Statewide County WI Archives Military Records.....Army Correspondence And Newspaper Extracts Civilwar 3rd WI Light Artillery Battery ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wi/wifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 14, 2006, 4:05 pm Army Correspondence And Newspaper Extracts ARMY CORRESPONDENCE AND NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS. Extract taken from the Wisconsin State Journal (daily) of Wednesday, Oct. 29, 1862: DRURY'S BATTERY AGAIN. A correspondent of the New York Times writing of the pursuit of the rebels by General Van Cleave and others, thus speaks of Drury's 3rd Wis. Battery: "We were now, on the morning of the 15th, near Crab Orchard. We had now left the fertile blue grape regions of Kentucky, and had commenced the ascent of the rocky, sterile portions of the northeastern part of the state. Our march was commenced at an early hour. Heavy cannonading was heard to our left and it was supposed that the enemy were disputing the passage of McCook and Rosseau, across the upper Dix river. The eleventh brigade led the advance of the entire corps. We had proceeded but one mile when the enemy again opened fire on us. In addition to their artillery, their musket firing was very .rapid and their bullets hissed and whizzed about our boys quite thickly. We were soon in line of battle. Drury's Battery and Mueller's were soon in position, and the entire Eleventh brigade deployed by regiments as skirmishers. Lively work was now had. The enemy was delaying our approach to Crab Orchard. The musket firing and the artillery duelling were continued for some time. We killed three of the enemy and wounded several others. The rebels now retired and we entered Crab Orchard at ten o'clock a. m. We found the town literally plundered of everything. The citizens gave us a most hearty welcome; furnished our troops with fresh water and something to eat. As we entered the town the enemy, who had taken a position upon the hill opposite, opened their battery with terrible energy; some of their shots were fired with admirable precision. One shell went just over our head and penetrated a house—exploding in the house,—scattering splinters in every direction. Our batteries were again advanced to position and our infantry thrown into the woods. The accurately aimed shots of Capt. Drury soon silenced the enemy's guns, sending their artillerists and supports scampering across a glade to our right in hurried confusion. The musket firing was more brisk than it had hitherto been, and our men were fearfully exposed to the enemy's fire. We finally drove them back. We lost one killed and two wounded. At Stanford we took twenty-one prisoners, some in hospital and some while engaged in action. General Buell was at Crab Orchard and complacently remarked that "Bragg's army is mine." The remainder of the day was a succession of skirmishes and artillery duels, we driving the enemy before us. We killed sixteen of the enemy, and took twenty-three prisoners. ----------------------- Extract from Wisconsin State Journal (daily) of Wednesday, Oct. 28, 1863: WISCONSIN SOLDIERS PRISONERS IN RICHMOND. Richmond Va., Sept. 30,1863. Editors State Journal:—The following is a list of the names of the 3rd Wis. Battery now prisoners in this place, captured on the 20th of this month: Sergt. G. Decker, Corpl. L. J. Uline, H. Hess, Paul Guyon, James Livingston, T. Boyle, Titus Chapin, T. Hawley, Sylvester Palmer, William McMahon, H. S. Howard. Sergt. Decker is slightly wounded; all are well. You will please publish this, so our friends will know of our situation. Respectfully yours, H. S. HOWARD. -------------------------- Extract from Wisconsin State Journal (daily) of Saturday, Nov. 14th, 1863: FROM THIRD BATTERY. Headquarters 3rd Wis. Battery ) Chattanooga, Tenn., Nov. 4,1863.) Editors State Journal:—At an election held in this Battery yesterday, we polled sixty-two votes, all for the "Wisconsin Union Straight Ticket." We had only sixty-five men in camp, and three were minors. In your tri-weekly issue of Oct. 14th, I notice a report of the killed and wounded of the 3d Battery so full of errors that our friends would find it difficult to tell whether any of their relatives were injured or not. I annex a correct list. Died of wounds—Samuel B. Palmer, Arza J. Noble, Hassel Stevens. Wounded —Sergt. John W. Fletcher, Corpl. Ira E. Smith, Corpl. Edward M. Kanouse, Sergt. Thomas S. Fessenden, Corpl. Hiram H. G. Bradt, Corpl. David S. Bedal, Peter Foreman, Leonard W. Lusted, Ole W. Martin, Thomas Rundell, Henry A. Weymouth, Maurice Scanlan, Charles w. Hubbard. Missing— Sergt. Gasheire Decker, Corpl. Leonard J. Uline, Thomas Boyle, James Livingston, Sylvester Palmer, Paul Guyon, Harlan S. Howard, William McMahon, Henry E. Hess, Titus B. Chapin, Thomas Hawley. I am very respectfully your obedient servant, HIRAM F. HUBBARD, Inspector of Election. ---------------------------------- The following glowing account of the contentment and efficiency of the artillerymen of the Badger Battery, is from an esteemed and reliable correspondent: Badger Battery ) Camp Utley, Oct. 1st, 1861 ) Dear Patriot:—At last we "Badgers" are soldiers in the "grand army," being sworn into the service at 4 o'clock this p. m. and a happier set of fellows you never saw than are our boys tonight. The battery is fully organized and officered as follows: Captain—Lu H. Drury. 