D The Invincibles Marion
E The Delaware Greys Delaware
F The Meredith Guards Marion
G The Elkhart County Guards Elkhart
H The Edinburgh Guards Johnson
I The Spencer Greys Owen
K The Selma Legion Delaware
THE TWENTY-FOURTH MICHIGAN VOLUNTEERS joined the regiment in late 1862 and was raised mostly in Wayne County, Michigan.
11. John R. Callis, a native of North Carolina, was a businessman in Lancaster, Wisconsin, at the start of the war. He came to Wisconsin with his family when he was 10. He organized and was elected captain of the Lancaster Union Guards, soon to be Company F of the Seventh Wisconsin. Promoted to lieutenant colonel, he was severely wounded at Gettysburg. Callis was discharged December 28, 1863, and pensioned for a total disability. He returned to Wisconsin and purchased a flour mill at Annaton. He became a major in the Veteran Reserve Corps in 1864, serving in an administrative capacity. Following the war, he entered the Regular Army and was stationed in Alabama. He resigned in 1868 and was elected to Congress from Alabama’s Fifth District. He later returned to Lancaster where he operated a real estate and insurance business. He was elected subsequently to the Wisconsin Legislature. He died on September 24, 1898, at Lancaster.
12. Whitney, Mt. Hope, enlisted August 19, 1861, promoted corporal, died April 7, 1863, at Frederick, Maryland, of disease. Boynton, Waterloo, August 19, 1861, promoted corporal, sergeant and first lieutenant, wounded Gainesville and Petersburg, Virginia, mustered out July 3, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 558, 561.
13. McCartney, Cassville, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded Gainesville, discharged March 8, 1863, wounds; McKenzie, Mt. Hope, enlisted June 27, 1861, second lieutenant April 1, 1862, wounded South Mountain, resigned December 27, 1862. Wisconsin Roster, 558; Cowan, Ellenboro, enlisted June 27, 1861, discharged December 26, 1862, disabled; Sloat, Lancaster, enlisted June 27, 1861, promoted second lieutenant December 27, 1862, wounded Bethesda Church, resigned September 13, 1864, wounds; Henderson, Glen Haven, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded South Mountain, discharged October 25, 1862, disabled; Runion, Potosi, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded Gettysburg and killed June 1864, at Petersburg, Virginia; [Alphonzo] Kidd, Millville, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded at Gettysburg and the Wilderness, promoted to second lieutenant January 5, 1863, resigned September 10, 1864; [Fletcher] Kidd, Melville, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded South Mountain, discharged December 7, 1862, disabled; [Samuel] Woodhouse, Beetown, enlisted August 19, 1861, resigned April 1, 1862. Wisconsin Roster, 558; [Simon] Woodhouse, Beetown, enlisted August 19, 1861, discharged November 3, 1862, disabled; Bradley, Ellenboro, enlisted August 19, 1861, mustered out July 3, 1865; Halbert, Lancaster, enlisted August 1861, wounded at South Mountain and died September 20, 1862. Wisconsin Roster, 558-561.
14. Clark, Cassville, enlisted August 19, 1861, killed September 14, 1862, South Mountain. Wisconsin Roster, 539.
15. The battle at Balls Bluff, Virginia, October 21, 1861. Colonel Edward D. Baker, an ex-Congressman and friend of President Lincoln, was killed while making a demonstration against Confederate forces opposite the Potomac River fords near Poolesville. The death of Baker caused a political storm and resulted in the arrest of Union General Charles P. Stone for his handling of the action. Mark M. Boatner III, The Civil War Dictionary (New York 1988), 41, 800-801.
16. Federal losses were 921 with Baker and 48 others killed, 158 wounded and 714 captured or missing. Boatner, Civil War Dictionary, 41.
17. Garner, Waterloo, enlisted August 19, 1861, mustered out June 30, 1865; Pierce, Waterloo, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded South Mountain and discharged June 10, 1862, disabled. Wisconsin Roster, 559-560.
18. Civilian camp vendors officially appointed to supply soldiers with a long list of items such as food, newspapers, books, and tin plates.
19. The four regiments reached Washington in uniforms of militia grey. As the state uniforms deteriorated, the various items were replaced by Federal clothing. The uniform issued those first months became one of the distinctive features of the Western unit. It consisted of the Model 1858 black dress hat of the regulars, nine-button dark blue frock coat, sky-blue trousers, white leggings or gaiters and white gloves. The change occurred over a period of time and it was Colonel Lysander Cutler of the Sixth Wisconsin, while acting brigade commander, who first began the issue of the famous black hats. The brigade’s second commander, General John Gibbon, ordered the distinctive uniform for all of the companies of the brigade and added the white gloves and gaiters.
