HISTORY OF THE CHIPPEWA VALLEY - CHAPTER 32


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Transcribed and contributed to the USGenWeb Archives by Timm
Severud Ondamitag@aol.com

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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 32

Contemplating a chapter made up of stirring incidents and
accidents in relations to the war and the actions taken by
citizens and soldiers in it, and with the view having
accumulated quiet a number of items, which were carefully
laid away for the proper occasion, and among them several
letters from valued correspondents who have taken pains to
furnish information for this work, but which in the changes
and derangements incident to the season, got mislaid and
cannot be found. I mention this as an apology to those who
have so kindly lent their aid to assist me. Amongst them was
one, the loss of which I very much regret, giving accounts
of two friends who enlisted from the neighborhood of Durand
to fill up depleted ranks of one of our brave regiments in
the field and of the bravery and self-sacrifice made by one
to shield his friend from danger. How I regret that I cannot
give the name of so gallant soldier and comrade so generous!

It was in one of those fierce and terrible onsets, such as
the chivalry made in the first part of the rebellion, when
our boys were told to live down and wait for the shock, that
our two friends lay partly sheltered from the hail by a
small log or stick, the one nearest, however, being exposed
above and below, when, quick as thought, the one in the
rarer climbed over his fellow and placed himself in his
friends exposed position.

To the inquiry why he thus coveted a position so dangerous,
he replied, "You have a young wife and many dear friends to
morn your loss, and to whom your life is valuable, but there
is not a soul to morn my death, no wife, no children,
parents, brothers, or sisters. Alone in the world, what is
my life, compared to yours? Let me shield you with my body,
that your life may be spared to the loved ones at home, and
if one of us must die let it be me." Pythias pleaded for the
privilege of dying instead of his friend Damon, but here was
a man who forced himself between his friends and hailstorm
of bullets!

The accounts thus far given of troops furnished from this
valley, have been taken cognizance only of organized bodies,
from the files of the Eau Claire Free Press, kindly
furnished me by the Honorable G.E. Porter, covering the
period of his editorialship, and coming down to the spring
of 1864, I am enabled to not the action and enlistment of
several smaller and unorganized companies, and to cull from
the columns many interesting events and circumstances
connected to the war.

The following quotations are made with little regard to
order and arrangement, as expressing the state of the public
mind, and the feeling developed by the incipient and
subsequent stages of the war.

Friday, April 19th, The War Began

The terrible fact now stares us full in the face; lovers of
the Union must meet the sudden though unexpected
responsibilities, which devolve upon them. This is no time
for crimination or recrimination. Every Union-loving heart
will swell with emotion as it contemplate the unutterable
baseness and dishonor of those who have inaugurated civil
war, and we greatly mistake the tone and temper of all good
citizens, South as well as North, if they do not firmly
resolve to aid when duty calls, in executing a terrible
retribution upon the rebels. Let the watchword be, "The
Union must and shall be preserved."

The War Feelings in Eau Claire

There is no mistaking the deep and intense feeling that
pervades all classes of our citizens in view of the exciting
news from the South - the bombardment of Fort Sumpter.

The Union feeling is unmistakable everywhere, and we believe
that when duty calls, this and adjoining counties will
furnish as many strong arms and brave hearts as would the
same number of inhabitants elsewhere.

State of the Country

Dispatches from all parts of the country inform us that the
hearts of the people are with the government. Impromptu
meetings are held everywhere, and the united voice of the
North cries out for vengeance. There are but two parties now
- patriot or traders.

The bombardment of Fort Sumpter and its surrender in given
in this number of the Free Press, also the call of President
Lincoln for seventy-five thousand men, and this: "The
Charleston (S.C.) Mercury boasts that 'nearly all the United
States forts in the South have fallen." Yes, and, we are
sorry to say, like the poor man in the Bible, they have
fallen among thieves. (Louisville Journal)

A stirring call for an old-fashioned Forth of July
celebration follows, with a hope that the slumbering fires
of patriotism may be kindled in this valley.

April 26th 1861, Patriots Arouse

There will be a meeting of the patriotic citizens of Eau
Claire and vicinity, at Reeds Hall, on Monday evening, the
29th, to get up a company to go and fight the battles of our
country, under the call of the Governor for men to fill
Wisconsin's quota in the armies of the Republic. Speaking
and singing may be expected.

With one exception, this was the first war meeting in this
valley, and the local columns of the same date is "Three
Cheers for John Taylor," who had just returned from
Milwaukee resolved to enlist a company for the First
Regiment, and the editor adds, "Captain Taylor is just the
man to do it."

The meeting came off according to call, N.B. Boyden,
Chairman, J.G. Callahan, Secretary, and addressed by Messrs.
Barnes, Meggett, Davis, Bartlett, Barrett, Woodworth,
Taylor, Porter, Whipple, Wilson, Stillman and McNair. Two
bands discoursed martial music. Then come the names of the
sixty-one men who enrolled themselves as soldiers, amongst
which I find the names of A.S. Bostwich, A.C. Ellis, Robert
Lackey, John E. Stillman, J.D. McCauley, W.P. Bartlett,
honored names still amongst us, but in the roll are many
who, although the company as an organized body never left
the valley, could not rest until - bearing their own
expenses to the seat of war - they had joined themselves to
the army of freedom and laid down their lives in fighting
its battles.

