from the sixth district, W. D. McIndoe. All were republicans except Eldredge, who was elected as a democrat. The Eighteenth regular session of the Wisconsin legislature began in Madison on the eleventh of January, 1865. W. W. Field was elected speaker of the assembly. The legislature was, as to its political complexion, “Republican Union." On the tenth of April, the last day of the session, Governor Lewis informed the legislature that General Lee and his army had surrendered. "Four years ago," said he, "on the day fixed for adjournment, the sad news of the fall of Fort Sumter was transmitted to the legislature. To-day, thank God! and next to Him the brave officers and soldiers of our army and navy, I am permitted to transmit to you the official intelligence, just received, of the surrender of General Lee and his army, the last prop of the rebellion. Let us rejoice, and thank the Ruler of the Universe for victory and the prospects of an honorable peace." In February preceding, both houses ratified the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery in the United States. At the Spring election, Jason Downer was chosen associate justice of the supreme court for a full term of six years. The twentieth of April was set apart by the governor as a day of thanksgiving for the overthrow of the rebellion and restoration of peace. At the Fall election both parties, republican and democratic, had tickets in the field. The republicans were victorious, electing Lucius Fairchild, governor; Wyman Spooner, lieutenant governor; Thomas S. Allen, secretary of state; William E. Smith, state treasurer; Charles R. Gill, attorney general; John G. McMynn, superintendent of public instruction; J. M. Rusk, bank comptroller; and Henry Cordier, state prison commissioner. WAR OF SECESSION - LEWIS' ADMINISTRATION. The military officers for 1864 were besides the governor (who was commander-in-chief) Brigadier General Augustus Gaylord, adjutant general; Colonel S. Nye Gibbs, assistant adjutant general; Brigadier General Nathaniel F. Lund, quartermaster and commissary general, and chief of ordnance; Brigadier General E. B. Wolcott, surgeon general; and Colonel Frank H. Firmin, military secretary. The legislature met at Madison on the 13th of January, 1864. "In response to the call of the General Government," said the governor, in his message to that body, Wisconsin had sent to the field on the first day of November last, exclusive of three months' men, thirty four regiments of infantry, three regiments and one company of cavalry, twelve batteries of light artillery, three batteries of heavy artillery, and one company of sharpshooters, making an aggregate of forty-one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five men." 66 Quite a number of laws were passed at this session of the legislature relative to military matters three were acts to authorize towns, cities and villages to raise money by tax for the payment of bounties to volunteers; one revised, amended and consolidated all laws relative to extra pay to Wisconsin soldiers in the service of the United States; one provided for the proper reception by the State, of Wisconsin volunteers returning from the field of service; another repealed the law relative to allotment commissioners. One was passed authorizing the governor to purchase flags for regiments or batteries whose flags were lost or destroyed in the service: another was passed amending the law suspending the sale of lands mortgaged to the State or held by volunteers, so as to apply to drafted men; another provided for levying a State tax of $200,000 for the support of families of volunteers. A law was passed authorizing the governor to take care of the sick and wounded soldiers of Wisconsin, and appropriated ten thousand dollars for that purpose. Two other acts authorized the borrowing of money for repelling invasion, suppressing insurrection, and defending the State in time of war. One act prohibited the taking of fees for procuring volunteers' extra bounty; another one defined the residence of certain soldiers from this State in the service of the United States, who had received local bounties from towns other than their proper places of residence. At the commencement of 1864, there were recruiting in the State the Thirty-fifth regiment of infantry and the Thirteenth battery. The latter was mustered in on the 29th of December, 1863, and left the State for New Orleans on the 28th of January, 1864. In February, authority was given by the war department to organize the Thirty-sixth regiment of infantry. On the 27th of that month, the mustering in of the Thirty-fifth was completed at "Camp Washburn " -Colonel Henry Orff-the regiment, one thousand and sixty-six strong, leaving the State on the 18th of April, 1864, for Alexandria, Louisiana. The other regiments, recruited and mustered into the service of the United States during the year 1864, were: the Thirty-sixth-Colonel Frank A. Haskell; the Thirty-seventh-Colonel Sam Harriman; the Thirty-eighth-Colonel James Bintliff; the Thirty-ninth-Colonel Edwin L. Buttrick; the Fortieth-Colonel W. Augustus Ray; the Forty-first- Lieutenant Colonel George B. Goodwin; the Forty-secondColonel Ezra T. Sprague; the Forty-third-Colonel Amasa Cobb. The regiments mustered into the service of the United States during the year 1865 were: the Forty-fourth-Colonel George C. Symes; the Forty-fifth-Colonel Henry F. Belitz; Fortysixth-Colonel Frederick