Four Years With the Iron Brigade

by Lance Herdegen

  Lance J. Herdegen

  Milwaukee, WI, December 2000

  In addition to my family, at the Institute for Civil War Studies at Carroll College, I would like to thank Librarian Becky Steffes and students Andy Ackeret, Mary Benecke, Jesse Gant, and Scott Gutzke for their patience and assistance. I also would like to thank John Heiser and Major Mark Johnson for their excellent maps.

  Finally, both Sherry and I would both like to thank our editor, Theodore P. Savas, for his recognition of the importance of this manuscript, for his intuition in having us work together, and for his valuable contributions to the book. His guidance and input during our work was invaluable.

  L.H.

  1861

  The volunteer companies of the Seventh Wisconsin were called to Madison in September 1861 amid the great panic over the shocking Federal defeat at Bull Run on July 21, 1861. Unlike the first six regiments sent from Camp Randall, the Seventh was mustered company by company. On September 21, in new state uniforms of militia gray, it was sent to the war front in Washington and assigned to a new brigade commanded by Brigadier General Rufus King.

  King was a familiar figure from back home. A native of New York and an 1833 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, he arrived in Wisconsin in 1845 to take the editor’s chair of The Milwaukee Sentinel. An experienced officer and a personal friend of Federal commander Irvin McDowell, King was given a general’s star and a new infantry brigade made up of the Second, Fifth, and Sixth Wisconsin, and the Nineteenth Indiana. Attached was Battery B of the Fourth U.S. Artillery, famous in the “old” army for its service at Buena Vista in the Mexican War.

  There was talk at first of an all-Wisconsin brigade, but military officials and Lincoln administration power brokers, always fearful of giving any governor too much authority, kept the Nineteenth Indiana in King’s brigade and moved the Fifth Wisconsin to another organization. King and other Wisconsin officials voiced their outrage, however, and when the Seventh Wisconsin arrived from “Badgerdom” it found orders attaching it to King’s Western brigade.

  The welcome for the Seventh was a joyous one. “Our boys and those of the 2d [Wisconsin] made extravagant demonstrations of delight when they saw the grey uniforms and blue flags coming up the road from towards Washington,” said a Sixth Wisconsin man. “The men are not only of good size and hardy look,” said a brigade officer, “but they have an intelligent and smart look, which is assurance that they bring brain as well as muscle to the work.”

  The colonel of the Seventh Wisconsin was Joseph Vandor (sometimes spelled Van Dor) of Milwaukee. He was an old Hungarian campaigner, stiff and stubborn, and recommended to Wisconsin Governor Alexander Randall as “a brave man and thorough disciplinarian.” The fact Vandor was still trying to master English became apparent at an early drill in firing by front and rear ranks. Vandor, mounted and at his proper place behind the regiment, ordered, “Rear rank, about face! Read, aim . . .” The order “brought the long line of file closers and officers to their knees, while the gallant lieutenant colonel and major were seen charging toward some friendly trees.”

  The adjutant shouted, “Colonel, that is not correct, you will shoot the file closers.”

  But the stubborn Hungarian straightened up. “I don’t car a tam. If your colonel ish te mark, fire anyway,” he said, and a thousand muskets emptied their blanks cartridges at the noble colonel.

  Vandor was soon “promoted to a foreign consulship, a polite way Mr. Lincoln had of banishing general officers not wanted in the field.”

  William W. Robinson of Sparta, a Mexican War veteran and the lieutenant colonel of the regiment, was promoted to colonel in Vandor’s place, and one of the most interesting of Wisconsin’s soldiers, Charles A. Hamilton of Milwaukee, the grandson of Alexander Hamilton, advanced to lieutenant colonel. George Bill of Lodi, the captain of Company A, became major. The regiment and the rest of the brigade were ordered to Arlington Heights, Virginia, where they—including Private William Ray—went into winter quarters and were employed drilling and performing outpost duty near Falls Church for the next several months.

