1865 September 30: Telegraphic Summary

The following summary of news comes from the September 30, 1865, issue of both The Prescott Journal and The Polk County Press.  Both papers have identical inside pages, with Milwaukee advertisements.

Telegraphic Summary.

A delegation from Texas is in Washington, urging the release of Jeff Davis.  [Jefferson Davis]

The South Carolina convention has repealed the ordinance of succession—there being three votes in the negative.

The trial of the rebel burners of steamboats commenced in St. Louis, before a military commission, Tuesday.  The counsel for one of the defendants gave notice that he should summon, among his witnesses, Jeff. Davis, the rebel secretaries Seddon [James Seddon] and Mallory [Stephen R. Mallory], and Admirals Farragut [David G. Farragut] and Porter [David D. Porter].

Champ Ferguson’s¹ trial, at Nashville, was closed Tuesday, and the decision of the court has been forwarded to General Stoneman.  [George Stoneman]

In the Indian council at Fort Smith, on Monday, the treaty was signed by the rebel Creeks, Cherokees, Osages, Comanches, Choctaws and Chickasaws.

The late rebel Gen. Pillow is in Washington seeking pardon.  [Gideon J. Pillow]

The total number of colored troops enlisted in the army was 180,000.  Of these, 50,000 have died or been killed, and 60,000 of the remainder have been ordered mustered out.

The Secretary of the Treasury has addressed addressed [sic] a letter to officers of customs, allowing the shipment to the Southern States of firearms and ammunition for sporting, and blast powder for mining purposes, the amounts to be left at their own discretion.

The notorious John H. Surratt, one of the assassination conspirators, and son of Mrs. Surratt [Mary Surratt] who was executed, was recently seen in Montreal where he has been concealed.  He is on the eve of leaving for Scotland.

Private letters from the 12th Illinois cavalry, of September 3d, announce the arrival of Custar’s [sic] Division at Hempshead, Texas,  on the Texas central railroad, forty miles north of Houston, where the command would remain three weeks.  The division is composed of the 5th and 12th Illinois, 7th Indiana, 2d Wisconsin [emphasis added], and 1st Iowa, all cavalry, in two brigades.  It left Alexandria, La., August 8th, and performed the march of nearly 350 miles in nineteen days.  It was expected next to proceed to Austin, 175 miles, stay several weeks, and afterwards to San Antonio, 80 miles, at which latter place Gen. Merritt’s cavalry division is already arrived.   [Wesley Merritt]

In the Alabama State Convention, on the 20th, the provisional Governor was requested, by resolution, to call out the militia for the suppression of prevalent lawlessness.  The consideration of the ordinance abolishing slavery was postponed, after debate, till the following day.

A dispatch from Washington says it is understood that the President regards with disfavor the extent of power exercised by agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau; and he is expected to make some changes in this regard.

The report that Jeff. Davis’ quarters at Fortress Monroe had been changed is contradicted.

Hannibal Hamlin, Horace Greeley, General Fremont and other notabilities, are expected to arrive at Detroit to-day, on board the revenue cutter Commodore Perry.  [Horace Greeley, John C. Fremont]

Fayette McMullen, of Virginia, who was formerly a member of the federal, and latterly of the rebel congress, has received a pardon.

Kenneth Raynor and Alfred Dockery, of North Carolina, and John McQueen, of South Carolina, all formerly members of the United States congress, have also been pardoned.

General Blair, who is in temporary command of the department of the Missouri, during the temporary absence of General Pope, has been assigned to the command of the cavalry in that department.  [Francis P. Blair, John Pope]

Iowa is credited by the provost marshal general with 76,000 troops—3,000 less than she claims.

In the case of the steamboat burner Murphy, at St. Louis, Friday, the motion of his cou[n]sel to summon Jeff. Davis and his cabinet as witnesses, was overruled.

A mutiny has occurred among the troops at Fort Rice, and some of them decamped on government horses.

General Sully’s force has returned from Devil’s lake to Fort Rice.  Nothing was accomplished by the expedition.  [Alfred Sully]

1.  Irregular guerrilla forces under the notorious Champ Ferguson murdered white and black Union soldiers who had been wounded and captured. Ferguson was tried after the War for these and other non-military killings and was found guilty and executed.

1865 March 25: News Tidbits on Frances E.W. Harper, Parsons Brownlow, and Bills Passed by Both Congresses

The following news tidbits come from the March 25, 1865, issue of The Polk County Press.  Our other newspaper, The Prescott Journal, did not publish an issue this week due to lack of paper.

— Mrs. F. E. Watkins Harper,¹ a colored oratress, has taken the field, and is pronounced superior to Miss Dickenson [sic: Anna E. Dickinson].

— For the first time in the history of the State a negro testified against a white man, in the Recorder’s Court of St. Louis last week.

— After much tribulation, trepidation, and angry contention, the rebel Congress has passed the bill authorizing Jeff. Davis [Jefferson Davis] to place three hundred thousand negroes in the army.

— Seven young women were arrested recently in Chariton county, Mo., on various charges of disloyalty, and sent to St. Louis for safe keeping.—Four of them obtained their release by taking the oath of allegiance and marrying soldiers.

— Parson Brownlow [William G. Brownlow], Governor elect of Tennessee, has been awarded $25,000 in a suit, for damages inflicted by imprisonment and persecution at the hands of certain prominent rebels of Knoxville.  It is assorted upon the property of Ramsey, Sneed, and others, who were influential, in the early days of the rebellion, in getting the Parson into jail.

— The bill to establish a home for disabled soldiers passed both Houses of Congress.  It incorporates Lieut. General Grant and 99 others [Ulysses S. Grant].  The capital is to be $1,000,000, and is to be made up of military fines, deductions from pary [sic] and donations.—No direct expense is to be incurred by the Government, no small recommendation in these days of large expenses.

— A Richmond paper calls the Yankees a nation of hucksters and mechanics.  It sneers at their occupation.  Richmond may, before long, know more about Yankee ‘occupation’ than it does now.

Image of Harper used in several of her publications

1.  Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Frances E. W. Harper, or just Frances Harper (1825-1911) was an African-American poet, author, and orator, who advocated for abolition and education. As the daughter of free black parents, she was able to attend school as a child. Around 1845, her first poem collection, Forest Leaves, was published. The delivery of her public speech, “Education and the Elevation of the Colored Race,” resulted in a two-year lecture tour for the Anti-Slavery Society. In 1854, Miss Watkins published Poems of Miscellaneous Subjects, which featured one of her most famous works, “Bury Me in a Free Land.” She also became an in-demand lecturer on behalf of the abolitionist movement, appearing with the likes of Frederick Douglass, William Garrison, Lucretia Mott, and Lucy Stone. In 1860 she married Fenton Harper and withdrew from public life. In 1864, after her husband’s death, Mrs. Harper returned to the lecture circuit. Harper published her most famous novel Iola Leroy in 1892. Four years later, she co-founded the National Association of Colored Women with Ida Wells-Barnett, Harriet Tubman, and several others. The organization sought to improve the lives and advance the rights of African-American women.

1865 March 25: A Message from Georgia’s Governor Brown

The following speech by Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown took up most of the front page of the March 25, 1865, issue of The Polk County Press.  The headings were added by the Press’ editor.  Due to its length, it has been split between today’s posting and tomorrow’s.

The Rebel Governor Brown’s Message.

The following highly interesting extracts are from the recent message of Gov. Brown of Georgia :

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.