1st Lieut.—Cortland Livingston; 2nd James T. Purdy; 3d Al LeBrun; 4th H. F. Hubbard. Q. M. Sergt.—J. A. Chapell. Sergt. Maj.—A. C. Woodworth. Staff Sergeants—J. A. Chapell, A. C. Woodworth. 1st Sergeant—Alden Woodbury. Sergeants—H. C. Currier, W. J. Colburn, A. W. Galloway, E. C. Brewster, H. F. Billings, J. D. Galloway. Corporals—Zeph D. Hollenbeck, W. A. Marshall, O. W. Davis, Gasherie Decker, Edward Downey, M. M. Safford, J. W. Waite, B. P. Billings, H. H. Worden, L. S. Walker, C. H. Clough, S. M. Chapin. We crack considerable on our organization, and think we are the battery of the camp. Capt. Drury is the good fellow here he was at home, and he has the respect and regard of every man in the company. The lieutenants are all of the style we like, just the best of men, liked by all. Four other batteries are on the ground: Washington, Capt. Hertzberg, 84 men; Beloit, Capt. Vallie, 112 men; Monroe, Capt. Pinney, 168 men, and Buena Vista, Capt. Dillion, 163 men. An artillery camp is a pretty sight, covering so much ground, and presents at night, with all the tents lighted up, the appearance of quite an encampment of active soldiery. We are lookingfor our horses and guns very soon, and hoping they will not be long away. We should be very happy to extend the hospitalities of our tents and mess house to our Madison friends and hope to see many of them while here. Yours to the brim, JAMES A. CHAPELL. ------------------------------------- 3rd Battery Wis. Artillery ) Camp Utley, Nov. 23d, '61 ) Dear Argus:—Now we are fairly at work. A few days since we received two complete batteries, consisting of two six-pounder guns, two rifled six-pounders and two tweive-pounder howitzers, all bronze, with extra caissons, forges, battery wagons, wheels and harness, &c, for each battery and about two and a half thousand rounds of solid shot, spherical case cannister and six and twelve-pounder shells for target practice. A selection of ground was made at a place on the prairie about four or five miles from the Camp, directly on the Racine and Mississippi R. R., a point where we could get a clear range long enough for our rifled guns for that practice, and another about a mile or so directly west of the Milwaukee and Chicago R. R. depot for howitzer and smooth bore cannon practice. At the first point an embankment was thrown up, something more than one hundred feet long, about twelve or fifteen feet high and nearly twenty feet thick. The target was about ten or twelve feet square, with a sixth inch bulls eye and placed directly before the embankment. The ground selected for the howitzer practice was on a gully, giving us a natural embankment of forty or fifty feet high on three sides, but only about a mile or a mile and a half range; far enough, however, for that kind of practice, and the most sheltered from danger of any that could be found. Thursday morning of last week, we, that is, batteries 1st, 2nd and 3rd, marched with four rifled six-pounders, to the first target ground, but when there, our officers dare not venture a trial, fearing danger of casualties by shooting beyond the target, and we were marched to the second place, a distance of about four miles, where we spent the afternoon in practicing on the short range, only about eleven hundred yards; too short to give the rifled guns a fair trial. It was well done; out of eighteen shots fired, sixteen hit the target and three the bulls-eye. Some of them ricochetted, striking the ground two or three hundred yards short of the target, and then skipping along plumbed the target, and waked up the dust in the bank right merrily. It was splendid music to hear the whiz of the balls as they passed us. They are wicked things to shoot, I assure you. One of the balls that missed, struck a large stump in range, shivering it all to splinters. Another one struck the ground at the foot of the bluff, about ten yards short, and bounding buried itself in the top. The next day we tried the six-pounder guns, smooth bore, making some fair shots, I am told. But there is a very great superiority in the shooting of the rifled ones; more than I had supposed. The next day, Saturday, the 3rd battery took the howitzers, practicing all day, shelling some miserable foe, I suppose. Their range was from five hundred to nine hundred yards. Some of the shots were short, some ricochetted, passing through the target; one, owing to a defect in the fuze, burst in the air at the distance of a couple of hundred yards from the gun, throwing the fragments of shell all about us, fortunately injuring no one. Most of them—in fact almost everyone—were effective shots, particularly well thrown for the first time. Many of the men never saw a shell. Since then we have added strength to the embankment target on the prairie and we are now practicing there. I rode out there, Wednesday, to witeness the skill of batteries 5th, 6th and 7th. They were throwing six-pounder shells at a distance of from eleven to fourteen hundred