HISTORY OF THE CHIPPEWA VALLEY - CHAPTER 27


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Faithful Record of all Important Events, Incidents, and
Circumstances that have Transpired in the Valley of the
Chippewa from its Earliest Settlement by White People,
Indian Treaties, Organization of the Territory and State;
Also of the Counties Embracing the Valley, Senatorial,
Assembly and Congressional Districts, and a Brief
Biographical Sketch of the Most Prominent Persons in the
Settlement of the Valley. BY Thomas E. Randall 1875.  Free
Press Print.  Eau Claire, Wisconsin

CHAPTER 27

"Wisconsin in the War of the Rebellion," by the Reverend Mr.
Love, is undoubtedly the most reliable and comprehensive
history of what the State and the people of Wisconsin did
during that terrible conflict, to sustain the national honor
and crush its foes; but full and complete as the above work
is in all its details, there is one department which the
author was necessarily compelled to leave untouched. Data
was furnished to him in regards to each company and
regiment, from the time of mustering into service, from
which his work was compiled; while all the patriotic
exertions of the officers, and of the people, in filling up
the ranks of different companies of each regiment, and
providing for their comfort; war meetings, speeches, and
many incidents attending their enlistment and departure to
the field of strife, furnish material for interesting local
history which I have been very anxious to glean up and place
before my readers. The faithful and indefatigable author
above named, has, it seems to me, left little room for any
one to add to the bright record of Wisconsin's heroic
soldiers, from the time of their reaching camp to the final
mustering out. But prior to that time, in most cases, not
even the locality is given where the several companies
composing each regiment were enrolled.

To follow each regiment to which troops of from this valley
were assigned, through all their marches and sufferings, and
recount their achievements and heroic conduct on hundreds of
well-fought fields; through all the vicissitudes of those
sanguinary battles and final triumph of our cause, however
agreeable it might be to me to set these things forth,
would, to a great extent, be only a repetition of what
others have already recorded, and swell this work to much
greater dimensions than it was a first proposed to extend
it. I shall confine myself, therefore, to those events and
circumstances relating to the initial experience of our
soldiers and citizens in enlisting and organizing soldiers
for the war and difficulties encountered there in.

On April 11, 1861, Fort Sumter was fired upon by the rebel
batteries, and on the 14th day of the same month President
Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for seventy-five
thousand troops for three months.

One regiment was assigned to Wisconsin as her quota, and she
immediately responded, this regiment being mustered into
service on the 17th of May, and left for the seat of war
June 9th. Such was the enthusiasm of the people, that in six
days after Governor Randall issued his proclamation, the
first regiment was enrolled and ready for service.

Vast numbers in every part of the State were ready to
enlist, and many other companies were ready to report, among
whom were the Dun County Pinery Rifles, afterward assigned
to the Fifth Regiment Company K, Captain William Evans, of
Menomonie; First Lieutenant C.A. Bayard; Second Lieutenant
J.A. Hill. The regiment was commanded by Colonel Amasa Cobb,
and was one of the first three-year men to take to the
field, was mustered into U.S. service by Captain McIntire,
of the regular army, on July 13, 1861.

Company K was the first, and, for a long time, the only,
organized company from this valley, and owed its existence
mainly to the zeal and patriotic efforts of the Ladies of
Menomonie, one of whom Miss Eliza Wilson, accompanied the
regiment to the field. Yes, the first war meeting that
assembled in this valley to organize a company of soldiers
to put down the rebellion, was called by the patriotic women
of Menomonie, and apropos to the occasion, the Dunn County
Lumberman of that date, then edited by A.S. Bundy, Esq.,
truly remarked: "There is no more convincing proof of the
terrible earnestness of the whole people in this national
struggle, than the heroism evinced by the women of the
land."

Although this one company, the Dunn County Pinery Rifles,
appears to have been the only one in the Fifth Regiment from
this valley, I cannot forbear mentioning some of the many
glorious achievements of this veteran regiment. It was this
heroic band of Badgers that saved Wheeler's Battery and won
the day at the Battle of Williamsburg, that with the Sixth
and Seventh Maine, and three companies of the Thirty-third
New York, less than fifteen hundred men, withstood one of
the most furious and terrible onsets of the war, made by six
Confederate regiments, more than four thousand of the best
chivalry of the South. The battle of the flag of the Fifth
North Carolina was captured by the Fifth Wisconsin, in this
battle, and on a dress parade two days after, General
McClellan complimented the regiment in the handsomest manner
saying, "You have gained honor for your country, your State,
and the army to which you belong. Through you, we gained the
day, and Williamsburg shall be inscribed on your banner… By
your actions and superior discipline, you have gained a
reputation, which shall be known through the Army of the
Potomac. Your country owes you its grateful thanks."

But in this and the many other fearfully contested
engagements near Richmond and Antietam, the Fifth was
terribly decimated. Captain Evans was mortally wounded in
the action at Golden Farms, VA., and more than half his
Company had fallen, by wounds and disease, during the first
eighteen months of its service. Captain J.M. Mott succeeded
to the command of the Rifles, but died of disease on July
26, 1863.

Early in the summer of 1861, a recruiting sergeant of the
Thirteenth U.S. Regular Infantry took rooms at the Eau
Claire House and enlisted about twenty young men, among whom
were Levi Hemingway and several others from Chippewa Falls.

The disastrous results of the 'On to Richmond' campaign, in
the summer of 1862, alarmed the nation and the people, and
stirring appeals for men to enlist were the order of the
day.

Receiving a recruiting commission from the Governor, Hollon
Richardson, Esq., a rising young lawyer of Chippewa Falls,
converted his law office into a recruiting station, and by
great personal exertion and assistance of a few friends,
raised a company of men, which was incorporated in the
Seventh Regiment as Company A, of which he was commissioned
First Lieutenant on September 13, 1862.

One of the greatest difficulties to be overcome after
enrolling his company was to procure sustenance and
transportation. The river was very low, and no steamboat was
running; to march raw recruits one hundred miles to Sparta
was out of the question. IN this dilemma, Adin Randall,
always patriotic and full of expedients, came to the aid of
the young lieutenant and the country. An old ferryboat that
had given place to a better one, was soon repaired and at
the disposal of the government. The ladies of the village
had made a beautiful flag for the company, which was duly
presented on the day of departure. Provisions for the trip
down the river were contributed by local citizens, and away
floated the scow, with the benedictions of a great crowd of
friends and patriots resting on its precious freight - a
mixed company of different races and nationalities, but all
burning with patriotic zeal and a determination to maintain
the honor of the flag under whose folds they had set sail.
With few mishaps, such as getting on sandbars and short
rations, the company reached the Mississippi at Reed's
Landing, from whence the government had made arrangements
for their transportation to Madison.

Of the achievements of the Seventh Regiment under its four
commanders, Van Dor, Robinson, Finnieum, and Richardson, as
a part of the Iron Brigade, I need not speak; its history is
the history of the Army of the Potomac, and so long as great
sacrifices, indomitable courage and brave deeds are esteemed
among men, the history of the Seventh Wisconsin Volunteers
during the war of the rebellion will be regarded as one of
the brightest on the pages of our nation's annuls. And our
young Lieutenant comes in for a full share of the glory of
its bright record, being promoted through all the gradations
to the position of Colonel, and brevetted general for
meritorious conduct at the Battle of the Five Forks, in
leading the charge of his regiment, carrying its battle-flag
aloft with his own hand as he cheered on the men.