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A NARRATIVE OF SERVICE WITH THE THIRD WISCONSIN INFANTRY
A NARRATIVE OF SERVICE WITH THE THIRD WISCONSIN INFANTRY
Opinions or errors of fact on the part of the respective authors of the Commission's publications (whether Reprints or Original Narratives) have not been modified or corrected by the Commission. For all statements, of whatever character, the Author alone is responsible...
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Wisconsin History Commission
Wisconsin History Commission
(Organized under the provisions of Chapter 298, Laws of 1905, as amended by Chapter 378, Laws of 1907, Chapter 445, Laws of 1909, and Chapter 628, Laws of 1911) FRANCIS E. McGOVERN Governor of Wisconsin CHARLES E. ESTABROOK Representing Department of Wisconsin, Grand Army of the Republic REUBEN G. THWAITES Superintendent of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin CARL RUSSELL FISH Professor of American History in the University of Wisconsin MATTHEW S. DUDGEON Secretary of the Wisconsin Library
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EDITOR'S PREFACE
EDITOR'S PREFACE
The author of this volume was born at Vernon, Connecticut, on March 12, 1838, of a long line of New England ancestry; he was sixth in order of descent from Governor Thomas Hinkley of Plymouth Colony. Coming to Wisconsin in his eleventh year, Julian grew to young manhood on his father's farm at Waupun and in Portage County. In 1858, our author left the farm and started life for himself—teaching school in winter, and working as a carpenter each summer. On April 19, 1861, Mr. Hinkley enlisted in th
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Enlistment and Training
Enlistment and Training
The presidential election of 1860 found me just become of age. I exercised my newly-acquired rights of citizenship, in the then little village of Waupun, Wisconsin, by participating in the hurrahing and torchlight processions that in those days characterized a political campaign. I was a carpenter by trade, but immediately after the election went to teach a country school in the backwoods town of Buena Vista, in Portage County. Daily papers in that sparsely settled community were of course an un
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Departure for the Front
Departure for the Front
The preparations for departure were soon completed, and on July 12, 1861, we shouldered our knapsacks, strapped on our haversacks, containing several days' rations, and boarded the railroad cars for the seat of war in Virginia. The train of twenty-four coaches pulled out of the station amid the cheers and farewells of our many friends, who had gathered to see us off. All were in the best of spirits. It seemed to us as though we were setting out on a grand pleasure excursion. No thought of death
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Service in Maryland
Service in Maryland
On the morning of July 17 we broke camp and started for Harpers Ferry, thirty miles distant. Now for the first time I began to realize what it was to be a soldier. I carried a knapsack laden with the various things that kind friends at home had thought necessary for a soldier's comfort, a haversack containing two days' rations, a musket with accoutrements, and forty rounds of ammunition, altogether weighing not less than fifty pounds. The weather was extremely hot and the roads very muddy, so th
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On the trail of Stonewall Jackson
On the trail of Stonewall Jackson
At length the long-wished-for came. On the morning of February 25, 1862, we bade adieu to the barracks that had sheltered us so long, and boarding the cars moved to Sandy Hook, where we went into camp on the ground that we had left six months before. During the night there arrived a train of cars with a pontoon bridge, in charge of a detachment of United States engineers; and General McClellan came from Washington by special train, personally to supervise the movement. Our Regiment being largely
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The Tables Turned
The Tables Turned
We had a rude awakening from our dream of peace. While we had been idling in fancied security, General Jackson had gathered a large force with which to overwhelm us. Our first intimation of trouble came on the night of May 23, when we were hastily called to defend our railroad bridge toward Front Royal against the attack of the enemy. The next day we were in full retreat toward Winchester. When about half way to Winchester, the enemy, who had crossed from Front Royal, attacked our train in the f
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At Cedar Mountain
At Cedar Mountain
On August 7 we broke camp again and marched to Culpeper Court House. Here we learned that the enemy had been seen in considerable force near Cedar Mountain. We were not surprised, therefore, on the morning after our arrival, to be hastily formed and ordered off toward Cedar Mountain. We arrived at Cedar Run in the early afternoon, and found Crawford's Brigade of our Division already skirmishing with the enemy. Our Brigade immediately formed in line of battle on the right of the road, and threw o
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The Army retreats Northward
The Army retreats Northward
We remained at Culpeper until August 18, when we were aroused at midnight and started on the road to the Rappahannock. We crossed over on the next day and went into camp about half a mile from the river. During all that day and night the army of General Pope was streaming across the Rappahannock to the north side, only a portion of his cavalry still remaining to the south. There was a great deal of speculation among the men as to the reason for this unexpected retrograde movement. It was rumored
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Moving Toward the Enemy
Moving Toward the Enemy
On September 5 it was definitely rumored in camp that the enemy had crossed into Maryland by way of Edward's Ferry. All of the Army of the Potomac were soon after moving up the river toward Darnestown, where a defensive position was taken and the enemy's movements awaited. There were no further developments until the 10th, when an order came from General McClellan to store in Washington all of the officers' baggage and the company tents and property, and turn over the teams to be used in hauling