yards, and were doing well at that distance—the bulls eye is hardly perceptible. The aim, however, is not to hit that, but to explode the shell directly over the target, which was done quite a number of times. For the last two or three days we have had no weather for practicing or drilling, and tonight we have winter in earnest. The storm is terrible and the cold winds from the lake on the one side and the prairie on the other, pierce us to the marrow. Fortunately for us, Quartermaster Douglas received four cases of overcoats today, and each company was the happy recipient of fifty, enough to do us some good. Our men suffer much for the want of mittens or gloves, or the money to buy them for themselves. It seems as though we should each be furnished with a good pair of leather gloves. Most certainly we must have something of the kind, and now is the to do it. We have rumors of marching orders, some say to Indianapolis, some to Annapolis, some to Lexington. All we ask is to give us preparation just as soon as possible and then, "use us." We want to show our friends that Wisconsin soldiers can handle the "great guns" as they can the smaller ones. More anon. Yours, &c., JAMES A. CHAPELL. ----------------------------------------- Camp Irvine, Louisville, Ky. ) Jan. 27th, 1862. ) Dear Patriot.—When I wrote you last I promised my next from the C. S. A., and I spoke truly for here we are on the classical soil of "Old Kentuck." We bid the good people of Racine adieu at noon of Thursday last, bringing with us our batteries of six guns each with all our equipments complete, caissons, harness, battery wagons, forges, &c, &c, and about ten or twelve hundred rounds of ammunition, making a train of seven passenger cars and sixteen freight, giving us nearly a formidable appearance and attracting the utmost attention all along the route. We left Chicago at 9 o'clock p. m., via the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago R. R., making up in the morning thirty or forty miles below Michigan City. We made no considerable stop until we arrived at La Fayette, Indiana, a town of 10,000 or 12,000 inhabitants, just beyond where the railway crosses the Wabash, where we halted for an hour for refreshments not the least of which was the transition from the hot, smoky atmosphere of the car to the clear, bright spring sun of one of the most pleasant of days. Don't let any of your readers question my meaning of the expression "spring sun" &c, I mean just what I say. We left Camp Utley under sixteen inches of snow, but a few miles below Michigan City it was rarely seen and here at La Fayette all had vanished. I might have thought I was mistaken in it being so pleasant had I not have noticed that almost, without an exception, the ladies wore shakers, flats or sunbonnets, the surest indication, for you know they never mistake the season or the fashion. We were very kindly entertained here with hot coffee, &c, and our hearts strengthened by the words of cheer each had for us. At 9 at night we arrived at Bloomington, a town of about three thousand inhabitants, in the county of Monroe, Indiana. Here we were met with the heartiest greeting of any place we had yet passed. We were expected at eight o'clock, and preparations had been made to give us a reception that would forever endear us to the good people there. I was standing at the door of the first car, making all calculation to have a nice cup of coffee, sure, and as soon as we came up to the platform, sprang off to treat resolution, but I didn't go. Scarce had I opened the car door when my way was completely blocked with a crowd of ladies with baskets of every thing good, regular hoosier bread and biscuits, as they termed it, pies, cakes, &c., and men with pails of hot coffee, baskets of apples, and a thousand and one things, not one but what done us good. I retreated of course. Who wouldn't have done so. It was our first real active engagement. " We met the _____ and they were ours." Not content with filling our arms with those kind of rations, they took down our haversacks and filled them too, so that even now we have a visible reminder of our reception there. Didn't we cheer them for it, real Badger cheers, making the very hills about echo again with shouts, and weren't they real ones too, making all hearts glad. Long life and prosperity to them. May it be their fortune just as long as they live in our remembrance 'twill be till they are rich in all this world affords. Just as the sun arose we caught the first glimpse of the Ohio and the high hills of the Kentucky shore. Then we felt that we were coming near that wish of so many days that we would soon tread that ground we have so long and so often longed for. Not till night, however, did we leave the depot and cross the river. We attracted quite considerable interest in Louisville, but the people had seen so many of Uncle Sam's blue uniforms within the past four months that more was nothing but what might be expected. The Louisville Journal speaks in flattering terms of our appearance as being the best sized and the hardiest soldiers that have been here. We were quartered in a large tobacco warehouse. Saturday night and Sunday morning