If all the sons of Georgia under arms in other States, of which nearly fifty regiments were in Virginia, besides those in the Carolinas, Florida, and Tennessee, had been permitted to meet the foe upon her own sod, without other assistance, Gen.  Sherman’s [William T. Sherman] army could never have passed from her mountains to her seaboard, and destroyed their property and their homes.  He had nearly four hundred miles to march thro’ an enemy’s country ;  he was entirely dependent upon his wagon train which he carried with him for a supply of ammunition, without the possibility of replenishing after what he had was consumed.  Had he been resisted from the start by a competent force, and compelled to fight, his ordinance stores must soon have been exhausted, and he forced to an unconditional surrender.  Such another opportunity to strike the enemy a stunning blow will not probably occur during the war.

ARMING THE SLAVES.

The administration [the Confederate administration], by its unfortunate policy, having wasted our strength and reduced our armies, and being unable to get freemen into the field as conscripts, and unwilling to accept them in organization with officers of their own choice, will, it is believed, soon resort to the policy of filling them up by the conscription of slaves.  I am satisfied that we may profitably use slave labor, so far as it can be spared from agriculture, to do menial service in connection with the army, and thereby enable more free white men to take up arms ;  but I am quite sure any attempt to arm the slaves will be a great error.  If we expect to continue the war successfully, we are obliged to have the labor of most of them in the production of provisions.  But if this difficulty were surmounted, we cannot rely upon them as soldiers.  They are now quietly serving us at home, because they do not wish to go into the army, and they fear, if they leave us, the enemy will put them there.  If we compel them to take up arms, their whole feeling and conduct will change, and they will leave us by the thousands.  A single proclamation by President Lincoln [Abraham Lincoln]—that all who desert us after they are forced into service, and go over to him, shall have their freedom, be taken out of the army, and permitted to go into the country in his possession, and receive wages for their labor—would disband them by brigades.  Whatever may be our opinion of their normal condition or of their true interest, we cannot expect them if they remain with us, to perform deeds of heroic valor when they are fighting to continue the enslavement of their wives and children.  It is not reasonable for us to demand it of them, and we have little cause to expect the blessing of Heaven upon our efforts if we compel them to perform such a task.  If we are right, and Providence designed them for slavery, He did not design that they should be a military people.  Whenever we establish the fact that they are a military race, we destroy the whole theory that they are unfit to be free.

But it is said we should give them their freedom in case of their fidelity to our cause in the field ;  in other words, that we should give up slavery, as well as our personal liberty and State sovereignty, for independence, and should set all our slaves free if they will aid us to achieve it.  If we are ready to give up slavery, I am satisfied that we can make it the consideration for a better trade than to give it up for the uncertain aid which they might afford us in the military field.  When we arm the slaves we abandon slavery.  We can never again govern them as slaves, and make the institution profitable to ourselves or to them, after tens of thousands of them have been taught the use of arms, and spent years in the indolent indulgences of camp life.

THE FINANCES, ETC.

Our financial affairs have been so unfortunately administered that our currency is worth very little in the market ;  and our public faith has been so frequently and willfully violated that it will be with great difficulty that we can re[-]inspire our people with confidence in the pledges of the government.  It is announced as the future policy of the financial department to issue no more treasury notes, and to receive nothing else in payment of public dues till the quantity is reduced to healthy circulation.  This would be beneficial to the holders of the notes.  As the armies are to be supported, however, at the cost of hundreds of millions per annum, the announcement leaves no doubt that it is to be done in a great measure by seizing property and paying for it in certificates or bonds which will not pass as currency or payment of taxes.  This would be little better than legalized robbery, and if practiced long by any government will drive the people to revolution as the only means left of throwing off intolerable burdens.

DAVIS ADVANCING RECONSTRUCTION.

 The Lincoln dynasty [Union President Abraham Lincoln] informs us distinctly that reconstruction and subjugation are the only alternatives to be presented to us.  The present policy, if persisted in, must terminate in reconstruction either with or without subjugation.  I accuse no supporter of the administration of any such design.  But entertaining the opinions which I do of its results if I favored reconstruction, or subjugation, to both of which I am utterly opposed, I would give an earnest support to the President’s policy [Confederate President Jefferson Davis], an current mode of diminishing our armies, exhausting our resources, breaking the spirits of our people, and driving them in despair to seek refuge from a worse tyranny by placing themselves under the protection of a government which they loathe and detest, because it has wronged and tyrannized over them, destroyed their property and slaughtered their sons.  These are sad truths which it is exceedingly unpleasant to announce.  But true statesmanship requires that the ruler do the best that can be done for his people under all circumstances by which they are at time surrounded.

 THE DISCIPLINE OF SHERMAN’S ARMY.

Discipline must be restored and enforced in our armies.  One of the reasons given by its advocates for the conscript law was, that better discipline would be maintained by giving the appointment of the officers to the President.  Results have shown the reverse to be true.  Prior to the adoption of that plan the officers selected by the troops themselves and appointed by the States, kept men in the field, and we triumphed gloriously in almost every engagement with the enemy.  Since that time the officers appointed by the President have neither maintained discipline or kept the men in the field.  If the President’s statement is reliable they have only one-third of them there.  And, I fear, the discipline of that third is loose compared with that exhibited by the Federal army in its march through this State.

[continued]

1865 March 11: New Volunteers and Draftees on Both Sides of the St. Croix River, Plus Other News Items

Following are the smaller news items from the March 11, 1865, issues of The Polk County Press and The Prescott Journal.

From The Polk County Press:

ST. CROIX.—St. Croix Falls raised eight men, which is expected to be enough to fill the quota required of her.

POLK COUNTY VOLUNTEERS.— The following is a list of the Volunteers under the last call for 300,000 men :

ALDEN.— C. C. Fisk, Geo. Emory, __ Tamset.¹
ST. CROIX FALLS.—Micheal Kreiner, Henry Demling, Adam Beaver, Howard Scott, D. E. Tewksbury, __ Tyler, Joseph Churchill, Gus. La Grue, __ Newman.
LINCOLN.—John Metheney.
OSCEOLA.—Abraham Gillispie, Wm. A. Kent, Joseph Corey, Worthy Prentice, Andrew Fee, John H. Baker.²

PERSONAL.—Captain S. S. STARR, A. Q. M., 2d Division, 19th Army Corps, has been appointed Post Quartermaster at Savannah.  Captain S. was formerly editor of the Hudson North Star in this State, and entered the service as Quartermaster of the 30th Wisconsin.  He is a competent and faithful officer.  [Sidney S. Starr]

— The people of Hastings, Minn. have raised the sum of $14,000 in cash to pay volunteers to fill the quota of that city.

— The Draft commenced in Minnesota on Wednesday last.

THE DRAFT IN MINNESOTA.—The following men were drafted in Chisago county on Wednesday last :

CHISAGO LAKE.—Gustave Nelson, A. T. Walner, John Okerson, And’w Holtman, Peter Sweinson, 2d, Nels Iverson, Carl Helston, Johannas Magmerson, Elias B. Fost, Charles Gustave Kellburg, Andrew Maline, Lars Swenson, Gustave Melander, Nichola Johnson, Peter Johnson, Chas. Dahlgren, Carl Isuagleson, A. J. Anderson, Daniel Lindston, Mathias Bengston, A. P. Nelson, Carl Dock, Nels Pierson, C. J. Johnson.
RUSHSKBA.³—Morton Norris, John Emans, Pat. Flynn, Robt Nessic.
TAYLOR’S FALLS.—Anthony Scharles, Aaron M. Mathews, A. N. Welmarth, Sam’l Hames, William Cox, Jos R. Blackburn, John Johnson, J. H. Smith, John Mazenson, George De Attly, Francis B. Jones, Frank Johnson, John Taney, John Paine, Jacob Berthley, James Rogers, Silas Humphrey, John Nelson, Lucas K. Stannard, Chas. W. Jellerson, John A. Hammone, John Byland, Oscar Roos, Chas. P. Johsnon, Silas Rolf, Gustave Helquist, E. Perget, Enos Jones, Sam’l Holt, Wm. Dobney, J. O’Brien, Jas. J. Mathews, Moses Marshall, Jeremiah D. Ballard, Philip Lipeet, Richard Rovertson, Jas. W. Wooley, Geo. Snow, Stephen J. Merrill, Wm. McKinely, L. F. Ballard, Eric Peterson, Joseph Schottmuller, S. S. Hamilton, Ambrose C. Seavey, Adam W. Thaxter.