S. Lovell; Forty-seventh-Colonel George C. Ginty; Forty-eighthColonel Uri B. Pearsall; Forty-ninth-Colonel Samuel Fallows; Fiftieth-Colonel John G. Clark; Fifty-first-Colonel Leonard Martin; Fifty-second-Lieutenant Colonel Hiram J. Lewis; and Fifty-third-Lieutenant Colonel Robert T. Pugh. All of the fifty-three regiments of infantry raised in Wisconsin during the war, sooner or later moved to the South and were engaged there in one way or other, in aiding to suppress the rebellion. Twelve of these regiments were assigned to duty in the eastern division, which constituted the territory on both sides of the Potomac and upon the seaboard from Baltimore to Savannah. These twelve regiments were: the First (three months), Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Nineteenth, Twenty-sixth, Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seventh, and Thirty-eighth. Ten regiments were assigned to the central division, including Kentucky, Tennessee, Northern Alabama, and Georgia. These ten were: the Tenth, Twenty-first, Twenty-second, Twentyfourth, Thirtieth, Forty-third, Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, and Forty-seventh. Added to these was the First (re-organized). Thirty-one regiments were ordered to the western division, embracing the country west and northwest of the central division. These were: the Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, Thirty-first, Thirty-second, Thirty-third, Thirty-fourth, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Forty-first, Fortysecond, Forty-eighth, Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, Fifty-first, Fifty-second, and Fifty-third. During the war several transfers were made from one district to another. There were taken from the eastern division, the Third and Twenty-sixth, and sent to the central division; also the Fourth, which was sent to the department of the gulf. The Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Twenty-fifth, Thirtieth, Thirty-first and Thirty-second were transferred from the western to the central department. The four regiments of cavelry were assigned to the western division - the First regiment being afterward transferred to the central division. Of the thirteen batteries of light artillery, the Second, Fourth, and Eleventh, were assigned to the eastern division; the First and Third, to the central division; the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Twelfth, and Thirteenth, to the western division. During the war, the First was transferred to the western division; while the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Tenth, and Twelfth, were transferred to the central division. Of the twelve batteries of the First regiment of heavy artillery" A," "E," "F," "G," "H," "I," “K,” “L,” and “M," were assigned to duty in the eastern division; "B" and "C," to the central division; and "D," to the western division. Company "G," First regiment Berdan's sharpshooters, was assigned to the eastern division. The military officers of the State for 1865 were the same as the previous year, except that Brigadier General Lund resigned his position as quartermaster general, James M. Lynch being appointed in his place. The legislature of this year met in Madison on the 11th of January. "To the calls of the Government for troops," said Governor Lewis, in his message, "no State has responded with greater alacrity than has Wisconsin. She has sent to the field, since the commencement of the war, forty-four regiments of infantry, four regiments and one company of cavalry, one regiment of heavy artillery, thirteen batteries of light artillery, and one company of sharpshooters, making an aggregate (exclusive of hundred day men) of seventy-five thousand one hundred and thirty-three men." Several military laws were passed at this session: one authorizing cities, towns, and villages to pay bounties to volunteers; another, incorporating the Wisconsin Soldiers' Home; two others, amending the act relative "to the commencement and prosecution of civil actions against persons in the military service of the country." One was passed authorizing the payment of salaries, clerk hire, and expenses, of the offices of the adjutant general and quartermaster general from the war fund; another, amending the act authorizing commissioned officers to take acknowledgment of deeds, affidavits and depositions; another, amending the act extending the right of suffrage to soldiers in the field. One act provides for correcting and completing the records of the adjutant general's office, relative to the military history of the individual members of the several military organizations of this State; another fixes the salary of the adjutant general and the quartermaster general, and their clerks and assistants; another prohibits volunteer or substitute brokerage. One act was passed supplementary and explanatory of a previous one of the same session, authorizing towns, cities, or villages, to raise money to pay bounties to volunteers; another, amending a law of 1864, relating to the relief of soldiers' families; and another, providing for the establishment of State agencies for the relief and care of sick, wounded, and disabled Wisconsin soldiers. There was an act also passed, authorizing the borrowing of money for a period not exceeding seven months, to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, and defend the State in time of war,-the amount not to exceed $850,000. On the 13th of April, 1865, orders were received to discontinue recruiting in Wisconsin, and to discharge all drafted men who had not been mustered in. About the first of May, orders were issued for the muster out of all organizations whose term of service would expire on or before the first of the ensuing October. As a consequence, many Wisconsin soldiers were soon on their way home. State military officers devoted their time to the reception of returning regiments, to their payment by the United States, and to settling with those who were entitled to extra pay from the State. Finally, their employment ceased the last soldier was mustered out —the War of the Rebellion was at an end. Wisconsin had furnished to the federal army during the conflict over ninety thousand men, a considerable number more than the several requisitions of the General Government called for. Nearly eleven thousand of these were killed or died of wounds received in battle, or fell victims to diseases contracted in the military service, to say nothing of those who died after their discharge, and whose deaths do not appear upon the military records. Nearly twelve million dollars were expended by the State authorities, and the people of the several counties and towns throughout the State, in their efforts to sustain the National Government. Wisconsin feels, as well she may, proud of her record made in defense of national existence. Shoulder to shoulder with the other loyal States of the Union, she stood-always ranking among the foremost. From her workshops, her farms, her extensive pineries, she poured forth stalwart men, to fill up the organizations which she sent to the field. The blood of these brave men drenched almost every battle-field from Pennsylvania to the Rio Grande, from Missouri to Georgia. To chronicle the deeds and exploits -the heroic achievements—the noble enthusiasm -of the various regiments and military organizations sent by her to do battle against the hydraheaded monster secession would be a lengthy but pleasant task; but these stirring annals belong to the history of our whole country. Therein will be told the story which, to the latest time in the existence of this republic, will be read with wonder and astonishment. But an outline of the action of the State authorities and their labors, and of the origin of the various military organizations, in Wisconsin, to aid in the suppression of the rebellion, must needs contain a reference to other helps employed-mostly incidental, in many cases wholly charitable, but none the less effective: the sanitary operations of the State during the rebellion. Foremost among the sanitary operations of Wisconsin during the war of the rebellion was the organization of the surgeon general's department to the end that the troops sent to the field from the State should have a complete and adequate supply of medicine and instruments as well as an efficient medical staff. In 1861, Governor Randall introduced the practice of appointing agents to travel with the regiments to the field, who were to take charge of the sick. The practice was not continued by Governor Harvey. On the 17th of June, 1862, an act of the legislature became a law authorizing the governor to take care of the sick and wounded soldiers of Wisconsin, and appropriated twenty thousand dollars for that purpose. Under this law several expeditions were sent out of the State to look after the unfortunate sons who were suffering from disease or wounds. Soldiers' aid societies were formed throughout the State soon after the opening scenes of the rebellion. When temporary sanitary operations were no longer a necessity in Wisconsin, there followed two military benevolent institutions intended to be of a permanent character: the Soldiers' Home at Milwaukee, and the Soldiers' Orphans' Home at Madison. The latter, however, has been discontinued. The former, started as a State institution, is now wholly under the direction and support of the General Government. Whether in the promptitude of her responses to the calls made on her by the General Govern⚫ ment, in the courage or constancy of her soldiery in the field, or in the wisdom and efficiency with. which her civil administration was conducted during the trying period covered by the war of the rebellion, Wisconsin proved herself the peer of any loyal State. TABULAR STATEMENT. We publish on the following pages the report of the Adjutant General at the close of the war, but before all the Wisconsin organizations had been mustered out. It shows how many brave men courageously forsook homes, friends and the comforts of peaceful avocations, offering their lives in defense of their country's honor. Twenty-two out of every hundred either died, were killed or wounded. Thirteen out of every hundred found a soldier's grave, while only 60 per cent of them marched home at the end of the war. Monuments may crumble, cities fall into decay, the tooth of time leave its impress on all the works of man, but the memory of the gallant deeds of the army of the Union in the great war of the rebellion, in which the sons of Wisconsin bore so conspicuous a part, will live in the minds of men so long as time and civilized governments endure. Table showing total number of Volunteers originally in the several organizations from the State, and numerical strength at the close of war. Twelfth Infantry, three years....... Nineteenth Infantry, three years....... 570 90 |