  Unlike some of its sister regiments, little has been written about the Seventh Wisconsin, and even less is known about the daily routines of its citizen soldiers during the first months of the war. Ray’s early journals thus fill valuable gaps in our knowledge.

  Volume 1

  To-Put Down Rebellion

  September 19, 1861 to November 21, 1861

  Wm R. Ray Book

  If lost and found by any person make known or bring to Capt Callis Company 7th Regt, Wis Volunteers, and oblige friend1

  Read this book although it will truble you some to do it. And put it in safe keeping as well as the contents of the pocket. [Ed. Note: Pocket is empty.]

  September 19, 1861

  And I commence this book to keep account of evrything that transpires. I should have commenced it just one month since to do justice to the campaign I have started on that is to put down Rebellion in this once Glorious Union.

  I am not able to drill nor havnt been for over a week or more but I am getting better. The cause of it is we were on Battalion drill. That is the whole of the Regiment were out togather and the order was given to carry arms at will and so they was carried in evry shape and form. And then the order was given to double quick march. And we started on it which is in a pretty good run.

  The Seventh Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry

  September 21, 1861

  Past Macfarlin [MacFarland] we are at Stoten [Stoughton]. There is a Company from this place. The name is Stoten [Stoughton] Light Guards. And it causes a great deal of excitement. We have just left Janesville and the citizens fetched our dinner into the camp. Well, we are at Harvard Station in Illinois. I guess they will not treat us here from the appearances. We are sixty miles from Chicago. We expect meet with a great reception. We are at Woodstock now. Just stopped.

  September 22, 1861

  And we are at Plymoth, Indiana [Plymouth, Indiana] so they say. We are now at Warsaw. We are at Fort Wayne now. I guess we are. We are near some upper Sandusky [Ohio] it is considerable town. We are at Busyrus[?], it is quite a place. We are just leaving Chrisiline and having a great time of it. We were promised some coffee and got some except about eighteen of our Company and the Captain didnt look after us and the guards wouldnt let us out when all the rest got out. We are at Mansfield [Ohio] now. We are at Pittsburg [Pittsburgh] and in the cars for Harrisburg [Pennsylvania] and the citizens of this place gave us our breakfast as soon as we came off the other cars.

  We are off for Harrisburg. We have just past the Iron works and the Iron Mountain also. It is quite a place but the houses are the common class as they are all the working class. The name of the town is Johnstown. It is so much truble to find out the name of a town.

  September 24, 1861

  And I am on top of the Capital of the state of Pennsylvania and it is a grand sight. It is as good a building as our own at Madison. I must quit writing and go back to the depot where we have been ever since nine oclock, and it is about two. And are going to start at three oclock for Washington. The secretary of war [Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania] is here and says we are a good regiment. He looked at us. We are started for Baltimore and are crossing a bridge about one mile and a quarter long. Now the train is stopped because they could not pull us. The train is so long. There is so much drunkeness hollowing [hollering] that we cant hear ourselves think. They put us in the cattle and all kinds of cars. Verry dirty. We have loaded our guns to go through Baltimore.

  September 25, 1861

  We are at Goldsborough. That far from Harrisburg. We stayed at Harrisburg all night and slept in the cattle cars all night. But we are at Little York, it a manufacturing town, carworks and other things. We are twenty five miles from the line between Maryland and Pennsylvania.

  September 26, 1861

  We have passed through Baltimore. We slept in the station or depot house in Baltimore. We were received there the warmest
of any place that we have passed through yet. It was delightful sight but I saw one woman that shook her fist at us. We are at Washington Junction now. The fourth Wisconsin Regiment is here as guards for the road and a magnificent bridge that is right here. The other goes to Harpers Ferry. Ever since we struck the line of Maryland there is troops stationed to guard the roads to keep secessionist of [off].2

  Washington, September 26, 1861

  And we are in Washington and nobody killed nor hurt but a good many sick. We are on north Capitol street, sitting on large blocks of marble which has been hauled for building I suppose as there is a building right in front us that is built of it. It a verry large building. We are waiting for something to eat. No telling what we will get or when. We have to keep our knapsacks on so as to be ready. We can see soldiers evry place we look. There is lots of encampments around here.

