Edwin C. Tubbs (d. 1861)

Edwin C. Tubbs, who was from River Falls, enlisted in the Lyon Light Guards—Company A of the 12th Wisconsin Infantry—on September 28, 1861. He died on December 7, 1861, at Camp Randall in Madison.

Following are two letters from the December 18, 1861, issue of The Prescott Journal describing the death and funeral of Tubbs.

Camp Correspondence.
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CAMP RANDALL, Dec. 9, 1861.

DEAR JOURNAL:—Man purposes, but God disposes. Edwin O. Tubbs, like many others, parted with a loving and a beloved wife and confiding babes. In the discharge of his duty, he exchanged the pleasures of home for the privations of the tented field. In the prime of life and buoyant with hope, he faltered not in the hour of danger, but in forty days from his entry into camp, he sleeps beneath the clods of the valley. On the 20th ult. he felt indisposed from a cold but it was thought nothing serious till last Wednesday, when he was confined to his bed with inflamation of the lungs, which bid defiance to medical aid, and on Saturday morning, at 7 ½ o’clock, he closed his eyes in death. Your correspondent sat by his dying bed, wiped the death damps from his brow, and cooled his fevered lips. He was conscious till the last, and was not afraid to die.

He was buried yesterday with military honors, and his Captain, Rev. N. McLeod, after reading I. Cor., 15, from the 42 verse to the end, made a very appropriate address to the procession, the 12th Regiment, formed in a hollow square around the grave, in which he paid a fitting tribute to the memory of the dead, as far as he was acquainted with him, and sympathized with his bereaved family, which affected many to tears ;  after which our Chaplain, L. B. Mason, made an appropriate prayer. He is buried in the city cemetery, one mile southeast of Camp Randall, and at his head is a slab on which is inscribed, Edwin C. Tubbs, private of Company A, 12th Regiment, W. V.

JOHN MCMILLEN.

We make the following extract from a letter from the Lyon Light Guard:—

“On Sundy [sic], at 2 o’clock, P. M., EDWIN C. TUBBS was buried with military honors in the cemetery, on a swell of ground covered with an oak thicket, and overlooking the city and the lakes of Monona and Mendota. A more enchanted spot cannot be found in the West, than this cemetery. The flag was kept flying at half mast during the day. The whole regiment turned out to pay the last respects to their fellow-soldier’s remains. The funeral services were conducted by Capt. McLeod, and when he spoke with much feeling of the bereaved family, all unconscious of their loss, and that he whom they loved was being lowered to his last resting place, manly bosoms heaved with emotion, and eyes of stern old soldiers and hopeful young volunteers were alike wet with tears. Three volleys were fired over his grave, and then, to the beat of the muffled drum, we returned to camp.

B. B. COMSTOCK.