Thethreemonthsmen
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TYUJLI^>-CU..^ ^ £/ S Vr^M^Y^ dL.^\ y-^-^^^^ ^ (D^ i%H X. coin's call for 75,000 men to |)ut down the reliellion in ninety days. For these THETHREEMONTHSMEN and tnanj' oilier reasons tliere is an unu sual interest manife.sted in the annual re union of survivors of the First Wlsconsia regiment of tiiree months' men, to beheld Coming Reunion of the First in .Milwaukee j^ardea n<>xt Saturday, July 2, the anniversary of the battle of Fall- Wisconsin RogimDnt. in}? Waters, at that time called "Haincs- vilie," where fell George C. Drake, the first AViseonsin soldier killed in action. To BE HELD IN MILWAUKEE GAR The history of the First Wisconsin DEN SATURDAY, JULY 2 rej^inient, fully written, vonld cover al most the (>ntire history of the war. Not that the men who composed it fouajht in all of the battles, but because ot their Regiment Who5e Complete Hlslo'y Is th3 diversilied eonneetion with the various History of the War—More Thai 1,000 Com branches of the army in the years that missions Issued to Its Members During followed, nearly all re-enlisting for the three years'service, and becominj^ scat the Conflict, Seven of Its Members Who tered eventually in all branches of the Enlisted as Privates Becoming Brigadier army. The regiment went into the serv Generals—From Enlistment to Battlefield. ice with 810 men. perhaps two-thirds of whom survived the conflict, but only 178 of whom are now positively known Afl time prints fnrrowH of age on tlio to be alive. It is estimated that not less than 1.200 commissions were issued brow, tlu; thouglils of \\\v. boy como during the war to tiie men who went back to the man. Thouu'li U'o warrior's out in this regiment, in the various lines pride of his many batUcs roniaine uii- of their promotion from corporal to dimmod, old 11^,0 liudH bin Ihou^litH re- brigadier-generai, some having passed vertiii<!; to lii(> sctniets and iiicidontri of liis through ni>arly all of the interyeninsr firHt i"Xi)oricncen in Koldier liio. Thus it is offleial positions. In company I, the old tliat no fricndKiiiu ripened and cemented Fond du Tac Badger boys, there were by llie trials of war are dearer to the seventy-seven men and ninety-two coin- lieart of tlu' veteran tlian those \\\ which iiiissions, all told, were issued, before the lie first laid aside tlie life of u civilian for war closed, to men who left Milwaukee that of battle in the st^rviee of hiH coun iiH nuMuhiTH of that company. Of the men try. Ail soldier reunions are of interest •who oiilisted as privates in th.at regiment Boven, at kast, became bripadier-iteneruls. to tlioso who ]ieli)ed light the connlry's Tliey were .John C. Starkweather, Lucius battles in the years of its peril, but Fuircliihi, Cliuvles L. Hurris, (Jussins Fnir- around uoue of llie reunions held in Wis- chilil, WiUiiini H. Morprnn, .loseph K. Prouil- flt and Ivvniun M. Ward. Some of tlieae were chosen officers of the reicinient in tlio tirnt organization and others wer.t to the front as privates, .\mons the latter were CaKBius Fiiircliild, William U. Morgan and Lyman M. Word. That llieveuuion of the raouwho composed this regiment will prove an euioyable one thci-o is little doubt. It will not heconfiiied wholly to First regiment men, but all other veterans are invited, and it is especially de- Bired that all three months' men in the stale should 1)0 present, as arrunfjements wilt doubtless he made for the move for a Na tional orttanization of hvst defenders Jurius the coming National encampment of the (irand Army. The accompanying sketch ot the organization and experiences ot the First NViscotisin regiment, from its enlist ment to its lirst eiij?ftgeraent, will be fotind of much interest. It was written by one of the lirst voluateors of the regiment, in fact COL. JOHN C. STAI!l<Wl'.\TIIKn. the lirst man who enlisted in Company I, and will bo concluded in Tlie Sentinel next eonsin cliiif^ so many fond hopes, endoar- Bunda.v. ,iiig memoricB and the recounting <if eoMP.