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Battle of South Mountain
Battle of South Mountain
We were ready to march by four o'clock on the morning of the 14th. But we might as well have stayed in camp until seven. The road west from Frederick was a fine, broad turnpike, wide enough for two or three wagons abreast, but it was now completely choked with the ammunition and provision wagons of the troops in advance. Even after we did finally get started, and were clear of the town, we had to march through the fields and woods on either side of the road. When we reached the top of the Catoct
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Battle of Antietam
Battle of Antietam
On the morning of the 16th we moved forward to a position behind a range of low hills near Antietam Creek, and there we remained until night, undisturbed save by occasional shots from the enemy's batteries, posted in the hills on the opposite side of the creek. The remainder of our army kept coming up all day, taking position as they arrived, until at night it was understood that they were all at hand with the exception of Franklin's Corps, which had gone to the relief of Harpers Ferry. At about
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In Winter Quarters
In Winter Quarters
So far as we were concerned, the battle of Antietam ended active campaigning for the winter of 1862. During the next two months we moved about between Harpers Ferry and the mouth of Antietam Creek, doing occasional guard duty, and for the most part passing the time uneventfully. On October 1 President Lincoln visited our camp at Maryland Heights. It seemed to me that he did full justice to his reputation for homeliness. He came entirely unannounced, but we hurriedly turned out the Regiment and p
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Chancellorsville
Chancellorsville
On the morning of April 27, 1863, we left our winter camp at Stafford Court House and marched to Kelly's Ford on the Rappahannock. Pontoon bridges had been laid ahead of us, and the Eleventh Corps had already crossed. Early on the morning of the 29th, we followed, and started at once for Germanna Ford on the Rapidan, twelve miles off. Three corps of the Army of the Potomac were engaged in the expedition—the Fifth, Eleventh and Twelfth. Our Corps, the Twelfth, after crossing, pushed on to the hea
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A Cavalry Expedition
A Cavalry Expedition
On June 6 this easy life came to an end. The company commanders of our Regiment were summoned to the Colonel's tent, and informed that the Regiment had been selected to accompany a cavalry expedition. We were instructed to leave behind all baggage not carried on the persons of the men, and to take only those who could march thirty miles a day. The expedition was to be composed of the two best regiments in each corps—the Second Massachusetts and ourselves having been selected from the Twelfth. We
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Gettysburg
Gettysburg
We now recrossed Beverly Ford and went into camp until the 12th. Then we learned that the Confederate army was on the move toward the North, and that our army was marching to Manassas Junction and Centerville. We therefore marched in the same direction, and on the 16th rejoined our Corps near Centerville. Reaching Leesburg on the 18th, we went into camp. We had no definite information as to the location of the Confederate army, but rather suspected that it was moving into the Shenandoah Valley.
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On Draft Riot duty
On Draft Riot duty
On July 31 we went into camp near Kelly's Ferry on the Rappahannock, where for the next two weeks we did guard duty along the river and rested from the fatigue of the long marches we had made since leaving Stafford Court House. On August 15 came orders to move. The next morning we marched down to Rappahannock Station in company with two other old regiments of the Brigade, and boarded the cars for Alexandria, on our way to New York. We were joined at the station by five other regiments from the d
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With the Army of the Cumberland
With the Army of the Cumberland
After two days of this picket duty we were relieved by a Connecticut regiment and rejoined our Corps. We found that we were under orders to march the next day to Brandy Station, on the railroad. We did not know it at the time, but we were about to take our leave from the old Army of the Potomac, with which we had been associated since its organization. We had fought side by side in some of the hardest battles in the war; and had we been consulted in the matter, we would doubtless have voted to s
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The Third Veteranizes
The Third Veteranizes
In December a general order was issued from the War Department, providing for the reënlistment of veteran regiments. It provided for a liberal bounty for all who reënlisted as veterans after two years' service; but it offered what was a greater temptation than anything else, the chance to go home for thirty days as a regiment, with the opportunity to recruit up to the full standard. I explained to my Company all the advantages of this arrangement. Their term of service would not expire until the
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Reorganizing Lincoln County
Reorganizing Lincoln County
Lincoln County was one of the richest, as well as the most violent of Secession counties in Tennessee. Its people boasted that it had cast 2,500 votes for Secession, and not one for the Union; the few Union men in the county had not dared to go to the polls. A few months previous to our coming a small detachment of Northern troops had been captured there by guerrillas. The prisoners had been taken to the bank of the Elk River and three of them deliberately murdered. A fourth had only escaped by
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Opening of the Atlanta Campaign
Opening of the Atlanta Campaign