THE DANCE.—The Volunteer’s party on Tuesday evening was a most agreeable affair.  The company was large, and our “young folks” were much gratified to be able to welcome the ladies and gentlemen from Taylor’s Falls, who came to enjoy the festive occasion.  From the reports that have reached us, all seem to unite in pronouncing it one of the most pleasant parties of the season.  Mrs. HAYS furnished an excellent supper, and ministered to the wants of all in her motherly way, which is duly appreciated by the participants.

PAPERS FOR THE SOLDIERS.—Nearly every day we receive letters from the soldiers asking us to send them papers, but it is utterly impossible for us to comply with all the requests.—We send packages to all the regiments nearly every week when we can ascertain their whereabouts.—The immediate friends of the soldier should supply him with books and papers.  In no way can you more contribute to the pleasure of the soldier than by furnishing him reading.  Particularly should home papers be sent.  They are nearly as welcome as letters.  When you have read your local paper send it to some friend in the army, and thus help to enliven the weary hours of camp or hospital life.

Constitutional Amendment in Wisconsin.

The Legislature has ratified the Constitutional amendment by a vote of twenty seven to six in the Senate, and seventy-two to sixteen in the Assembly, or by a majority of four and a half to one.  In the Senate two democrats voted for the amendment and in the Assembly six.  The vote in the legislature does not more than express the sentiment of the people.

—  ABOUT TO RESIGN.— Col. W. A. Barstow, Third Wisconsin cavalry, who has been acting President of the courts martial and military commissions in session in St. Louis for nearly two years, is about to retire from the service.— Milwaukee Sentinel.

About time, we should think, for the old bag of wind to stand aside, and let brave officers who have been with their regiment at the front, fill his place.  BILL BARSTOW has disgraced the service long enough.

NEW REGIMENTS.—Gov. Lewis has organized two more new regiments, the 51st and 52d.  [James T. Lewis]

TO THE FRONT.—The 44th, 45th, 46th and 47th Wis. Vol’s., have been ordered South.

TENNESSEE.—The election in Tennessee has resulted in a glorious Union triumph.  Parson Brownlow is elected Governor.  The amendment to the State Constitution which does away with slavery has been adopted by a large majority, and so Tennessee stands to-day a FREE STATE.  [William G. Brownlow]

— Union meetings have been already held in Charleston and Wilmington.

— The States of Maine and Missouri, which were admitted into the Union together, ratified the amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery on the same day.

— By order of the War Department, a ration of fish, viz: fountain ounces of dried fish, or eighteen ounces of pickled fish, will be issued hereafter to troops in lieu of the fresh beef ration.

— The negroes who followed General Sherman on his march through Georgia and South Carolina, are being organized into regiments at Hilton Head.  It is estimated that one of the effects of Sherman’s movement will be to add from 25,000 to 30,000 loyal banks to our army.  [William T. Sherman]

— The Legislature of West Virginia has adopted an amendment to the Constitution of that State, disfranchising all those who have voluntarily participated in the rebellion.—The loyal men of the new Commonwealth, who have suffered in their homes and properties the evils of rebellion and civil war, believe in punishment for crime so rank and bloody as treason

Sound to the Core.

“My opinion is that no negotiations are necessary, nor commissioners, nor conventions, nor anything of the kind.  Whenever the people of Georgia quit rebelling against their Government, and elect member of Congress and Senators, and these go and take their seats, then the State of Georgia will have resumed her function to the Union.”

W. T. SHERMAN

From The Prescott Journal:

OUR QUOTAS.

We have not yet received the quotas of the different towns.  From all that we can learn, we see but little prospect of the quota of this District being reduced.  The quota, as assigned, calls for over a quarter of the enrolled men.

— Quite a good story is told by Charmy Dunbar, at the expense of Mr. G. W. Cairns, Deputy Treasurer of this County.  All of the men in Perry who were liable to draft, except Mr. Cairns, have volunteered, and Dunbar says the town owes seven men for one year, or one man for seven years, and they concluded to send Mr. Cairns for seven years.  We congratulate friend Cairns on his brilliant prospect.  Seven years of service will nearly make him as venerable a revolutionary veteran.

— JOHN DALE starts for Madison to-day with the volunteers from this section.

“NEGRO SOLDIERS SUPERIOR TO WHITE.”—So the rebels begin to think.  The war had wrought some strange transformations in opinion.  The Southern rebels began it under the impression that military glory was the highest of all, and that the “master race” of the South surpassed in prowess all other peoples.  When the North began organizing negro regiments, the rebels scouted the idea that a negro could fight.  Their newspapers said that a single Southerner could disarm a whole black regiment by simply ordering them, with a voice of command, to lay down their weapons.  Now mark what a mighty change has come over the spirit of their dreams!  Read the following respecting the martial qualities of the negro race, which we clip from from an article in the Richmond Whig of February 20th :

“It is by no means certain that the negro is so deficient in courage as in generally believed if we are to credit the statements of travelers in Africa, the native negro is the most sanguinary warrior in the world.  In their battles hand to hand, they fight till either party is almost annihilated; and our very slaves are in great part the descendants of prisoners captured by war.  We see the negro altogether in his servile condition.  He naturally shrinks, without regard to appearances.  He, however, makes a fearless sailor and fireman.  The English have long used him as a soldier, and he has done good service.  But the experiences of this war are abundantly sufficient to show his adaptability as a soldier.  The enemy has taught us a lesson to which we ought not to shut our eyes.  He has caused him to fight as well, if not better than have his white troops of the same length of service.  Our prisoners from Ship Island and elsewhere declare that they are far the best sentinels and most thoroughly drilled of the Union troops.  I have myself seen them, in the hands of a single engineer officer, entirely without organization, work under fire, where certainly he could not have held white men.  Now, if the enemy has succeeded in the making any kind of troops of these people, with all their non-commissioned officers and a great part of their officers black, how much better could we make with all those white!”

WHAT GRANT SAYS.—The Post’s Washington special says Gen. GRANT writes that, “If Gen. SHERMAN’s success continues a few days longer, the country can safely indulge in exultation.”  [Ulysses S. Grant]

— GEN. GRANT’S PRIVATE VIEWS.—The Quincey (Ill.) Herald publishes an extract from a private letter written by Lieut. Gen. Grant to his old friend and school-fellow, the Hon. Isaac N. Morris.  The letter is dated “Head-Quarters Armies of the United States, City Point, Virginia, Feb. 15th 1865,” and was written, not dictated, by General Grant himself.  The following is the extract, which will be read with interest:—

“Everything looks to me to be very favorable for a speedy termination of the war.—The people of the South are ready for it if they can get clear of their leaders.  It is hard to predict what will become of them, the leaders, whether they will flee the country or whether the people will forcibly depose them and take the matter in their own hands.  One or the other will likely occur if our Spring Campaign is as successful as I have every hope it will be.”

