Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Clinton, Capt George O ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 3:48 am Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County CAPT. GEORGE O. CLINTON. The life which this narrative sketches began in Waukesha, Wis., August 21, 1839, in the home of Edmund and Amanda (Conkey) Clinton. There were seven sons in this family, namely: Albert T., who is agent for the United States Express Company in LaCrosse, Wis.; Henry P., who served as quartermaster in the "Iron" Brigade, the Seventh Wisconsin Infantry, during the Civil war, and died while in the service; Edson C., deceased, who was a well-known lumberman at Brodhead, Wis.; Charles W., who was lieutenant of the First Wisconsin Cavalry in the Civil war, and died in a hospital at Nashville; George O.; Edmund D., Jr., deceased; and DeWitt C., a commercial salesman, representing the Ryan Mercantile Company of St. Paul. Edmund D. Clinton, Sr., a native of Vermont, accompanied his parents to St. Lawrence County, N. Y., in childhood, and there learned the blacksmith's trade. In 1831 he removed to Ohio and in 1836 to Milwaukee, Wis., thence to Waukesha a year later. In 1856 he located the town site of Brodhead, where he afterward made his home. During his residence in Waukesha he was one of the contractors who built the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad, the first railroad built in Wisconsin. After its construction he was made a director of the company, and continued to be closely associated with the construction of the entire system up to the time of the absorption of the road by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul corporation, when he retired from the directorate. His last years were spent in retirement from business, although he had a number of important interests and continued to be a busy man to the last. He and his wife were earnest Christians. They founded the first Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee, subsequently organized the first Congregational Church in Waukesha, and, on removing to Brodhead, they were two of the twenty-nine charter members of the First Congregational Church of that place. For years he officiated as a deacon in the church. His father, Henry, a native of Connecticut, was a descendant of Puritan stock, as was also his mother, who was a Miss Darrow; the latter lived to be ninety-seven years of age. Prior to eighteen years of age our subject attended the academy and Carroll College in Waukesha. He then became brakeman with the Milwaukee & Prairie du Chien Railroad, and a year later was made conductor. At the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted as a private in Company E, Thirteenth Wisconsin Infantry, his name being enrolled in the ranks August 15, 1861, and he was mustered in September 14. He remained on duty at Janesville, Wis., until December, where he was commissioned first lieutenant and adjutant of the Third Battalion, First Wisconsin Cavalry; he was made regimental adjutant March 24, 1862, and captain of Company B September 26, 1862. The regiment was organized at Ripon and Kenosha, Wis., and mustered into service March 10, 1862, reporting at Benton Barracks, Mo., March 17, and remaining there until April 28, when they were attached to Vandervere's corps, department of Missouri, and operated in southeastern Missouri from April to October of that year. From May, 1863, to October, 1864, they were in the army of the Cumberland. Ordered to Cape Girardeau, Mo., April 28, 1862, they assisted in scout and patrol duty in that district until the expedition to Bloomfield in October. May 14-15 they took part in the action at Chalk's Bluff, then accompanied an expedition to Madison, Ark.; July 9-22 were in action at Scatterville, Ark.; July 10, at Arkansas Bluff; July 11, at Madison; July 22, at West Prairie, Mo.; July 23, with the compaign against Porter's and Pointdexter's guerillas; July 25, September 10, at Bloomfield as headquarters; July 29, at Jonesboro, Ark.; August 2-3, Jackson and Scatterville; August 3, in camp at Cape Girardeau, Mo.; October 4, Bloomfield; thence to Greenville and Patterson, Mo.; on duty at West Plains, Pilot Knob and Ste. Genevieve, Mo.; in April, 1863, at White Water River; April 24, Cape Girardeau; April 5- 27, Castor River; April 29, Bloomfield; April 30, ordered to join army of the Cumberland at Nashville, Tenn.; May 1, in action at Triune; June 19, in the Tullahoma-campaign; at Rover June 23; Middletown, June 24; Guy's Gap, June 27; occupation of Tullahoma, July 1; at Huntsville and Fayetteville until August 15; and at Larkinsville, Ala., until August 31; in the Chattanooga campaign from September to November; at Graysville, September 