At the start of the Civil War, Belgian settlers had been in Kewaunee County for 2 or 3 years. Few could speak English. They had neither the cash to hire substitutes nor purchase a disability that would enable escape from the draft and a war that was not theirs. Exemptions could be purchased for $300.00. Substitutes serving for drafted men were credited to the county's quota and were paid anywhere from $150 - 500 dollars. Both the substitute and recruiter received the bounty money in a process by which the substitute made money for himself and for the state school fund. Section 2, Article X of Wisconsin State Constitution refers to education and income: "All moneys which may be paid as an equivalent for exemption from military duty...."
Belgians were often hired as substitutes by Germans who had money. And to county officials - most whose native language was English - Belgian names sounded alike and were incorrectly pronounced. There were instances in which drafted men actually served under a name belonging to someone else! The Belgians felt they were being unjustly treated, a charge historians see as having merit.
A few days before Thanksgiving 1862, Draft Commissioner William Finley announced a drawing to meet the county quota. Having had enough, angry Belgians, armed with pitchforks and clubs, marched on Kewaunee armed. In an attempt to secure their rights, they advanced along Main Street to the corner of Main and Ellis, the site of Finley's store, which they promised to destroy.
As the story goes, when Finley heard the mob coming, he fled to the harbor to jump aboard the Comet as it was just casting off for Milwaukee. While Finley was taking refuge aboard ship, Mrs. Finley was left to deal with the angry farmers. She calmed them by feeding them from barrels of crackers and boxes of cheese. Others pleaded with them to obey the law. When reason finally prevailed, the day's draft was halted and the men returned to their homes.
In the meantime, Finley brought Capt. Cunningham and Kewaunee County's Company A, 27th Inf. from Milwaukee. There was no trouble that day (the following Saturday) because Co. A was parading in the streets of Kewaunee. Although the company made a few raids into the country searching for delinquents, the men had a good time in Kewaunee where residents gave them and dinner and dance. Families were reunited.
Edward Decker and Finley were cousins so it is not surprising that Decker told a slightly different story in the November 26, 1862 Enterprize.* Decker's report was that the rumors of disturbances on draft day were greatly exaggerated by those outside the county and that Finley was not really driven off. The report continued saying Finley left aboard the Sunbeam of his own accord, going to Madison for quota and other information, in addition to securing assistance in quelling unlawful destruction and violence to citizens or property on the day of the draft. It was also said there was no violence to persons or property the day the Belgians marched.
Readers were told that during the draft that followed a blindfolded Sheriff Whitney drew names that Mr. Finley read. Judge Cory and E.P. Carter served as clerks and recorded the names. Federal officers conducted future drafts.
Most Kewaunee County residents were foreign born and, as so many other immigrants to Wisconsin, had left Europe to escape mandatory military service. Eastern counties with heavy German and Belgian populations saw more than one kind of draft resistance. Excitement and bitterness were running high when the Legislature appointed Edward Decker as Deputy Provost Marshall. Later it was said that Decker's "wise counsel avoided bloodshed." Some of the story, apparently, went untold.
Just a few days before the war's end, Red River's Constable Michael Bradael had a problem when delivering a draft notice. The entire affair was spelled out in a letter to Edward Decker dated in Green Bay on April 6, 1865. As Bradael delivered a notice, he was "compelled" to take it back under threat of being killed with an ax to his head. Bradael said he had a choice to make, and he chose to run away. The draftee in question had been advising others to do the same thing when served. On the following day the draftee went to the Provost's office in Green Bay where he told a story about Bradael's brother paying a doctor $25.00 for an exemption. The same doctor pronounced the draftee in question fit.
Bradael went on to tell Decker that he was glad not all the Belgians were inclined to forsake military service. A few days after Bradael wrote the letter the war ended, leaving history to show that the Belgians distinguished themselves in the Civil War and beyond.
Note: For more about the Wisconsin Belgians, see John Henry Mertens' The Second Battle : A Story of our Belgian Ancestors in the American Civil War, 1861-1865. Soon to be released is Mertens' new book listing all of the U.S. Belgians who served.
* Enterprize was changed to Enterprise in 1865.
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