  We are now at the soldiers rest. I try to give a detail of evry thing that transpires. It is as follows. Well, were put into double file and marched into the soldiers rest which holds all the regiment and we stacked our arms, pulled knapsacks and marched into the Soldiers retreat and got dinner. I must fall into rank, (now I have went in to fall in but found out it was false. There is so [much] hollowing. So I have come back on the steps again to return) which was as follows. Good coffee, better bread than we had at Camp Randall3 but awful poor meat and this is [what] we had. We have fared hard on the way coming here.

  There is a bathing place in soldiers retreat and I went and washed my feet and come outside and to big wooden washpans or troughs rather and washed my hands and face. A man can wash all over in the bathing tubs. They say they are fighting at Chain Bridge.4 I guess we will have to stay here all night.

  September 27, 1861

  (Well, well the above that I have written proved not to be true) but I cant help that for we are in one of the city halls. There is a large building here and it is divided into halls and each Company occupys a hall and plenty of room to. Well last night when we got our beds fixed and laid down. Then the officers hollowed up Co F and fix knapsacks so & we rolled up things again and fell into ranks and marched here. We did not know where we was going until we marched in here. Some said we were going to Chain Bridge and some said one place and another. We are on the second floor and have a balcony to walk out on and the only balcony there is on the house so we have a good situation.

  I am sitting in the window as I write. The windows is large and raise up so as to make a doorway to go on to the balcony. I understand that we are likely to go to Chain Bridge and General Heinz [Samuel P. Heintzelman], he wants us. He says if he had a brigade of Wisconsin boys, he would have the best in the field. We have a great name or at least the Wisconsin boys does. They do not notice us in this city as at other citys heretofore because there is so many here. There is in and about this city two hundred and sixty thousand troops. Well you may imagine what is going on here. It would take a large volume to note evrything for just in our Company there is not any doing things alike hardly. We are strongly guarded.

  Well I must mention about Baltimore again. We were greeted in evry way, lots of young ladies running along the streets, waving the flags. Hurrah here comes Capt Mackee [David McKee, Lancaster, Wisconsin] of the Grant Co grays [Grant County Grays], second regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers. His Company is the colored [color] Company.5 I have just heard a letter read from the same regiment just sent to Loren Parsons. We are going to Chain Bridge I guess. Olie Foot [Orey J. Foot] of our company has had the delerium tremens. He is better now.6

  Well we are in our tent. We struck our tents in a hurry to keep our things dry. But we will have to take them down to sett them over square. They are sett in evry shape.

  September 28, 1861

  We struck our tents to pitch them in uniform style. It is a verry pretty day but we had a cold a night, about as cold as Wisconsin. The Vermont regiment left and we go on the same ground. We have to wait until we have orders to do anything. We are on confiscated property. We were marched out to this place yesterday. It is about one mile & a half from the city. It is a pretty place and good water. It is a better place than camp Randall. I have seen Arlington Heights7 from the top of a high building in the city. And now we can see encampments in evry direction. We have had only about half enough to eat yet but I don’t know who is to blame. They say when we get things fixed up square, they will give us all the law allows us which is eighteen ounces of bread, three quarters of a pound of pork or one pound and a quarter of beef when we don’t get pork and I forget how much coffee—but there is a great plenty of evrything and good to but the Vermont regiment said they had about half rotten mean for two days & then about seaven hundred of them raised and wouldnt stand it so they got the best kind of evry thing ever after.

  September 29, 1861

  We are all fixed up right. Our rations will be divided equal today by weight and measurement according to law. I was lucky as to get a chair yesterday. When the Vermont Regiment left, they left it so we have something to write on. Our meat was so salty last night we could not eat it. It was salt beef and the cooks didnt think of its being so salt. We had fresh beef before of the first quality. We have good cooks, I believe one of them is Phillipp [Phillip] Brother & James Thorp.8

  September 30, 1861

  And it is a pretty day. Just had dinner. It consisted of soup and bread. The soup was verry poor but we do not have enough bread, but have it promised as usual. We commenced to drill this morning for the first since we left Wisconsin.