Yours truly,
.                   .U. S. GRANT.

It seems by the Herald’s Charleston correspondence that even in the hot-bed of secession love for the old Union survived all the vicissitudes.  The remaining inhabitants of the city manifested the wildcat delight at the unfurling over them once more the old flag, and when a small body of colored troops, the first to land in town, started up the principal streets, their officers were scarcely able to proceed with them, being met with a perfect ovation.  Men and women thronged the avenues, shouting, waving handkerchiefs, and cheering for the Stars and Stripes, President Lincoln [Abraham Lincoln], and the Yankee army.  The rebels destroyed much property by burning and explosions, before they left, but large amounts were found remaining in the city, after the Union forces took possession.  Over 200 pieces of artillery and immense supplies of ammunition were found in the forts.

GEN. LEE OF NEGRO SOLDIERS.—The Richmond papers of the 22d, contain an extract from a letter addressed by Gen. Lee [Robert E. Lee] to Mr. Miles, of South Carolina :

“We must  use the negroes, as the enemy will use them against us.  They have been used now a long time, and with great help to our adversaries and to our disadvantage, and as the number of soldiers diminish in our ranks and are increased in those of the enemy, he will overrun more territory and accumulate from the black material still more  overbearing superiority.”

Our dispatches mention another letter by Gen. Lee, declaring that the arming of the negroes has become an absolute necessity.  Won’t copperheads begin to have some respect for the negro now?

STILL THREATENING.—The Richmond Whig says that when SHERMAN reaches Charlotte, “dangers will begin to thicken round him.”  Ever since SHERMAN left Chattanooga, in May last year, the rebel newspapers have been throwing out mysterious hints of this nature.  If they were to be believed, he has constantly just about to fall into some terrible trap laid for him, and to which the rebel generals have been adroitly “drawing him on.”  And still he moves triumphantly forward.

  The Richmond Enquirer thinks it would “be a glorious thing for history to tell that the North was whipped and conquered by the assistance of negroes for whose benefit they falsely pretend this war was waged.”

On the other hand how will it sound when history will show that the rebels were compelled to call on the poor, despised, “inferior race” for aid.  And suppose after calling the negro to come to their rescue, they are whipped?

GEN. SCHURZ.—Gen. CARL SCHURZ has been assigned to duty on Gen. HANCOCK’s staff to assist in the organization of the 1st Army Corps, and to command a division when raised.  He is expected to start in a few days on a tour through the West to investigate the system at various recruiting stations there.  [Winfield S. Hancock]

EXCHANGING NEGROES.—A number of negro soldiers, who have been held as prisoners by the rebels, arrived within the Union lines on the 22d inst., having been exchanged under the recent arrangement.

ILLINOIS.—The last of the ten new Illinois regiments has left for the front.  They have all been sent to join THOMAS.  [George H. Thomas]

1.  Francis M. Tamsett, from Alden, enlisted March 18, 1865, and served in Company B of the 53rd Wisconsin Infantry. In June this company was consolidated with the 51st Wisconsin Infantry as Company H, the original Company H having mustered out May 6, 1865. Tamsett mustered out July 11, 1865. This particular Fisk and George Emory do not seem to have served.
2.  William Kent, Worthy Prentice, and “Abram” L. Gillespie served in Company D of the 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry. Joseph Corey and Andrew Fee served in Company K of the 4th Wisconsin Cavalry.
3.  The township in Chisago County, Minnesota, that Rush City is located in; now spelled Rushseba.

1865 February 4: News from the South—Debate on Arming Slaves

The following articles appeared in the February 4, 1865, issue of The Polk County Press.

News from Rebeldom.

NEW YORK, Jan. 31.

In the rebel House last Thursday there was an interesting debate on the bill to put slaves into the army.  During the debate Jeff. Davis was severely denounced by members.  [Jefferson Davis]

Mr. Torney, of North Carolina, said he looked upon the bill as a project to arm the slaves.  The President had declared in favor of it, and when he gets them in the army as when he gets them in the army as teamsters and cooks, he can make them drill, or perform any other duty.  He would be willing to surrender the slaves for independence.  The only objection he had to making soldiers of slaves was that they would not fight on our side.  They would prove the enemy’s best allies in accomplishing our overthrow and devastation.  Mr. Torney said the county had been too long and too often delayed and deceived by the President’s plans, projects and prophecies.  Not one of his prophecies had been fulfilled ;  no one of his projects or plans had proven successful ;  yet the President proposes new and dangerous schemes with unable confidence in his own judgment.  When Susanna, Corporal Trim and the servants sat down by the kitchen fire for a talk, Corporal Trim said he had been so often deceived in his own judgment that he now had doubts of its accuracy, even when  he knew he was right.  The President had been much oftener deceived in  his judgment than the Corporal, and it is time he had learned some mistrust of his judgment.  He must not look for an unlimited support either from Congress or the country, when he proposes the wild, mail scheme of arming slaves.  The country was beginning to learn that all the abolitionists were not in the North, and our own President had proposed abolition in a way that created suspicion as to his soundness.  Mr. Torney said it was time that Congress should express their opinion upon arming slaves, and stamp upon it the indelible stamina of public abhorrence.

Mr. Leach of North Carolina, said he was unalterably opposed to such a measure.  He believed that the day on which such a policy was adopted would sound tho death-knell of our cause. It would make a Domingo of our land.

Others  from South Carolina and elsewhere expressed similar views.—The question was not disposed of.

The rebel papers say Gen. Kirby Smith commanding the rebel Trans Mississippi department, has repeatedly refused to comply with orders from Richmond directing him to transfer his troops on the east side of the Mississippi river.

The opponents of Jeff. Davis among his own people grow bitterer daily in their denunciations of him, and it is admitted that his humiliation was the design of the Congressional action to place Lee at the head of the armies.  [Robert E. Lee]

The Union raiding force up the Chowan River, North Carolina, in the direction of Weldon, is said to number between 6,000 and 10,000 men, including infantry, cavalry and artillery.

General Beauregard contradicts the reports that Union meetings have been held in Georgia.  [P.G.T. Beauregard]

 

1865 February 4: Wisconsin’s Black Troops in the 29th U.S. Colored Infantry

The following is a portion of the Wisconsin Adjutant General Report that appeared in the February 4, 1865, issue of The Prescott Journal.  Part I, Part II.

ADJUTANT GENERAL’S REPORT

What Wisconsin has Done for the War.
How Many Troops She has Sent.
How Many are Sill in the Field.

VOLUNTEERING AND DRAFTING.

Relief for the Sick and Wounded.

THE STATE MILITIA.

Very Interesting Document.

COLORED TROOPS.

Whatever prejudice may have existed in the minds of the people against the employment of colored troops, it has fast given way if it be not now everywhere extinct. Aside from arguments of expediency of necessity, the exhibitions of moral courage and heroic devotion, forgetful of the wrongs and obloquy of the past, unflinching in the face of an enemy with whom, if spared the casualties of battle, capture was certain death, have compelled the admiration of their fiercest opponents. Authority was received from the War Department in October, 1863, to raise a regiment, battalion, or company of colored troops, and a public order was made to that effect ; but owing to the sparseness of colored population in this State, there was little encouragement to any white officer to undertake the raising of even a company. No active exertions were therefore made until early in the present year, Col. John A. Bross, of Chicago, having been appointed Colonel of the 29th United States colored infantry, opened one or two recruiting station in this State, and recruited some two hundred and fifty colored men for his regiment, and for whom this State receives credit from the General Government.