10; Crawfish, September 18; took part in the following engagements: Chickamauga, September 19-20; Rossville Gap, September 21; pursuit of Wheeler, October 10; Anderson's Cross Roads, October 2; Maysville, Ala., October 13; after which he was at camp in Winchester until November 20, and then was detached on recruiting service at Madison, Wis., from December, 1863, to February, 1864. Returning south, he was at Cleveland, Tenn., April 2-13; took part in the Atlanta campaign; was at Red Clay, Ga., May 3; Tunnel Hill, May 7; Buzzard's Roost Gap, May 8; Varnell's Station, May 9; and was captured near Dalton, Ga., May 9, and made a prisoner of war, being confined at Atlanta and Macon, Ga., and Charleston, S. C. He was one of three hundred officers, the first Union men to be placed under fire of their own guns. He was exchanged at Rough and Ready, Ga., September 26, 1864, and was mustered out October 28 of the same year, and honorably discharged from the service. Although the highest title our subject won in war was that of captain, he is always addressed as "colonel," although, disliking to "sail under false colors," he has disclaimed all right to that title; but, one day shortly after his return from the front, he was met by a newspaper man, who addressed him as "colonel," and on being told he was not entitled to that rank, the man replied that he would at once commission him colonel. From that day to this he has been known by his honorary title. On his return home he was for two years engaged in buying stock and grain. In 1866 he built a portion of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul road in Iowa. In 1867 he went to Kansas and contracted to build fourteen miles of the Union Pacific Railroad near Fort Hays. While there eight of his men were killed and fourteen head of stock were captured by the Indians. His next work was lumbering in Wisconsin, after which, with his father-in-law and others, he built the Madison & Portage Railroad, now a part of the St. Paul system. On the completion of the road he took a position in the operating department of the same, and for three years made his headquarters in Milwaukee. He then went to Chicago and had charge of the terminal of the Wabash system, also was local freight agent for the road for one year. Later, for ten months, he was superintendent of the St. Louis bridge and union depot. For fifteen months he was superintendent of the Rio Grande division of the Texas Pacific Railroad. During this time he had charge of building the roundhouse and eighteen substantial buildings (eating houses and stations). In 1884 he returned to Chicago as superintendent of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. He was in charge of the Chicago & Milwaukee division, the Chicago & Council Bluffs division and the Chicago & Evanston division. After five years he resigned to accept the general superintendency of the construction of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railroad, with which he remained for five years. Since then he has beeninterested in a railroad contract in the Indian Territory, and the Mineral Point & Northern Railroad in southwest Wisconsin. By other railroad officials he is quoted as one of the most efficient transportation men in the United States. There is not a detail of the business with which he is unfamiliar. The many important positions he has held have been filled with a sagacity, energy and intelligence that gave him a high place with company officials. November 6, 1860, Captain Clinton married Miss Charlotte Campbell, who was born in Albany, N. Y., a daughter of James and Lorinda (Hill) Campbell. Her father was for some years a farmer, but later engaged in railroad building with his son-in-law. A native of Pennsylvania, born February 19, 1814, he moved to Albany in 1837, and in later years came west to Wisconsin. He died in Madison, that state, in 1883. His wife was born February 2, 1818, and died February 4, 1900. He was a descendant of Robert Campbell, who came to the United States in 1719 and died in Connecticut six years later. Captain and Mrs. Clinton are the parents of three children: Charles Arba, who is the Chicago representative of the Blanke Coffee Company of St. Louis; Edith L., wife of John Tuttle, a jeweler in Chicago; and James Campbell, who is cashier in the Morgan & Wright Tire Company, of Chicago. Captain Clinton is a member of Bicknell Lodge No. 94, A. F. & A. M., at Brodhead; Wisconsin Commandery No. 1, at Milwaukee; and is also connected with the Loyal Legion of Milwaukee, and George H. Thomas Post, G. A. R. Additional Comments: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/clinton1806nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 9.9 Kb