Kewaunee County and the Civil War: Anderegg, Vaughn, Camp Sigel and Shiloh

 

 

Joseph Anderegg was one of the early settlers and platters of Wolf River. A Swiss carpenter, Anderegg built the first frame house on the north side of the river, near the present River City motel, for Simon Warner. He was elected as the first clerk of the Town of Wolf, and served as a road commissioner. He assisted in the building the footbridge at the mouth of Wolf River, served as the county's second Register of Deeds, was elected sheriff in 1864, and was the man after whom the G.A.R. post was named. Anderegg was elected clerk in the Village of Ahnapee's first historical business on July 12, 1873 and was a well respected and prominent businessman.

Anderegg was one of the Ahnapee soldiers who trained at Camp Sigel in Milwaukee. Named in honor of General Franz Sigel, a German soldier and immigrant who was responsible for the enlistment  many other immigrants, the camp was located in Milwaukee, not far from the lake front, where Wisconsin's 9th, 24th, 26th and 27th Volunteer Infantry units trained.

Anderegg was at Camp Sigel when he wrote to Edward Decker on October 17, 1862. Anderegg used stationery illustrating the Naval engagement near Fort Wright. In his letter, Anderegg said he was writing as promised, but thought the news was dull and that no doubt Decker had received plenty of letters with common complaints on all sides. Anderegg said he was well and contented to find the camp "as pleasant as it is." He reported the health of the company had been good but that "belly complaints" were starting because of what they were eating and because many were homesick. He said some wanted to be officers and others that were, were a "dam side" better and that was a credit to the company.

Why Mrs. Anderegg was in camp with her husband was not explained. Apparently she was returning to Ahnapee as Anderegg told Decker she would carry the letter and if his office had paid anything since Anderegg left, Decker was to give Mrs. Anderegg the money. Anderegg asked Decker to write a few lines when he could and to send the Enterprize* so he could follow election news. He also wanted news regarding his mother. Anderegg asked Decker to give his regards to Mr. Hammond and to "some others," but he did not include their names. Luther Hammond was the Kewaunee County treasurer who built his own office in 1859.

Levi Vaughn was another early settler. Vaughn defeated Oliver Rouse for sheriff in the 1858 county election and joined Manitowoc's George Waldo of Manitowoc when he was organizing a company for service about six months after the outbreak of the Civil War. Waldo had put in three months of military service before returning home to recruit.

Vaughn wrote to "Friend Hammond"  from the "Head Quarters, 14th Regt Wis Vol Infantry."  Written from Pittsburg Landing on June 21, 1862, the letter was in response to Hammond's letter of the 7th, which had just reached him that morning. Vaughn said he was surprised to get a letter from Kewaunee and had given up the thought. He told Hammond that the boys were huddled around him when he read the letter aloud and even "gave cheers to Kewaunee and Hammond" and the call for a grand review because they "skedaddled" before they could they could enjoy such a pleasure.

Vaughn went on to discuss Lots No. 3 and 4 which Hammond brought up. Vaughn wanted to buy them and would pay the $70. Vaughn had sent his wife money sometime before but questioned if she indeed had the funds to spare for the lots. He planned to write and ask, but told Hammond that if her funds were limited, it would take time to send additional money. Vaughn hoped that Hammond could stay the county orders until the money was there, something that created great anxiety in him. Vaughn closed saying "the Boys" and all respected him.

In his four page letter Vaughn described Pittsburg Landing as being on the Tennessee River about 18 miles from the "corner of Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee." He said the landing was "of no importance except for past events" and that all but his regiment and the 6th and 7th Wisconsin had left the area. He said there was little fatigue work for them to do and the soldiers wanted work beside stealing chickens.

Vaughn said there had been a ferry and a stone boat at the landing and other crafts from there to Clarksville and Corinth with about 40 towns in between. He said the area was thinly settled and those who were there had left the fine country that was well-timbered with oak, elm, boxwood and blackjack. He felt Kewaunee had much better water though. He pointed out how much was ruined after two campaigns. The orchards remained and Vaughn expected to see peaches, apples and plums and even blackberries and other fruit ripen. When Vaughn discussed the people of the area, he discussed both races in a manor considered most pejorative today. He said the language of the country was "as old as Solomon and twice as meaner," and those inhabitants were responsible for starting all the trouble. They want to join the Rebels, and, Vaughn felt, he couldn't tell who was whom.

Mr. Vaughn concluded saying he and the Brigade belonged to Wallis' Division and "our out pickets are at Memphis." Vaughn expected to go there as the army was moving in all directions. It seemed as if Vaughn wrote his letter over a period of days as he said he was not as well as he was several days before, probably because they were in a "very bilious climate."