There being no further record of this regiment with the State Department, the following brief sketch of their action is here appended in justice to the men of this State who bravely shared the fortunes of the regiment.

The organization was completed and left camp of rendezvous at Quincy, Illinois, April 26th, arriving at Washington May 1st, was brigaded at Camp Casey with a colored regiment from New York, and Colonel Bross assigned to the command.

About the middle of June the brigade was sent to City Point, from which place, after two weeks of guard duty, it was sent to the front of Petersburg, and joined the 2d brigade, 3d division, 9th army corps, commanded by Gen. Burnside, June 30, 1864.

The mine was sprung and Col. Bross was ordered forward with his regiment. Leading his men, who were now for the first time under fire, he is said to have charged farther within the enemy’s lines than any other regiment on that occasion.

Seeing the utter hopelessness of carrying the enemy’s works on Cemetery Hill, Col. Bross gave orders to his regiment to retire, and catching the colors of his regiment was about to turn when he was struck by a Minie ball in the temple and fell dead, enwrapped in the flag. The regiment retreated through a perfect storm of shot and shell, to the crater, losing in this action most of its officers and nearly two hundred enlisted men in killed, wounded and missing.

I respectfully recommend that the act providing aid from the war fund for families of soldiers from this State, be so amended as to include the volunteers in this and other colored regiments. They are in the immediate service of the United States, and not being in a State organization they are thereby deprived of the benefits accruing from this fund. Their position differs from white volunteers in the regular service from this State, in the fact that there are no colored State organizations, and if they go into the service at all, they must perforce go into the United States regiments. It therefore appears to me but a simple act f justice, to extend to them such benefits as may accrued to their families through the war fund.

1864 June 18: Credits for Pierce County Towns, Colonel William P. Lyon in Alabama, Officers from the 5th and 36th Wisconsin Regiments Wounded at Cold Harbor

Following are the smaller items from the June 18, 1864, issues of The Prescott Journal.

The News.

— GRANT has moved his army to the James River.  Let us wait patiently.—He is bound to win.  [Ulysses S. Grant]

—MORGAN’s raid into Kentucky has proved a miserable failure.  The glory of the great horse thief has departed.  [John Hunt Morgan]

—The President, Secretary of War, and the Provost Marshal have petitioned Congress to Strike [sic] our the $300 exemption clause of the Conscription Act.

—The report of a splendid victory by Gen. HUNTER [David Hunter] over the Rebel Gen. Jones [William E. “Grumble” Jones], is confirmed.

—VALLANDIGHAM [Clement L. Vallandigham] has returned to Ohio, and is making speeches.  He has probably been informed by the Washington authorities that he would not be molested.

  The ladies of Hudson are to have a Grant Festival on the Fourth of July, for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission.

  Gen. J. M. RANDALL, of La Crosse, has been in town for a few days.  He is en route for Superior, on business connected with the Provost Marshal’s office.

WISCONSIN OFFICERS WOUNDED.—The army correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Capt. J. H. Cook and Lieut. B. F. Cram, of the 5th regiment were wounded in the battle of Cold Harbor on Thursday last.  Capt. Cook is reported with a flesh wound in the thigh, while Lieut. Cram is reported, in one place, as wounded in the thigh, and in another place as wounded in the foot.  In a list of casualties of Friday’s battles, in the Herald, we find the names of Adjutant B. D. Atwell of the 36th and Lt. Skinner of Co. I, also of the 36th, as wounded, the former in the shoulder.¹

COL. LYON.—A Bridgeport, (Ala.,) letter in the Louisville Journal says :

Colonel Lyon,² of the 13th Wisconsin, is present commander of the post, a very efficient and gentlemany [sic] officer, and one very much liked by everybody.  Colonel Lyon possesses the singular faculty of imagining himself an officer in command of the post, and not a little god with solder straps.  For this reason all his intercourse with the world at large is characterized by common sense, which is saying a good deal.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL WILLICH [August Willich] was not, as was first reported, mortally wounded in the battle of Resacca [sic], Georgia, but has arrived at Louisville en route for home.  He was struck by a masket [sic] ball, which entered the front of the right side, and came out in the vicinity of the spine.

  By evidence which the bitterest rebel cannot dispute, an official return of a Richmond hospital, the brutal treatment of our prisoners in that city is proved.  During the first three months of the present year fifty per cent of the prisoners in that hospital died, and their deaths were from diseases which starvation invariably produces.

  There are all sorts of reports concerning the whereabouts of Gen. A. J. SMITH‘S forces.  A dispatch dated Helena, Ark., June 6th, says that Gen. A. J. SMITH’S fleet of transports arrived there the day before.  It is generally supposed this veteran corps will be used to reinforce GRANT.

THE DRAFT.
CREDITS OF THE TOWNS.

It is expected that a draft will be made in July in those towns in this State which have not filled their quota, to make up for the deficiency existing.—The following is the account of the towns of this county in the office of the Provost Marshal of this District, all calls included :

	TOWN.	EXCESS.	DEF’Y.
	Oak Grove,	—	4
	Trimbelle,	—	2
	Diamond Bluff,	—	—
	Trenton,	—	3
	Hartland,	—	—
	Pleasant Valley,	—	3
	Perry,	—	4
	Union,	—	3
	Isabelle,	—	1
	Prescott,	7	—
	Martell,	—	10
	River Falls,	3	—
	Clifton,	—	4
	El Passo [sic],	1	—
	Salem,	—	2

NEGRO RECRUITING IN KENTUCKY.–Adjutant General Thomas [Lorenzo Thomas] will be in Kentucky next week, and two silver eagles will take an unusually high flight, and the slaves of Kentucky will be gathered in by this great recruiter with a rake that will not leave a county unvisited.  The epoch of pro-slavery bluster, Border State sneaking and military slave-driving is at an end.

The negroes of Kentucky have got to fight for the Union.  Gen. Thomas goes down with plenary powers, and carries in his pocket, to start with, the organization of three regiments, the names of qualified officers who have passed Casey’s board.  Sixteen regiments of Kentucky blacks will swell our ranks in a few weeks.—New York Tribune, 3d.

1.

• Captain Jacob H. Cook of Company B of the 5th reorganized, was from Stockbridge; he was discharged September 27, 1864, with a disability.
• 1st Lieutenant B. Franklin Cram, Company F of the 5th, was from Waukesha; he was wounded at Cold Harbor and mustered out August 18, 1864, when his term expired
• Adjutant Benjamin D. Atwell of the 36th, was from Madison; he was wounded June 3, 1864, at Cold Harbor and was prisoner at Beam’s Station, Virginia.
• 1st Lieutenant Charles W. Skinner of Company I of the 36th, was from Columbus; he was wounded June 3, 1864, at Cold Harbor and resigned September 27, 1864, because of a disability.

2.  William Penn Lyon (1822-1913) was the district attorney of Racine County, Wisconsin (1855-1858), and served as speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly (1859) before the Civil War. When the War started, he enlisted in the 8th Wisconsin Infantry and was elected captain of Company K. He was promoted to major of the 8th Wisconsin Infantry on January 18, 1862. Lyon participated in the various expeditions in Kentucky and Tennessee that the 8th Wisconsin was in. On August 5, 1862, he was promoted to colonel of the 13th Wisconsin Infantry. In 1863-64 his regiment was assigned to guarding trains and lines of communication in northern Alabama. Lyon was placed in command of an important supply depot at Stephenson, Alabama, which is where he was when this article was written. In 1865 the 13th Wisconsin was sent to Texas to repel rebel outposts. Lyon was brevetted brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers on October 26, 1865, and mustered out on the same date. After the War, he resumed his legal and political career, serving on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and retiring as chief justice in 1894.