Our Regiment reached Tullahoma on April 30, to find that the rest of our Brigade had already gone to the front. We started out on the next day to join them, and on May 4 crossed the Tennessee River at Bridgeport. On the 7th we passed over the battle-field of Chickamauga, where signs of the conflict were still everywhere in evidence. On the night of the 8th we crossed the mountains by way of Nickajack Pass, and joined our Brigade at daylight the next morning. This passage over the mountains was i
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Wounded and in Hospital
Wounded and in Hospital
When we had first come within range of the grape-shot, my scabbard had been struck and cut in two at a point just below where I grasped it with my left hand. Later, when my men had sheltered themselves and had commenced firing, I was again struck. I was at the time resting on one knee in a position where I could watch the battery, and direct our fire upon it, for I was determined that the enemy should not have an opportunity to take it away so long as we had a chance to capture it. My attention
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The Siege of Atlanta
The Siege of Atlanta
On the day that I rejoined the Regiment the army moved forward across the Chattahoochee River. During the next three days a farther advance was made across Peach Tree Creek, and we were now but a few miles from the fortifications of Atlanta. On the afternoon of the 20th, General Hood, the new Confederate commander who had succeeded Johnston, came out of his entrenchments and made a furious attack on our lines. The brunt of it fell on our Corps, which was somewhat in advance of the others. Our Re
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The March to the Sea
The March to the Sea
On October 29 came the first through trains from Chattanooga, after the movement of Hood to the North. On the same day came orders to reduce baggage and prepare for marching. Soon, rumors were spreading about the camp that we were to start on a fifty days' campaign, without communications. On November 4 we were ready to move. I wrote numerous letters of good-bye to friends at home, telling them that they would hear from me next at Charleston or Savannah. I hoped that it would be Charleston, for
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In Front of Savannah
In Front of Savannah
We encountered the enemy in force for the first time fourteen miles from Savannah, in Monteith Swamp, where they had built an earthwork across the road and felled trees in front of it. The First Brigade of our Division was sent around to their left, and our Brigade to their right, while the Third Brigade moved forward on the center. Our plan was to hold their attention to the front, while we got around on their rear. They discovered us in time, however, to escape. Captain Kleven of Company H, wh
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In Savannah
In Savannah
The next day, we crossed without interruption from the island to the Georgia shore, which we reached by four o'clock, and then marched toward Savannah. We went into camp on the bank of the river about two miles from the city, and this ended on our part the "March to the Sea." Just twenty-five days had elapsed from the time our army left Atlanta until it signalled the fleet off the coast. During that time our wing had marched 300 miles, destroyed over 400 miles of railroad and an amount of cotton
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Marching Northward
Marching Northward
On January 17 we crossed the Savannah River on our bridge of flatboats, and started on our new campaign to the North. We were at the outset met by such fearful weather that we were virtually brought to a standstill. Only a portion of our army had yet crossed to the South Carolina side, when a freshet of unprecedented height raised the river so suddenly that it swept away the bridge, overflowed Hutchinson Island, and carried off a lot of wagons and mules that were just about to start. The freshet
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Peace
Peace
We began the last campaign of the war on April 10, entering Raleigh on the 13th without resistance. The next day we again began to organize our foraging parties, and to make preparations for a campaign back through Georgia. During the day, however, everything was changed. General Johnston, following Lee's surrender on April 9, had sent in asking for terms. On April 20 I wrote home the following letter: My Dear ——: The Angel of Peace has spread his wings over our country once more. The glad tidin
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Homeward
Homeward
On the next day began the march to Washington. We entered Richmond on May 11, and on the 15th camped near the old battle-field of Chancellorsville. On the 24th we marched into Washington, where the Union army passed in review before all the dignitaries of our Nation, the representatives of foreign lands, and the immense throngs of people who had gathered from far and near to see Sherman's veterans. For this review, we selected from our Regiment, eight companies of thirty-two men each—the best dr
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Series of Original Narratives
Series of Original Narratives
1. A View of the Vicksburg Campaign. By William Freeman Vilas, LL. D., Lieutenant-Colonel of Twenty-Third Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. With two appendices: I, Wisconsin Soldiers in the Vicksburg Campaign, by Colonel Vilas; II, Selected Bibliography of the Vicksburg Campaign (material thereon in the Wisconsin Historical Library), by Minnie Myrtle Oakley. Illustrated by a portrait of Colonel Vilas and a map of the campaign. 8vo., pp. xiii+104. Published August, 1908. 2. Capture and Escape: a Narr
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Series of Reprints
Series of Reprints
1. The Battle of Gettysburg. By Frank Aretas Haskell, Colonel of Thirty-sixth Wisconsin Infantry. Illustrated by a portrait of the author and two maps. 8vo. First edition: pp. xxiii+185; published November, 1908. Second edition (with "Tribute to Adjutant Haskell" by Col. J. A. Watrous): pp. xxviii+192; Index; published April, 1910. 2. Civil War Messages and Proclamations of Wisconsin War Governors. With explanatory notes by Asa C. Tilton and Frederick Merk, of the staff of the Wisconsin Historic
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