marched to our present camp, about four miles from town and hallowed the day in pitching our tents and making ourselves comfortable as the situation of things would permit of. The weather was delightful, the air as balmy as spring, the sun as bright—the roads fairly dusty, but this morning, oh horrors, we awoke with an inch or two of snow on the ground, about ten o'clock in the morning it began raining and tonight we are in mud of all depths, real Kentucky mud. I met our Harry Bingham and Dr. Dixon of the 1st. Their regiment is encamped on Green River about sixty-three miles from here. The 10th is near them. He gave a good account of the men, said their health was generally good, some cases of low fever among them. We have here in camp Co. F. Ohio artillery, Capt. Corcoran, 135 men, 4 rifled 6-pounders and 2 12-pounder howitzers; Co. M. Ohio artillery, Capt. Shoals, 140 men, 4 rifled 6-pounders and 2 12-pounder howitzers; The 8th Indiana, Capt. Cockrane, 140 men, 4 rifled and 2 smooth 6-pounders; 10th Indiana, Capt. Cox, 4 parrot 12-pounders and 2 12-pounder howitzers; 1st Wisconsin, Capt. Foster, 150 men, 2 rifled 6-pounders, 2 smooth 6-pounders and 2 12-pounder howitzers, and the Wisconsin 3rd, Capt. Drury, 158 men, 2 rifled 6-pounders, 2 smooth 6-pounders and 2 12-pounder howitzers." In an adjoining camp is a company of regular artillery under command of Lieut. Parsons of the regular army; one of our own Madison boys—110 men and 4 steel rifled guns carrying a 12-pounder projectile, also some infantry encamped in the neighborhood. We left Racine, bringing with us the best wishes of the people there. The depot grounds were crowded with our friends to see us off and to give us their "Do your duty men." We shall not forget their last words soon, and we hope they may never blush, when the names of the "1st and 3rd" are mentioned. We leave very many kind associations there and I wonder if some of our own Madison boys don't often think of pleasant hours they have passed off duty. Echo answer, wonder. But enough now—more soon. Yours, JAMES A. CHAPELL. ---------------------------- Camp Irvine, Louisville, Ky. ) Feb. 17th, 1862. ) Dear Patriot:—We are all alive tonight with the wildest of excitement and joy at the reduction of Fort Donelson and the capture of the rebel Generals Buckner and Johnson with the forces under their command. Heartily as you good people at home sympathize with the cause we all are laboring to support, earnestly as you may rejoice at our success, I wonder if you might see your sons here tonight, if you would not suspect our senses had taken a temporary departure, and let the "buffalo dance" passion reign supreme. It seems too good almost to credit. Beginning with the first forward movement of the Department of the Cumberland, the defeat of Zollicoffer, the reduction of Ft. Henry, the evacuation of Bowling Green, and now the last and thus far much the most brilliant event of the war, the reduction of Ft. Donelson and the capture of a garrison of men intrenched in one of the strongest inland forts of our country. The Louisville Journal (Prentice) in speaking of its capture says: "It transcends in magnitude all the other conflicts of the war combined, startling as some of them have been," adding, "the battle and its results will be hailed as long as there shall be an American history, as an immortal evidence of the patriotic and even desperate valor of our countrymen. The account of the closing scene has not yet come, but it will be wildly and deeply thrilling when it comes. It will stir the blood of feeble age, of vigorous manhood, of beautiful womanhood, and of innocent childhood." Fort Donelson is situated on the west bank of the Cumberland river, a few miles below the Tennessee line, nearly directly east and but a few miles distant from Ft. Henry, about a hundred miles in a southwest direction from Bowling Green, and hardly that distance, almost as direct southeast from the rebel stronghold, Columbus. It must have been a fight as desperate as the records of modern warefare often show. It was one of the strongest fortified points they held, their works extending some five miles on the outside. Deep trenches were dug all along in front of high embankments, large forest trees, thousands of them, all entwined as they stood in the wood, were dragged [sic] to a short distance in the front of the ditch, making a barrier entirely impassable to cavalry and almost as much so to infantry. Inside of the embankments were the rifle pits, concealing thousands of riflemen. Adding to this forty-eight pieces of light artillery, seventeen heavy seige guns, some of them 128-pouuders, all defended by 25,000 men fighting under the "blue flag" the murderous signal of "we give nor take quarter," and we can approximate to an idea of the labor and the glory of the victory. No wonder is it that we are rejoicing? Not us alone, though our camp is enveloped even now with a black dense cloud of powder smoke, our ears yet are almost deafened with the thunder of our salutes as we would fire first by battery, then by sections, then by guns, but all around us we hear the rapid booming of distant salutes, as our friends take up the cry