1864 June 11: John Morgan in Kentucky, Plus Black Kentuckians “Stampeding” to Join the Union Army

News from Kentucky from the June 11, 1864, issue of The Prescott Journal.  The first item is a prelude to John Hunt Morgan’s Second Battle of Cynthiana, which will take place on June 11 and 12, 1864.

John Morgan in Kentucky.

CINCINNATI, June 8.

A rebel force, supposed to be under command of John Morgan, made an entry into eastern Kentucky a few days ago, and this morning captured the town of Mount Sterling.  They also destroyed bridges and tore up the track of the Ky Central Railroad between Cynthiana and Paris, and cut the telegraph wires.—Trains coming north returned safely to Lexington.

Another gang attacked a passenger train on the Louisville and Lexington Railroad this morning, near Springfield.  Two passenger cars and the baggage car were burned, the express car robbed and the engine thrown off the track.  None of the passengers were hurt.

The Kentucky Exodus.

Within a few days the negroes of Kentucky have become impressed with the idea that the road to freedom lies through military service, and there has been a stamped [sic] from the farms to the recruiting offices.  The able bodied blacks are turning out almost unanimously, and the women and children are disposed to go with the crowd.  The consequence is, the railroads of the State have not the capacity to transport the negroes who are finding their way to the United States camps.  The white people of Kentucky are taking this extraordinary commotion among the negroes very coolly, looking upon it as one of the phenomena of the times, and acquiescing in it as a part of the drift of destiny.  Slave property has been recognized in Kentucky a[s] very precarious in its nature, ever since the Southern fanatics insisted that sectional difficulties should culminate in war.  The negroes have not been in good working order for some time, and their rush for the army is not as serious a matter for the agricultural interests of the State as might be expected.  Then they are relieving the State of the draft, [__] and forever for enough of them are swarming to meet all probably calls in the future.  If the Government chooses to accept black men for soldiers, and the blacks want to go, and the whites don’t, it is absurd for the whites to complain, the policy tht practically exemppts them and receives an inferior article in full all demands.  The uprising, if we can so call it, of the negroes of Kentucky now in progress, is one of the most remarkable and significant events of the war.—Cincinnati Commercial, June

1864 June 4: Warren Knowles, Jerry Flint, and Aaron Roberts Promoted, Plus List of Local Soldiers Wounded

Following are the smaller items from the June 4, 1864, issues of The Prescott Journal and The Polk County Press.

From The Prescott Journal:

  A. L. ROBERTS [Aaron L. Roberts], of this city, formerly of Co. B, 6th Reg., has been appointed Quartermaster of that Regiment.

  Warren P. Knowles, of River Falls, has been promoted to 1st Lieut., and Jerry E. Flint, of River Falls, to 2d Lieut. of Co. G, 4th Wis. Cavalry.  Both were deserved promotions.

  The Cleveland Convention held on Tuesday, nominated FREMONT [John C. Frémont] for President and Gen. JOHN COCHRANE, of New York, for Vice President.  The convention was a slim affair.  On Tuesday next, the accredited representatives of the great Union party meet at Baltimore, and their choice will be the choice of the people.

Ladies’ Loyal League.

The Ladies’ Loyal League met at the Congregational Church May 27, 1864, at 6 o’clock P. M.  Meeting called to order by Mrs. J. M. McKee.

On motion of Mrs. Wm. Howes the committee on the Constitution presented their report, or articles of association.

On motion of Mrs. O. T. Maxson, the Constitution was adopted.

The following officers were then unanimously elected :

President—Mrs. WM. HOWES.
Vice Presidents—Mrs. O. T. Maxson, Mrs. M. A. Dreibelbis.
Financial Secretary—Miss Frank Bartholomew.
Cor. Secretary—Mrs. J. M. McKee.
Board of Directors—Mrs. Lute A. Taylor, Mrs. Grant, Mrs. Bancroft, Mrs. J. S. White, Mrs. A. Bartholomew, Mrs. P. Converse, Mrs. A. Ticknor, Miss Hettie West, Miss Martha Cadwell.

On motion of Mrs. J. S. White, the meeting adjourned till next Friday evening, June 3d, at 6 o’clock P. M.

FRANK BARTHOLOMEW,
Secretary.

From The Polk County Press:

FROM THE 2D CAVALRY.—A letter from Co. D 2d Cavalry, states that all the Polk county boys are well, and enjoying a fine climate.

FROM THE 10TH BATTERY.—Letters from members of the 10th Battery, state that they are in SHERMAN’S army [William T. Sherman], have been engaged, and suffered some loss.  Mr. MOSES T. CATLIN, was run over by a gun carriage, and had two of his ribs broken.  He is in one of the Hospitals, doing well.  He writes that his injuries will not probably disable him long.  We soon expect to hear stirring news from the Battery boys.

IN HOSPITAL.—Among the list of Wisconsin soldiers in Philadelphia Hospital, we find the name of RICHARD TURNBULL, Co. G, 7th regiment.  Mr. TURNBULL cut his foot badly with an axe just before the grand advance, which disabled him for the campaign.

— The Sixth Minnesota regiment now guarding the frontier in Minnesota, will leave for Arkansas next week.

HURRAH FOR THE FLAG.—It has been suggested by the ladies of the mite society, that if our citizens will purchase the material for a flag, that they will make it, as their donation.  There is not a flag in the place fit to display on the occasion of victory, or to use at a celebration, and it is certainly something we all should take pride enough in to have on hand.  Who will start a subscription.  Bro. WM. KENT will you please pass round the hat?

SOMETHING ELSE.—If we are to have a new flag,—we must necessarily have “Liberty pole.”  This, by a little exertion in the right direction, can be secured.  Part of the old one is good enough for the mainmast, and a topmast can be got with money and little labor.  It is not very busy times just now, and men can be found who will work cheap, to make it.—Let’s have the “Liberty pole.”

WOUNDED.—The following is the list of wounded in companies F and G 7th regiment who enlisted from this county :

Peter Francis, killed.
Michael McHugh, shoulder & head.
A Connor, thigh severely.
John Rice, Indian, slightly thigh.
Thomas Hart, do, hip severely.
Geo. Metawos, do, head slight.
Frank Shaw, do, breast severely.
John Day, do, wounded & missing.
Chas. Razor, do, leg slightly.

VETERAN FLAGS.—Adjutant General Gaylord [Augustus Gaylord] is having the battle torn flags of our veteran regiments carefully fixed for preservation.  Those which are much torn are being lined with tarleton to keep them in shape.  When fixed up the flags will be properly displayed, with labels attached giving the names of regiments and battles in which they have been carried, somewhere where they can be seen without being handled to their injury.¹—Madison Journal.

THE NEW STYLE.—The admirable course adopted by the Secretary of War [Edwin M. Stanton], of giving official information of the progress of the campaign, in dispatches to Gen. Dix [John A. Dix] at New York, meets everywhere with applause among loyal men.  For the first time in the history of this conflict, the War Department standing between the Army and the people has maintained communication with both, transmitting to the later all news received by the former.  This sensible course most sensibly conducted has proved the antidote to all the pestilent rumors that in former periods of suspense have distracted the public mind.

THE NAVY.—Says the New York Journal of Commerce :—”Never since the organization of the United States Navy has so much vigor and energy been displayed in the preparation and manning of war vessels as at present.  An entire fleet of vessels, larger probably than our entire navy before the war began, is now preparing at three or four navy yards, to sail southward.”

Union Losses on the Rapidan and at Spottsylvania.