The brigade also drew attention in the Washington camps because it was the only all-Western unit in the Army of the Potomac. Always at odds within the brigade were the volunteers of the Second Wisconsin, which had seen service at First Bull Run, and the soldiers of the Sixth Wisconsin. Both organizations wanted to be recognized as the top regiment of the brigade. The Sixth Wisconsin became known as “King’s Pet Babies” (because of suspected favoritism from brigade commander Rufus King) or “Calico Sixth,” because of the colorful homemade shirts worn by some of the backwoods boys. The Second was the “Ragged Assed Second,” due to the worn condition of the trousers worn by the men. The Nineteenth Indiana became “old Posey County” or “Swamp Hogs No. 19,” while the Seventh Wisconsin men were called “Huckleberries,” because they were always talking about pies and good things to eat. Lance J. Herdegen, The Men Stood Like Iron: How The Iron Brigade Won Its Name (Bloomington, IN., 1997 ), 33-37, 70-72; Lance J. Herdegen and William J. K. Beaudot, In The Bloody Railroad Cut at Gettysburg (Dayton, OH., 1990), Appendix Three by Howard Michael Madaus, 301-367; Alan T. Nolan, The Iron Brigade (New York, 1961), 292-295.
20. Rector, Patch Grove, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded Gainesville and Gettysburg, mustered out September 1, 1864, term expired. Wisconsin Roster, 560. Day, Ellenboro, enlisted August 19, mustered out September 1, 1864, term expired. Wisconsin Roster, 559.
21. Miles, Harrison, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded Gainesville and Cold Harbor, mustered out May 26, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 560.
22. The report was only a camp rumor.
23. Hudson, Beetown, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded Fredericksburg, Virginia, mustered out September 1, 1864, at expiration of term. Wisconsin Roster, 559.
24. Graefenberg Pills were a patented medicine created and sold by the Graefenberg Institute in New York. The following is taken from an ad in Scientific American, November 16, 1861: “What is claimed, and what is borne out by facts, is that the medicines are the result of the highest medical skill adapted to the compounding of simple and entirely vegetable medicinal preparations. The treatment is the most judicious application of these simple vegetable productions in aid of the great and equally simple laws of nature governing the human system in health and disease. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the Graefenberg treatment will certainly cure.”
“CERTIFICATE FROM THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA. I, William Smith, Governor of Virginia, certify and make known that Joseph Prentice, who signs a certificate relating to the Graefenberg Vegetable Pills, is the Clerk of the Court of this State. The said certificate embraces the names of the most reliable and responsible people in this community, and certifies to the invariable curative action of the Graefenberg Vegetable Pills, in the following diseases Bilious Complaints, Asthma, Constipation, Dyspepsia, Erysipelas; Low, Nervous and Simple Fevers; Gastuic Fevers, Gripes, Heartburn, Headache, Indigestion, Hysterics, Liver Complaint, Nervous Disorders. Neuralgia, Rheumatism, and all diseases arising from want of action in the digestive organs. And I further testify that full credit and faith are due and ought to be given to said certificates. In testimony whereof, I have subscribed my name, and caused the Groat Seal of the State to be affixed hereunto. Done at the city of Richmond, the twenty-second day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty- eight, and of the Commonwealth the seventy-third. WILLIAM SMITH, Governor.”
Volume 2
25. “You know tha
t it was the largest review of troops ever had in America, that sixty thousand infantry, nine thousand cavalry and one hundred and thirty pieces of artillery passed in review before McClellan, that the organizations marched by ‘battalions en masse,’ and that it took from 11 o’clock A.M. Until 4 P.M. to pass the reviewing officer, and that the President, the members of the Cabinet, and all the celebrities, foreign and domestic, were present.” Rufus R. Dawes, Service With The Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers (Marietta, OH., 1890), 30.
26. The Fifth Wisconsin was originally attached to King’s brigade and there was discussion of having a “Wisconsin Brigade” made up of the Second, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry regiments. However, the Fifth Wisconsin was subsequently transferred to the brigade of General Winfield Scott Hancock. Adjutant General Reports, 46.