and proclaim their rejoicings. And not for Donelson alone do we rejoice, but for the fact that secession here has received a blow that it never can rally from with more than a show of the courage of desperation. And this by western men! I almost wish tonight I was an Illinoisan, that I might boast of their 8th, 9th, 11th, 13th, 20th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 45th, 48th and 49th regiments It reads nobly for the Sucker State, that they took the brunt of the charges, and suffered most severely. But of affairs with us. We are still at our first camp near Louisville, working hard, that we may soon have the fortune of doing our share of the work we are engaged in. We are delayed very much on account of having no horses to practice with. If we but had them, and properly trained, we think we might do some good at about the shortest possible notice. In our whole battery we have but about thirty battery horses, just enough for one section, (two guns) and some saddle horses. They are being purchased for us, and we are looking for the balance of them daily. * * * * * * We have an addition of two or three companies, I think one each from Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, camping at Camp Gilbert, about half a mile from us in a neighboring field. The Wisconsin 1st and 3rd are all that are now left at Camp Irvine, we have intimations though that Camp Gilbert are ordered here. We hope so, for then we shall have company again. We are encamped on the Kentucky State Fair grounds, about four miles from Louisville, directly on the Louisville, Frankfort & Lexington Railroad, and the Louisville, Shelbyville & Frankfort Pike. In our immediate vicinity is the grave of Gen. Taylor, in a neat, plain vault, telling the visitor only the name of the illustrious sleeper, his age, &c, &c: no long parade of his positions; his talents and his virtues. How much better so. As I stood with folded arms, gazing upon his sepulchre, I thought how much brighter appear the remembrances of his brilliant campaigns, how much purer the recollections of his virtues, how much dearer to our remembrances his life, than if his remains lay beneath the costliest slab of marble ever brought from Southern Europe. But a short distance from it is the birthplace of Major Robert Anderson, the hero of Sumpter, a beautiful brick mansion, one of the prettiest places it has been my fortune to see in a long time. I paid a visit a few days since to DuPont's celebrated artesian well, and was much interested in it. It is two thousand and eighty-six feet deep, and throws up a column of water to the heighth of one hundred and seventy feet above the surface, discharging three hundred and thirty thousand gallons of water every twenty-four hours. It is situated in the yard of a large paper mill, and was, sunk for the purpose of obtaining a supply of clear water for the manufacturing purposes of the mill. As far as that is concerned it is a failure, for the water is very strongly mineral. It is said to approximate nearer to the waters of the Blue Lick spring of this state than to any other in the United States. It does not taste to me very much unlike the waters of the Rochfield and the Sharon Spa, New York. Their pecularities are sulphates. It differs from the Congress, at Saratoga, in having none of that peculiar taste or sensation imparted by corbonic gas, and having a much stronger sulphuric taste. It is claimed to possess many medicinal qualities and an effort is even being made to turn it to some account in that respect, and no doubt it will be successful. Yours, JAMES A. CHAPELL. Additional Comments: Extracted from: History of the Services of the Third Battery Wisconsin Light Artillery In the Civil War of the United States, 1861 -65 Compiled from all sources possible, but principally from members themselves COURANT PRESS, BERLIN DEDICATORY This book is reverently and affectionately dedicated to the Memory of our dead and living Comrades, and to all patriotic relatives of the 3d Battery Wisconsin Light Artillery. PREFACE This book is not expected to cover all the service of the Battery, many facts at this date are lost which will detract from its comprehensiveness. We still have a mass of information in connection with the Battery which for sufficient reasons we cannot at present use. It is of a reminiscent character and very interesting and should be preserved in book form; likewise there should be added several other illustrations, notably one of the Tablet placed upon the ground of our last battle and destruction. I will most gratefully thank in the name of the Association, those who have responded so freely and generously to the request for information. Among the contributors of incidents and essential memoranda I will mention the names of Esau Beaumont, E. D. Case, Wm. Plackett, Harlan S. Howard, E. M. Kanouse, Alf. Lounsbury, Ed. Harroune, Lew D. Williams, E. G. Jackson, Ansel Hayes, Maj. W. J. Colburn, Ira E. Smith and others. H. H. G. BRADT, Secretary. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wi/statewide/military/civilwar/other/u3rdwilig60nmt.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/wifiles/ File size: 26.8 Kb