An official report of the killed and wounded in the late battles presents the fact that 4,000 were killed, and about 25,000 wounded, and 5,000 missing—the latter including stragglers and prisoners.  It is also stated on the same accurate authority that not more than ten per cent have been dangerously wounded, and that a large number will be ready for the field within the next two weeks.  This statement should go far to mollify the suspense and agony of the thousands of those who are interested in the fate and condition of those brave defenders of the flag.

ST. LOUIS AND PITTSBURG [sic] SANITARY FAIRS.

Both of these fairs have proved great successes.  The cash contributions and cash receipts for the first ten days at the St. Louis fair exceeded $300,000.  No doubt is entertained that the enterprise will reach and pass the first goal of its ambition—a half million of dollars.  Nevada has generously donated gold and silver bars equal to $35,000, which Wells, Fargo & Co. delivered free of charge.  The Pittsburg [sic] fair opened on the 1st inst., and drew immensely.  All classes of liberal people in the Iron City are contributing to its success, and the receipts give promise of running into the hundred thousands.  The Baltimore Sanitary Fair realized $60,000.

The Virginia Chivalry and the Negro Troops.

It appears that Fitzhugh Lee, the son of Gen. Lee [Robert E. Lee],² who now commands the rebel cavalry, in place of Stewart [sic: J.E.B. Stuart] deceased, made an attack on one of our positions on the north bank of the James river, held by two regiments of colored soldiers.  The chivalrous General magnanimously offered to accept the negroes as prisoners of war, but the darkeys considered it more patriotic to fight, whereupon Gen. Lee, at the head of the fiery cavaliers of the South, made an attack, and was repulsed by these colored gentlemen.  The leaders of the rebellion will soon begin to understand that we are building up a formidable army from their hitherto cowardly slaves.  To be beaten by their own negroes is the very essence of humiliation to a slaveholding aristocrat.  And that humiliation in this campaign has already been inflicted on the Virginia chivalry.

Odds and Ends.

— The names of two of Grant’s [Ulysses S. Grant] Corps Generals posses a historical record—Hancock and Warren—the former the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the latter the first martyr of the Revolution.

— The funeral obsequies of the late Major General Wadsworth [James S. Wadsworth] took place in New York city on the 20th inst.  They were simple, but of the most impressive description, and were witnessed by an innumerable throng of solemn and sorrowing people.

— In the third day’s fight in the recent engagements in Virginia, General Grant turned to General Meade [George G. Meade] and said :  “Well, Meade, if they are going to make a Kilkenny cat³ affair of this, all I have to say is our cat has got the longest tail.”

— Gen. “Baldy” Smith [William F. Smith] is a Pennsylvanian, and a graduate of West Point.  During the Mexican war he was a captain in the regular army and was noted for his “dash” and bravery.  From some cause or other he lost most of the hair from his hand when young, and therefore obtained the sobriquet of “Baldy,” which has clung to him to the present.

— General Slocum [Henry W. Slocum], commanding the District of Vicksburg, has ordered that, where the Government lessee of an abandoned plantation is robbed by guerrillas, sufficient property shall be seized from disloyal citizens in the vicinity to indemnify the sufferer ;  and if a lessee is killed, an assessment of $10,000 shall be levied upon disloyalists.

— Major General Wallace [Lewis Wallace] announces the result of the court martial recently convened in Baltimore for the trial of Major George Thistleton, of the First Maryland Cavalry, that he was found guilty of the charge of “being in the habit of associating intimately and publicly with infamous women and prostitutes during the past winter and spring, so as to bring disgrace upon himself and the service, and to subject his encampment to scenes disgusting and disreputable to his regiment,” and that the sentence of the court is that he “be dismissed the service.”

The Chip Basket.

— The funeral of Maj. Gen. Sedgwick [John Sedgwick] was largely attended at his residence in West Cornwall, Con.

—The Pope has sent a check for $500 to the General Aid Society of Buffalo, to be applied to the comfort of the wounded soldiers.  The check was sent through Bishop Timon, of that city.

— There is a striking coincidence in the wounding of Jackson [Stonewall Jackson] and Longstreet [James Longstreet], the two Generals upon whom Lee [Robert E. Lee] has heretofore mainly relied to carry out his plans.  They were both shot at Chancellorsville by minnies, both hit in the right arm, and both wounded by their own men.

1.  Wisconsin’s Civil War Battle Flags are now in the collections of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison.
2.  Fitzhugh Lee was the son of Sydney Smith Lee, a captain in the Confederate States Navy. Robert E. Lee was Fitzhugh Lee’s uncle.
3.  The term Kilkenny cat comes from an old story about two cats who fought to the death and ate each other up such that only their tails were left. The term has come to mean anyone who is a tenacious fighter.

1864 May 28: Some of “Our” Chippewa Indians Among the Wounded, Recruits Wanted for 37th and 38th Wisconsin, Deaths of JEB Stuart and James Rice, and Other News Items

Following are the smaller items from the May 28, 1864, issues of The Polk County Press and The Prescott Journal.

From The Polk County Press:

The News.

What there is of it is glorious.—During the first part of the present week, but little was received, and that mostly relating to the battles which we have already announce.  GRANT [Ulysses S. Grant] IS MARCHING ON !  Sherman [William T. Sherman] is marching on !  The armies are in full motion, marching, we trust, their last campaign,—marching on to victory.  The horizon looks clear once more.—In the light of victory, we can read with glad hearts “The Union is saved!  God grant it!”

WISCONSIN TROOPS IN BATTLE.—The 2d, 5th, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin regiments were engaged, and lost heavily, the battles near Chancellorsville, under GRANT.

SOME OF OUR CHIPPEWAS WOUNDED.—We see by a list published in the Madison “Journal,” that three names—very similar to those of our soldiers—marked Indians, and wounded.

THE SEVENTH REGIMENT.—We have carefully looked through the lists of the killed and wounded of this regiment, but fail to discover that any of the boys from this county are hurt.  The official list, however, has not yet been published.

HUNDRED DAY MEN.—Two regiments have been organized in this State and by this time are on their way to the front.  Recruiting for the other three regiments goes on briskly, and it is confidently expected they will be raised within the next week.  The regiments organized are called the 40th and 41st.

Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa have nearly filled their quotas, which in the aggregate number 80,000 men.  The work goes bravely on.

RECRUITS WANTED FOR THE 38TH REGIMENT.—JOHN THORNTON, of Cedar Valley, has received a commission from the Governor to recruit for the 38th regiment, Col. BENTLIP, now organizing at Madison.

There has probably been another call made for 300,000 men by the President, and Polk county will have to furnish its quota.  It is stated that a draft will be made sometime in June for this number, and the deficiencies due from towns on former calls.  Persons wishing to enlist cannot do better than join one of the new regiments now being raised in this State.  Mr. THORNTON wishes to raise thirty men immediately.  Mr. WALDEN¹ also wishes to obtain men for the 37th.  Both chances are good ones for men wishing to enlist.  If active measures are taken a draft can be avoided in this county.  This is stated will be the last call.  If GRANT and SHERMAN are successful the army will soon throttle the rebellion.  If defeated the whole country will be called to arms and the struggle renewed.  Better enlist than be drafted.

