Nobles County MN Archives Biographies.....Dillman, W. A. "Andy" 1844 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com October 18, 2006, 10:41 pm Author: Arthur P. Rose (1908) W. A. DILLMAN. For forty years W. A. Dillman has been a resident of Nobles county, and with one exception he is the county's oldest pioneer now living in the county. When he came to the shores of the Okabena lakes in the fall of 1868 there was not a human being within a radius of many miles; no railroad had yet penetrated the county; Worthington had not been thought of; and but few men had seen the sights which greeted his eyes. The site of Worthington was then the home of the muskrat, fox and other fur bearing animals. W. A. Dillman was born in Ohio January 8, 1844, the son of George Dillman and Tildy (Dillman) Dillman, who were both natives of Ohio. When "Andy," as he is commonly called, was one year old his parents moved from their Ohio home to Columbus, Indiana, and there the subject of this sketch spent his early life. During the winter months he attended school in a little log school house, and during the summer months he worked on the farm. This life continued until he was seventeen years old; then he took up the life of a soldier, and for over four years was a union soldier, taking part in some of the hardest campaigns of the civil war. He entered the service on June 2, 1861, enlisting in company G, of the 22nd Indiana volunteer infantry. He reenlisted in the same company and regiment December 23, 1863. He fought under Generals Curtis, Buell, Rosecrans, Grant, Sherman and other generals, and took part in some of the most severe battles of the civil war, including Pea Ridge, Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Atlanta, and other minor battles. In the battle of Rocky Face Ridge, or Buzzard's Bay Roost (Rocky Face ridge being an inaccessible spur of the Alleghenies, cloven by Buzzard's Bay gap), Mr. Dillman, while fighting under General Sherman, was Wounded in the fleshy part of the leg. This occurred May 11, 1864, and Mr. Dillman was off duty as a consequence until August. Almost immediately after going on duty, he was again wounded slightly. This was at Jonesboro and occurred September 1. From Chattanooga to Atlanta the command had almost incessant fighting. After the capture of the last named city Sherman's command, of which our subject was a member, proceeded on the famous march to the sea, arriving in Savannah in December, 1864. From there it started north to get to the rear of Richmond. At Raleigh, N. C., occurred a skirmish, in which Mr. Dillman took part. The command then proceeded to Richmond, and from the capital of the Confederacy to the capital of the nation, where the troops took part in the grand review on May 24, 1865. Mr. Dillman, although at the time a mere boy, was made a corporal, which office he held one year. He was later promoted and during the last year of his service he was a sergeant. During the summer of 1865 the regiment of which Mr. Dillman was a member was ordered to Mexico to take a part in the Maximillian squabble, but had proceeded only so far as Louisville, Ky., when orders were received for the regiment's muster out. About the first of August the 22nd Indiana was mustered out at Louisville, although the breaking up of the regiment did not take place until some little time later at Indianapolis, Ind. After his discharge from the army Mr. Dillman returned to Columbus, Ind., where for two years he was engaged in farming, carpenter work and odd jobs. In June, 1868, he decided to go west, and that month located at Blue Earth, Minn. In September of the same year he, in company with John Wilson and Frank Fortner, came to the present site of Worthington, built a sod and log shanty on the east bank of East Okabena lake, and engaged in trapping the fur bearing animals which were there in abundance. During the next few years Mr. Dillman spent the trapping seasons in this vicinity. The story of this part of his life can be found in the history chapters of this work. Mr. Dillman came to the county to locate permanently in 1871. He located a soldier's homestead on the southeast quarter of section 34, Worthington township, filing his claim in April, and thus became one of the first permanent settlers in that part of the country. That year he worked with one of the crews that was constructing the St. Paul and Sioux City railroad, the first railroad to penetrate the county. For several years afterward he divided his time between trapping, working on the railroad and farming. These occupations he followed until about 1885. Then he settled on his farm and made that his home until about 1894, when he moved to Worthington, and that city has been his home since. Nearly all the time he has been in Worthington he has operated a billiard hall. "Andy" Dillman is certainly a pioneer of pioneers; he has seen Worthington grow from the home of the muskrat to a prosperous city—something which it has been the lot of no other man to witness. Additional Comments: Extracted from: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF NOBLES COUNTY MINNESOTA BY ARTHUR P. ROSE NORTHERN HISTORY PUBLISHING COMPANY WORTHINGTON, MINNESOTA PUBLISHERS 1908 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mn/nobles/bios/dillman25gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mnfiles/ File size: 5.6 Kb