War, too, has its poetic side, and here is a dignified
specimen from the other side, found in the columns of the
New Orleans Delta; Let Lincoln send his forces here!

We will lick them like the blue blazes, And send them
yelping back where, They sing their nigger praises.

We whaled the hungry cuss out, At Charleston like the
dickens; And not content with Sumpt-erous fare, They sha'n't
e'en have the Pickens.

How like the White League bombast of today this sounds!

The company before referred to organized on the 10th of May,
and chose for its Captain John Taylor, First Lieutenant A.S.
Bostwich, and Orderly Sergeant A.C. Ellis.

They took the name "Eau Claire Badgers." A noble looking
body of men, says the Eau Claire Free Press, but just look
for a moment at the next item, taken from the Mobile
Advertiser, while speaking of Union soldiers: "Such men as
marched through Baltimore, white slaves, peddling wretches,
small change knaves, levied by Lincoln for the honor of
being slaughtered by gentlemen." Vainglorious Southern
Chivalry, how art thou fallen!

No provision having been made by the government for the
sustenance or transportation of the Badgers, after an
ineffectual attempt to support them by private
contributions, they were disbanded, some returning to their
homes, and others, as before stated, paying their own way,
Captain Taylor among them.

August 22, 1861, From the Madison Patriot

Miss Eliza T. Wilson is the "Vivandiere' of our Wisconsin
Fifth. She is a fine appearing, intelligent young lady, and
daughter of the Honorable William Wilson, of Menomonie, Dunn
County, formerly of the State Senate… It is expected of her
to assuage the thirst of the dying and wounded on the field
of battle; she is regarded as a sort of guardian angel of
the regiment. All honor to the vivandiere of the Fifth.

September 12, 1861 The Eau Claire Badgers (under the new
organization, afterwards called the Eau Claire Eagles) took
their departure from this place for Madison, preparatory to
a campaign in Secessia, last Friday morning, on board the
steamer Stella Whipple.

This was Captain Perkin's company, with the bird that gave
the name Eagle Regiment to the Eighth Wisconsin; the second
organized company that left this valley. At West Eau Claire,
in response to their call just before the boat drew in her
plank, A. Meggett, Esq., on behalf of the citizens, bade
then a formal and affecting farewell.

Chippewa Falls Items - A Patriotic Family

We learn that S.S. McCann, who volunteered for the war a few
days ago, has two sons, and three son-in-laws in our
country's service. Mrs. McCann, the Squire's lady, says they
have one son left, and if the government makes another call
for volunteers, he must go also. Such patriotism should be
remembered.

October 3, 1861 - More Men From Chippewa County

Lieutenant Luxton passed through this place from Chippewa
Falls, on Friday last, with twenty athletic fellows to join
the Milwaukee Tiger Rifles. Among them we notice that bold
pioneer, Stephen S. McCann. Mr. McCann has been in actual
service through the Black Hawk War, and came out with an
honorable discharge. He is a man of undoubted pluck and
patriotism, and although he has passed the noon of life, he
could not turn a deaf ear to his country's call for "more
men."

November 28, 1861 - The Eau Claire Rangers

Captain Sherman having enlisted forty men at Patch's Grove,
his company is now accepted by Colonel Washburn's regiment
of cavalry, and will proceed at once to winter quarters at
Milwaukee.

I should like to relate some of the affecting and also
comical incidents of Captain's Sherman's war experiences,
and that of his command, as told by himself, but will first
mention a scene and circumstance in which he was an actor at
which I was present.

It was in July of the following year (1862) and the captain
came home for a short furlough. To recreate and recover his
health, he visited several places in the country around
about Eau Claire, and amongst others a Sabbath-school picnic
in the town of La Fayette. The young and anxious wives and
many other friends of several members of his company were
present and impatient to hear from their dear ones he left
down in Arkansas. In response to urgent calls, he commenced
a little speech with a view, apparently, of setting forth
the suffering and wants of our brave boys in that malarias
climate, and the horrors of Southern Prisons which some of
the company had experienced, but, soldier as he was and
accustomed to affecting scenes and trying circumstances, he
broke down, almost at the start, and burst into tears. So
true it is that the bravest men are the most tender and
sympathetic. December 19, 1861 - The Chippewa Guards to
Depart for the War

This was Captain Wheeler's company, to whom the ladies of
Eau Claire presented a beautiful flag, a grand ball being
given at Reed's Hall, the Guards being formed in line by
Sergeant M.E. O'Connell. The Honorable H.W. Barnes made the
presentation on behalf of the ladies in a most beautiful and
patriotic speech, responded to for the Company by G.E.
Porter, in the most touching and eloquent terms. Room for
only a sentence or two of each of these addresses can be
spared here. Mr. Barnes said: "Bear in mind that this flag
is entrusted to you as citizens and soldiers of Wisconsin.
Let this prove to you how dear to the female heart is
liberty - how sacred to her is the cause which you go forth
to sustain."

In reply Mr. Porter said: "I can assure the fair donors, in
behalf of these noble men, that while they have an arm to
strike, no stain of dishonor shall ever pollute the fair
folds of that beautiful flag."