J.E.B. Stuart, from the Library of Congress²

REBEL GEN. STUART KILLED SURE.—Though our papers have contradicted the reported death of Gen. Stuart [J.E.B. Stuart] the rebel cavalry officer, Richmond papers confirm it.  He was mortally wounded at the head of a charge in the battle of Yellow Tavern, between his men and Sheridan’s [Philip H. Sheridan].  His funeral took place recently, at St. James’s Church, Richmond.  Jeff. DAVIS [Jefferson Davis] was present, “with a look of grief upon his care worn face,” and Gen. Bragg [Braxton Bragg] and ex-Secretary of War Randolph were among the pall-bearers.  No military escort accompanied the procession—a striking proof that all the soldiers were needed elsewhere.  In the same fight Lt. Col. Henry Clay Pate, formerly of Kansas, and notorious for not capturing old John Brown, was also killed.

THE NEGRO TROOPS AND THE REBEL PRISONERS.—A correspondent in GRANT’S army says that about 2,000 rebel prisoners were marched past a portion of the negro troops of BURNSIDE’S corps [Ambrose E. Burnside].  It was amusing to hear the negroes inquire, jestingly, “How is you boss ?  Mighty good ting we didn’t catch you ;  we would never tuck ye prisoners.”  The prisoners became infuriated, and begged to have their will of the negroes five minutes.  “Remember Fort Pillow,” the negroes would urge.  “We’ll cut your black throats,” was the threat of the others.  Thus the two races reviled each other.  The master was prisoner ;  the bondman free, and a soldier.

From Sherman’s Army.

New York, May 25.—Extended details of Sherman’s operations in the “Tribune” show, after several days’ fighting, on the morning of the 16th, that the rebels were found to be in full retreat, their supply and ammunition trains burnt and but little artillery carried off.  We have captured 4,000 prisoners, and hundreds more are coming in.

Hooker [Joseph Hooker] has crossed the river near Resaca, and Schofield [John M. Schofield] near Pelton.—Stoneman [George Stoneman], with cavalry, was pursuing Johnston [Joseph E. Johnston], engaging them with artillery that morning.

— General Crook’s command [George R. Crook] is falling back slowly, after working an immense amount of damage to the Virginia and East Tennessee Railroad.  The rebel, General Jenkins [Albert G. Jenkins], who was wounded and taken prisoner in the fight near Newbern [Battle of Cloyd’s Mountain], has died of his injuries.

— Gen. HUNTER [David Hunter] has superseeded [sic] Gen. SIGEL [Franz Sigel] in the Department of West Virginia.

From The Prescott Journal:

Paroled Prisoners.

The following is an extract from a letter of W. Y. Selleck to the Governor relative to the transfer of paroled prisoners to hospitals at the North :

“In regard to the case of Silas Streeter of Co. B, 7th regiment Wis. Vols., I have to state that he being a paroled prisoner, under a rule or order issued by the Commissary General of paroled prisoners, cannot be transferred to the hospital in Wisconsin.—The case of James Waynes, of Co. I, 3d regiment Wis. Vols. comes under the same head.

“The government desires to keep the paroled men or soldiers together as much as possible, and in order to give satisfaction to the soldiers and their friends, a system of furloughs has been established for paroled prisoners.”

CREDIT FOR RE-ENLISTED VETERANS.—Official notice has been received that the full number of re-enlisted veterans claimed by the State authorities, 5,193, has been allowed by the War Department, and instructions have been given to Assistant Provost Marshal General to given credit to different localities, according to the books of the Adjutant General’s office.

THE RECENT BATTLE GROUND.—The Po river, which is mentioned so frequently in connection with fighting in Spottsylvania county, is one of four branches of the Mattapony³ river, which itself is a branch of the York river.  These four branches are named after the main stream, in order, commencing with the south branch and running to the north branch—thus, Mat-Ta-Po-Ny.

Spottsylvania Court House is 44 miles from Richmond, and is located between Ny and Po rivers, the latter flowing below it from the northwest.

THE WEST VIRGINIA MOVEMENT.—The Philadelphia North American gives quite a different account of the force in Western Virginia, under Gen. CROOKS [sic], from that published by a Pittsburg [sic] paper, which we copied a few days since.  It says his force is about 23,000 strong.  It concentrated at Parkersburg, Va., on the Ohio river, marching thence up the valley of the Kanahawa [sic] river.  Gen. AVERILL [sic: William W. Averell] was in command of the cavalry, going considerably in advance.  Its destination was supposed to be Lynchburg, the junction of two important lines of railway communicating with Richmond.

From Gen. Butler’s Department—Operations in the Rear of Richmond.

We have been permitted to publish the following extract from a letter by an officer on Gen. Brooks’ staff [William T. H. Brooks], received by a gentleman in this city :

HEADQUARTERS 1ST DIV. 15TH CORPS, }
PORT WALTHAL, VA., MAY 8, 1864. }

By a well conceived and skillfully executed strategic movement, the main features of which are already familiar to you, the Army of the Peninsula under Gen. Smith [William F. Smith] has been transferred from its position at Yorktown to the south side of the James river, at the point where the Appomattox flows into that stream.  Here within ten miles of Petersburg and twenty of Richmond, as the roads run, we are now encamped, to the complete surprise of the Confederate leaders and the terror of the inhabitants of all this section of country, which has heretofore been free from the despoiling influences of an army.  An important result of this movement was developed on yesterday in an expedition under command of Gen. Brooks, who with a considerable force advanced toward the Petersburg and Richmond railroad, in from of which the enemy were prepared to defend this important line of communications.  When within a mile and a half of the railroad the skirmish line of the enemy was discovered, and almost immediately a brisk fire ensued.  Pushing forward our lines of battle through a dense woods, we drove the rebels back from one position to another until we succeeded in gaining a point on the railroad.  At once the work of tearing up the ties and bending the rails was commenced, until half a mile or more of railroad was destroyed, and an extensive saw mill near at hand with a large quantity of lumber set on fire and burned to the ground.  The object of the expedition having been successfully accomplished, we returned to camp.

Our advance lines are now within a mile and a half of the railroad and the nature of our position is such that we can repeat the operation of yesterday in spite of all opposition.  Thus one of the main channels of connection with the rebel Capitol is virtually destroyed and the rear of Lee’s army [Robert E. Lee] seriously threatened by cutting off his source of supplies.  Prisoners and deserters report the force in our front at something over 6,000, under command of Gen. Beauregard [P.G.T. Beauregard].

During the engagement yesterday reinforcements were arriving by cars until we obtained possession of the railroad.  Our loss was between two and three hundred in killed and wounded.  The 8th Connecticut lost more than any other single regiment.—The rebel loss is reported by deserters as being greater than our own.

What are to be our future movements time can alone develope [sic].  Should success attend the Army of the Potomac, the line of Federal forces will almost envelope Richmond, and then is a fair prospect we shall compel its evacuation.

With the able commanders with the forces here in the country need have no apprehensions for out gallant army.  The names of Smith, Gilmore [sic: Quincy A. Gillmore], and Brooks, among others, are a guarantee that neither ability or energy will be wanting to insure success in all its operations.

This item appeared in both newspapers:

GEN. RICE.—Brigadier General JAMES C. RICE, who was killed in the battle of Tuesday, was a native of Massachusetts.  He enlisted from the city of New York, at the commencement of the war, as a private, was promoted to a Lieutenancy, then made Captain, then Lieut. Colonel, Colonel and finally Brigadier General.  He had taken part in almost all the great battles to which the army of the Potomac has been engaged.  He was about thirty-five years of age.—His last words will be immortal “Turn me over,” said the dying hero to an attendant, “and let me die with my face toward the enemy.”

1.  Elisha H. Walden, from Hudson, had enlisted March 30, 1864, in Company F of the 37th Wisconsin Infantry.
2.  “J.E.B. Stuart,” from the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division (cwpb-07546).
3.  Today the river is spelled “Mattaponi,” but in the 19th century the spelling seems to have been with the “y.”