that time, the daily ration consisted of a piece of corn bread three inches long by two wide and two thick. with a piece of bacon about the same size. The men were treated brutally, in every possible way. On the least provocation, and sometimes none at all, the prisoners were knocked down with clubs or shot by the rebel privates and officers who guarded them. From one hundred to one hundred and twenty Union prisoners were buried every day, most of them dying from scurvy. Very often, no rations would be issued for two or three days. His hat, shirt and boots were taken, and he went into the prison-pen barefoot. From Andersonville he was taken to Charleston. Here good rations were issued, and the scurvy disappeared. From Charleston lie was taken to Florence, S. C., and remained two months. During this time, the rations con- sisted of one pint of corn-meal per day, with a half-teaspoonful of salt every other day. While at Florence, 690 of the Union prisoners died. Only 3,000 were in the encampment. At Florence he saw Charley Banker, of Oakfield, hale and hearty. No other Fond du Lac mau was seen by him. From Florence he went to Charleston, and was paroled with the first lot of 1,000, and arrived safely at Annapolis, where he received two months' pay and commutations for rations during the time he was a prisoner. He was given thirty days' furlough."

Capt. C. T. Wyman's story is also given. He arrived home in July, 1864. These two accounts, from men well known in Fond du Lac County, will show to coming generations what was endured by thousands of the boys in blue for their country, when, indeed, they did not succumb to disease, starvation or brutality, and start on their last long journey from the fester- ing pens of Libby, Florence and Andersonville. Capt. Wyman's story appeared in the Fond du Lac Reporter of July 2, 1864, as follows :

"C. T. Wyman, of Company F, Twenty-first Wisconsin Regiment, whose escape is already well known, has given us an account of the manner in which he left rebeldom. He was ou the way from Danville, Va., to Andersonville, Ga., in company with a large number of prisoners, being transferred beyond the reach of Yankee cavalry. On the 18th of June, when two days' travel from Milledgeville, Ga .. Lieut. Custar, of the Twenty-fifth Indiana Regiment, proposed to Wyman to jump from the cars, which was agreed to.

" After working over two hours, they succeeded in getting the caps off the guns of the two guards, and then bolted through the open door of the car. the train running about twenty-two miles per hour. On reaching the ground, they rolled up close to the ends of the ties, and thus escaped the observation of the guard on top of the train. After the train was out of sight, their exultation can scarcely be told.

" Then commenced a long, fatiguing journey, almost entirely by night, through woods, swamps, by-ways, over hills, fields, and everywhere except through villages and regular roads. They depended entirely upon the negroes for assistance, who proved true to them in every par- ticular instance. The greatest delight of the negroes seemed to be to aid them in every pos- sible way.

"On the tenth night, while traveling a by-road, they suddenly came upon threc rebel soldiers who were hunting for a runaway slave. There was no chance to run, so they quietly surren- dered and were taken to a house close by. While supper was preparing, both managed to escape to the brush, in which pursuit was useless. Two or three nights after, they were confronted by a couple of home guards (rebels) who attempted to capture them, but who were so ignorant of the use of fire-arms on such an occasion that they were left stunned and senseless on the ground

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

from a vigorous use of the stout canes carried by the escaped prisoners. They ran many nar- row escapes, but were never recaptured.

" All along the route every plantation had several dogs, and on the slightest alarm from them the men would rush ont to see if their horses were not being conscripted by the gentle Jeff, or the rough riders of the Yanks. After twenty-three nights, they reached the Chattahoo- chec River, having swam three other rivers, and the next day reached the Union lines, where there was some tall cheering. Without arms, or any food except berries, herbs and such as they could pick up on the way, they had traveled nearly three hundred miles through the heart of Georgia.'

The stories of escapades like these, or of disease, starvation and death, might be lengthened out indefinitely, in writing the history of those who were taken prisoners, but these will suffice as illustrations.

On Sunday, April 22, 1865, $1,200 were raised at Amory JIall, in Fond du Lac, for the soldiers' Christian Commission.

The Ladies' Aid Society of the city of Fond du Lac, formed early in the war, did an immense amount of work for the soldiers of Fond du Lac County. Many of the ladies who belonged to this Society devoted their entire time and attention to its labors ; and the number of garments made, purchased or collected ; the amount of dried fruits and food of all kinds, as well as books, newspapers and periodicals, sent to the soldiers was truly astonishing. Regular meetings did not cease to be held until about the close of the war, and the energy of its mem- bers never relaxed. The soldiers, both sick and well, sent home many a blessing to the women who were thus laboring, without hope of reward, in their behalf, and those labors will never be forgotten as long as there is a Fond du Lac County soldier left to recount his experiences.

In the public prints, the capture of Jefferson Davis, ex-President of the Southern Confed- eracy, has always been credited to the Fourth Michigan Cavalry. This is unjust to the sokliers of another State, and a falsehood on the most important leaf of American history.

The First Wisconsin Cavalry, raised in Fond du Lac County, mostly at Ripon, by Col. . Edward Daniels, now of Washington, deserves most of the credit for his capture. This regiment had been lying at Macon, Ga., after participating in its capture, under the command of Lieut. Col. Henry Hearndon, now of Madison. O. II. La Grange was the Colonel, but was then in command of the brigade. A detachment consisting of four companies, the First Battalion, or about one hundred men, was ordered to capture Jeff Davis, then supposed to be passing through Georgia with a large party. The detachment, which was commanded by Lieut. Col. Hearndon, struck Davis' trail at 5 o'clock of Sunday, May 7, 1865, near the village of Dublin, Laurens County. All the darkies verified the supposition that Jeff was fleeing through these parts, but the whites declared it was only a few prisoners. Finally, a little girl standing outside of a house where the supposed Davis party had stopped, when asked if " Mr. Davis had gone away yet," innocently replied, " Yes. he's gone that way." The trail was plain, and the detachment hur- ried on. At Abbeyville, or " Poor Robin Ferry." a detachment of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry came up. under the command of Col. Pritchard. The two Colonels had a friendly talk, each showing the other his orders. Pritchard was to take the ferry and patrol the river. But Col. Hearndon, whose honesty gained him the name of the "Puritan Colonel," went further, and disclosed to Pritchard not only his orders, but that his men had struck Jeff's trail ; had followed it several days ; pointed out to him the direction the ex-President of the Conferderacy was taking, and showed scraps of paper found on the trail by W. O. Hargrave, of Ripon, to prove that there was no doubt Davis was near by. Pritchard knew that the Government had offered $100,000 for the capture of Jefferson Davis, but Col. Hearndon did not. The former thereupon took advantage of the latter's confiding communications, and pushed ahead of the First Wisconsin detachment, striking Davis' trail ahead of them, and coming up with the Davis party late at night of the same day.

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The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 83

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 1082

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1082