27. Atwood, Lancaster, enlisted August 19, 1861, died November 24, 1861, of disease. Wisconsin Roster, 558.
28. Harville, Tafton, enlisted August 19, 1861, transferred Veteran Reserve Corps January 25, 1864, and mustered out August 29, 1864, term expired. Wisconsin Roster, 559.
29. Overton, Tafton, enlisted August 19, 1861, discharged September, 1862, disabled. Wisconsin Roster, 560.
30. Raemer, Harrison, enlisted August 19, 1861, promoted corporal and sergeant, wounded Gettysburg and North Anna, killed March 31, 1865, Gravelly Run, Virginia. Wisconsin Roster, 560.
31. Atkinson [George], Ellenboro, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded South Mountain, Wilderness and Second Hatcher’s Run, mustered out July 3, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 558.
32. Smith, Tafton, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded Gainesville and South Mountain, discharged December 11, 1862, disability. Wisconsin Roster, 561.
33. President Lincoln’s annual State of the Union message to Congress.
34. Largent, Patch Grove, enlisted August 19, 1861, discharged December 31, 1861, disability. Wisconsin Roster, 560.
Volume 3
35. Gleason, Waterloo, enlisted April 22, 1861, detached to Battery B, Fourth U.S. Artillery, June 1862 until mustered out June 28, 1864, term expired. Wisconsin Roster, 354.
36. Generally, speaking, “Seeing the elephant” was a description used by soldiers to denote seeing combat for the first time.
37. Nickerman, Prairie du Chien, enlisted August 19, 1861, wounded Gainesville, discharged November 29, 1862, disabled. Wisconsin Roster, 560.
38. The new muskets were Austrian “Lorenz” Model 1854 rifle-muskets, reamed to .58 caliber from the original .54. Companies A, D and F claimed to have 93 in their original .54 caliber. Quarterly Summary Statements of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores-infantry, Record Group No. 156, National Archives; Vol. 5 (quarter ending June 30, 1863), 43 and 98. The Sixth Wisconsin and Nineteenth Indiana were issued .58 Model 1861 “Springfield” rifle-muskets and the Second Wisconsin .54 Austrian Lorenz rifle-muskets.
39. Johnson, Lancaster, enlisted August 19, 1861, detached to Battery B, Fourth U.S. Artillery from September 9, 1863, until September 1864, mustered out September 1, 1864, term expired. Wisconsin Roster, 560.
40. Ray’s reference to Roanoke was in relation to General Ambrose Burnside’s amphibious landing on the North Carolina island on February 8, 1862. Bowling Green, Kentucky, was abandoned by the Confederates on February 14, 1862 and promptly occupied by Federal forces. Another Federal force led by General U.S. Grant attacked and captured Fort Donelson, Tennessee, on February 13-16, 1862. The subsequent unconditional surrender by the Confederates opened the Cumberland River to Federal control of Kentucky and western Tennessee. Patricia Faust, Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War (New York, 1986), 272.
41. Ray is mistaken. General John B. Floyd did indeed ingloriously flee Fort Donelson and leave others behind to surrender the place, but he was not captured by Grant at Savannah or anywhere else. He was relieved of duty in March 1862, however. General Albert S. Johnston, the commander of the Southern forces in that theater of operations, was not with the army at Fort Donelson.
42. Atkinson [William], Ellenboro, enlisted August 19, 1861, mustered out July 3, 1865. Wisconsin Roster, 558.
Volume 4
43. Turnby, Melville, enlisted August 19, 1861, detached Battery B, Fourth U.S. Artillery from November 28, 1861, to discharge March 17, 1862, disabled. Wisconsin Roster, 561.
44. Contraband was the name given to fugitive slaves who sought protection with the Union soldiers. Union General Benjamin Butler first applied the term “Contrabands of war” when he refused to return them to their masters upon learning they had been used to build fortifications. Faust, Encyclopedia of the Civil War, 161.
45. The Fifth Wisconsin was called into Camp Randall from June 21 to June 25, 1861, and was sent to Washington July 22, 1861, the day after the Federal defeat at Bull Run. It was first assigned to Rufus King’s brigade, but later became part of Winfield Hancock’s brigade, William F. Smith’s division. Adjutant General Reports, 45-46.
46. McDowell, Edward F., Millville, enlisted August 19, 1861, killed August 28, 1862, Gainesville, Virginia. Wisconsin Roster, 560.