\nisoNs, THKN AND NOW. l)1il»py and laughableineidents, as around It is more than tliirty-one .years since that of the First regiment of tliree accession sought to sink the Union and moDths' volunteers—the men wlio Bccure the sapremney of the South. Our 'promptly responded to I'l-esident Lin- streets are tilled with men,married men with families, who were not born and there are women with babes in their arroa, whiuh mothers themselves huvo come to this world BincB BecesHi(ni surrendered at Ap- poniatox. The young and leading citizens of the present day, as a general rule, know sotting of the stirring times from 1801 to 180.5, except as history has tauB^ht it to them. We now have a National guard armed and equipped for any emergency. They are disciplined nnd within their ranks are models of our best and most vigorous citizens. Should the president call upon the governor of Wisconsin (or a regiment of in fantry to put down Bomernbellioii (as it was called ill l.SOl) the respouHe would be no more instnntuneouB, the volunteers no more brave or patriotic, than those who went out on Lincoln's first appeal to the people for 7,5,000 volunteers to do buttle for the con federation of oui rat-liors of 1870. But the difference in the value of the men as Boldiers who would go from Wisconsin to-day, com pared with tiiose of 1801, is such that even the boys of 01 would not call themselves CAPT. BUCK BINGHAM, "Buldiers" in any sense of tlie word. \B a volunteers headed for the depot, each carried ! general rule we were young and green, "green a knapsack weighing probably fifty pounds, as grass" so far as military affairs were con hmded with nn assortment of goods that cerned, and as u matter of fact most of the would till the-Bhelves of an ordinary country regiment first saw Milwaukee and a musket store, which advertised general merchandise. at about the same time The tiseiess truck toted out of Camp Snott FlllST mCATII IN THK KEniME.NT. was moBtl.y laid tenderly by the roadside, be But, to speak the truth, Milwaukee was tween Milwaukee and Martinsburg. The nearly as fresh as the now recruits. Tiiey musket which weighed nine pounds in the sent us away out on Spring street (just be morning was liable to weigh ninety before yond Belvedere flats on Grand avenue now) night. and none of us were permitted to rido into "I will have an inspection in the morning town either on horse or electric cars. And it and destroy all this extra luggage," said a •was u long way out of town, too. Camp volunteer officer to another who had served Bcott was bounded by a rail fence on the in the Mexican war. "No," said the other, south, a <ieep nviUy on the west, a picket "let the men do that themselves; they will fence surrounding a park or beer garden on drop it when its best, and might shoot you the north and some kind uf a grain field on if such an order was enforced." the east, beyond which "over .yonder'" was These were certainly words of wisdom. A the city of Milwaukee. A smull stream ran little keepsake or surfeit of clothing, which ut the bottom of the gully, west of the the American would have protected with his camp, across which the boys built a dsm life one day, was voluntarily cast aside the nnd ma<ie a swimraiug pond, and hero in next. Revolvers, bowie-knives, books and fact the first loss of life came to a member of trinkets of every sort were scattered along the regiment. ,1. II. Monroe of Co. F, while : the wake of every marching regiment. liathing, got cramps and befoVo help could "Where are your headquarters?" "In my reach him sunk to the bottom for the last I vest pocket," answered the captuin. Equally time. The lirst the writer saw of the affair j pat was the repl.y of the regimental quarter •was a man, stark nuked, running down the master when ordered to make an immediate company street earr.ying an empty barrel report of all property within his control: and yelling like mad, "man drowned." "1 have, within my control, the regimental They rolled the poor fellow on the barrel, toothpick and a broken suspender, and the and the surgeon did all ho could to start the colonel has just borrowed the fragments of life current again, but without avail. Only our flue tooth-comb." two days before his mother had come in from the country home on a visit at the TUE .MARCH TO THE FRONT. cnmp to see her boy, and the scene on her re It was DUO grand parade 600 miles long. turn was pitiable beyond description. Just At every station, hamlet, farm and field, a month later, to a day, (ieorge C. Drake people nlong^ the track cheered and waved a Kras shot dead at Falling Waters. continuous ovation. Bands played and flags floated. Wherever the train stopped not Col. John C. Starkweather was somewhat only were tables totmd spread and loaded pven to iutroduciog all kiuds of surprises, with provisions, but old and young, of both individually and colloetively.