  October 2, 1861

  October and I am well but awful hungry. We have the poorest to eat of any and the poorest management. We are at Chain Bridge now at this end. And encamped in stones throw of the second and sixth regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers. Evry Company has got their Breakfast but ours.

  I am sitting on the ground on an old rag, detailed as an extra guard which makes one hundred & twenty eight on guard and then they will go out. They put guards around the second regiment but they will go out any how. So we do it also. They will quit trying to keep us in. The second regiment was guarded just the same.

  October 4, 1861

  It is a verry pretty day or morning. I have been mending my pants and scouring my gun. It keeps us pretty busy. Get up when the drum beats, fall in, answer to roll call, get breakfast, scour guns, black shoes, comb head to keep tangles out, keep lice out, wash socks, wash shirts and writing and various things to numerous to mention. Well it is about Drill time.

  Tis evening and a balloon [observation balloon] is up but it is going down. It is the second one I have seen since we come south. The other one went up when we was up to Camp Randall near washing [Washington]. It went up in the night and had a light in it but the supposition is that on the side of the rebels it was dark. We are going to Arlington Heights tomorrow morning. It is said that the whole of the Brigade is going. It is about five miles. I will write some tomorrow if can.

  October 6, 1861

  And I want my Breakfast but I expect it be an hour yet before we get it. We are at Arlington Heights this morning. We slept out last night on our tents for they didnt come until after dark. It was verry hard march. Our regiment passed I should think half of the second regiment and a great many of the sixth also. The second said that it was harder than any other march they had ever performed. I will quit until after breakfast as this Sunday we ought to rest but we shall have to work about all day as the ground is verry dirty.

  October 7, 1861

  And it is nearly eight oclock and we have not had our breakfast. Our officers neglects us in some way for we only had two meals yesterday and verry poor ones too. But I will kick up a smudge pretty soon if I have to report to headquarters. There is something fetched to light yesterday for all the rations was not cooked that we drawed. It was the cooks fault for if they could save it and sell it they would put in their own pockets. There some in this Company that wants to cook in messes, me for and about half of the Company but the big wigs they don’t see it. They ar
e mounting guard now and our men has to go without their breakfast.

  October 8, 1861

  And it is muddy and cloudy for it rained verry hard last night and we got a little wet but it didnt hurt us any for we are getting used to it. We don’t drill any since we came here. I am writing a letter for Jesse Shipton9 as he cant. I wrote one for him before but he is one of the two detailed to carry water for the cooks. And he has just gone for some and will wait until he comes back to tell me what to say.

  October 10, 1861

  And it is raining again. I guess it is setting in for a good rain as it is near the rainy season and if it is we will have a muddy time of it. There is all kinds of games going on to take money and kill time but I take no part in them and will spend my time writing. I have just written to my nephew Richard Lander [son of older sister Thurza Ann Ray (born 1820) and Isaac C. Lander]. It is the first letter I have written to relatives except Henry [older brother, born 1822] and Mother.

  We went to be examined yesterday, well the whole brigade went which consists of the second, sixth and seaventh Wis regiments and the nineteenth Indiania [Indiana] Regiment.10 We fixed up as good as we could, that is blacked our shoes and sewed on buttons & rip in pants & coats and brush them and pack our knapsacks as neatly as we could in have things as neat as possible. We were marched about one mile & a half and drawn up in line with the second Regt and in the rear of the nineteenth Indiana Regt and they were in a line with the sixth. And then we wheeled by Company which brought us just the length of each Company apart. Then the inspection began which lasted about three hours. The inspectors had sharp eyes. They could see when there was a button off or a bit of rust on the guns. They would cock the gun and if there was any rust about the tube [firing cone] they would stick it in your face and it would make them feel a little ashamed. They notice our hair also any that had not short hair, they would show it to the officers & say it must be cut of. Also those with beards verry long beard had had to have it cut of some. They must have their hair cut once a month.