47. William Howard Russell was one of the most prominent British reporters of his day. He arrived in New York City in March 1861 to cover the American Civil War for the London Times. His writings eventually angered both North and South, and Russell left America in the spring of 1862. Faust, Encyclopedia of the Civil War, 649.
48. Brown, Beaver Dam, enlisted August 1, 1861, promoted chaplain September 15, 1861, resigned March 24, 1862. Wisconsin Roster, 539, 545.
49. The Battle of Island No. 10, Missouri, was fought April 7, 1862, about 60 miles below Columbus, Kentucky. Confederates fortified bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River and constructed batteries on the eastern side of an island there (Island No. 10). The Confederates surrendered the next day to a Federal force including General John Pope’s Army of the Mississippi and Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote’s flotilla of six gunboats and 11 mortar boats. The capture opened the Mississippi River as far south as Fort Pillow, Tennessee, and resulted in the capture of about 3,500 men with all their equipment. Faust, Encyclopedia of the Civil War, 386.
50. Hamilton, the grandson of Alexander Hamilton, resigned March 1863, still carrying a bullet in his leg the doctors were never able to remove. He returned to Milwaukee to practice law, then went to New York because of his father’s ill health. He returned in 1875 and was elected to the Wisconsin Legislature and a judge. Nolan, Iron Brigade, 197, 350, note 33.
51. At this time, General George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac was in front of the Confederate earthworks at Yorktown, Virginia, on the tip of the peninsula formed by the York and James rivers. He had hoped to use the water route to surprise the Southerners and move quickly up the peninsula and seize Richmond.
52. The Battle of Pittsburgh Landing or Shiloh was fought April 6 and 7, 1862, when Confederates under Johnston and Beauregard attacked a force commanded by U.S. Grant. The surprise attack was almost successful. Johnston’s Confederates made sizeable advances on the first day, but were unable to overwhelm Grant’s determined soldiers. Johnston was mortally wounded and Beauregard took over command of the army. Reinforced that evening, Grant attacked the following morning and drove the Confederates from the field. Beauregard was not wounded in the battle. Shiloh was the first large-scale battle of the war, and its horrendous casualties shocked both warring sides. Faust, Encyclopedia of the Civil War, 684-685.
53. Black [Henry], Liberty, enlisted August 10, 1861, wounded South Mountain, discharged April 7, 1863, disabled. Black [James], Liberty, enlisted August 19, 1861, detached Battery B, Fourth U.S. Artillery from February 9, 1863, deserted May 3, 1863. Wisconsin Roster, 558.
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54. The monthly pay was $13 for a private.
55. The rumors refer to several skirmishes during Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s pursuit of Nathaniel Banks to the Harpers Ferry area following the Confederate victory at Winchester, Virginia, on May 25, 1862, during what is now commonly referred to as t
he Shenandoah Valley Campaign. For an excellent account of this campaign, see Robert Tanner, Stonewall in the Valley (Mechanicsburg, PA, revised edition, 1999).
56. According to Captain Edwin Brown of the Sixth Wisconsin, McDowell was “headstrong” and “too anxious to retrieve this defeat at Bull Run.” Another officer said the general’s “reputation was peculiar. I have seen him attempt to handle a division. . . only to get his brigades and regiments so divided and twisted that he completely lost control of his command; his horse was always blundering over a fence into a ditch until at least there was a general impression with the men that couldn’t be shaken, that this man who never tasted wines or liquors or even tea and coffee was a drunkard. They also believed him to be in some way in criminal communication with the confederates and it was current gossip in ranks . . . He wore a peculiar light colored and conspicuous hat that the enemy might distinguish and not hurt him. The charge of drunkenness and disloyalty was equally absurd, but McDowell’s great success, was as a society man in command of a department after the war.” John Marsh, “Early Days of the War,” Milwaukee Sunday Telegraph, December 12, 1886.
57. The battle Ray is referring to was Seven Pines or Fair Oaks, fought just outside Richmond. With his back to Richmond, General Joe Johnston was heavily pressured to strike out against McClellan. Heavy rains had flooded the Chickahominy River, which left a portion of McClellan’s army isolated below it. Fortunately for the Federals, Johnston’s attack was bungled from the start and inartfully delivered. Casualties were heavy and included Johnston himself, who fell severely wounded at the end of the day on May 31. His successor for one day was General Gustavus Smith. That night, President Jefferson Davis appointed General Robert E. Lee to command the army.
58. A newspaper put out by the printers serving in the four regiments of John Gibbon’s brigade.
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