Pittsburg Landing is better known as Shiloh, the site of what is called the Battle of Shiloh on April 6 and 7, 1862. Though Union forces of over 62 thousand men outnumbered the Confederacy's 40,335 engaged soldiers, in a total of 23,741 casualties, the Confederacy lost a little over 13,000. As horrible as the carnage was, other battles took more lives. While Vaughn felt Pittsburg Landing was of no importance, it was a small place where railroads came together and vital to both the North and the South. Vaughn's comments seem to be unusual in view of the historical context of the Battle of Shiloh, however Vaughn's assessment came about two months following the battle, which is what he meant by "past events."

Captain George Waldo died at Shiloh. Ezra Austin was wounded there and died within a week. Samuel Gokie was at Shiloh and wounded at Vicksburg. Years later he set the fire in the Kewaunee County jail that took his life. John Lovell was wounded at Shiloh and many years later died in the Soldiers Home in Milwaukee.. William Sabins died of disease at Shiloh, but about two weeks following the battle.

The monument above is in honor of the Confederate soldiers who gave their lives in the battle and was errected by the Tennessee Division U.D.C. in 1935.



Information comes from An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River, c. 2001; Anderegg papers in the ARC at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay; Shiloh Battlefield; all pictures are the blogger's. The photo of the painting was taken at Shiloh National Park Battlefield's Interpretive Center. The sculpture at the top is a battlefield monument provided by the State of Illinois to "commemorate those who gave their service to perpetuate the honor and gloru of the U.S."

* Renamed Enterprise in 1865.

Gas Stations and the White Patrol

At one time or another, just about everyone has used a bathroom in a one-stop, auto plaza or a stand-alone gas station. Some bathrooms have standards of cleanliness posted and others are so filthy that one would not go past the door. Seventy years ago, the average gas station bathroom was such a breeding ground for disease that it was used only by the desperate. What a stroke of PR genius it was when oil companies decided to ensure the traveling public where they could expect to find a clean bathroom. Texaco, and then Phillips 66, certified bathrooms at stations that met company expectations and then allowed those stations to advertise “clean bathrooms.” 

 

Women were driving during the 1930s and bathrooms became a selling point. Texaco was on the cutting edge and in 1938 established the White Patrol, inspectors who traveled the country in white coupes inspecting bathrooms at stations affiliated with them. A year later Phillips 66 hired nurses who went to “restroom cleaning school” before going out onto the highways to ensure that restrooms would be as clean as hospitals. Called Highway Hostesses, the nurses went out teaching owners. Texaco and Phillips were well aware that most women knew little about gas, but that they did know clean bathrooms, and clean bathrooms translated into money. Phillips 66 was proud of its inspectors who went beyond cleaning to provide help to motorists in difficult circumstances. Though World War ll ended the program, Texaco brought it back and was joined by Union Oil Co.  

 

It is not certain how many Kewaunee County gas stations became certified. Algoma Texaco dealer Leo Seiler had exceptionally high standards, though whether or not Leo’s Lake Street station was visited by the White Patrol is uncertain. Seiler’s bathrooms were always cleaned daily. The woman’s bathroom even had a little table with flowers on it. Seventy years ago, air fresheners, as we know them in 2014, did not exist. The mark of a germ free bathroom was Lysol, the smell of which erased fear of disease. Matt Strutz built the station, best remembered as Seilers, on Lake Street between Jefferson and Adams. When it opened on May 4, 1929, it was an impressive three-pump station. The above photo was taken before March 29, 1935 when owner Harold Toppe added a lunchroom to the south end of the building.  Toppe sold Cities Service products and by 1937 was advertising Pontiac automobiles.  

Leo Seiler, who had a long history in Algoma’s gas service, and a tire repair business in his early years, became the station’s operator in 1941, buying it in 1952. At that time he built an addition to house a grease rack and tire facility. For a time, Leo Seiler ran the station with his brother Frank who left to purchase the Rosewood Cheese Factory. Dave and Jerry Seiler joined their dad and Dave eventually followed his father as owner. Jerry owned Seiler Tire. Dave’s son Dan was the last Seiler to own the station, which was torn down to make room for Jim Graf’s Mobil Service gas pumps.   

Leo Seiler was a station owner in a list that included the well remembered Meyers, Mullens and Brauns - father and son owners - and Harvey Yahnke, Ray Perlewitz,  Joseph Muench, Henry Gericke, Louis Kohlbeck, Erwin Holdorf, Rein Krause, John Michaletz, Joe Glyzewski, Wayne Haucke, William LePage, Larry Schmeling, Earlin Grovogel, Ron Deprey, Harold Toppe, John Meteju and more.

Texaco's Fire Chief and Sky Chief grades of gas are apparent on the gas pumps in the photo immediately above, although most said, "Fill 'er up with regular." Drivers always pulled to the air hose on the left to have their tires checked and then filled without charge. The Coke cooler left of the door was popular, especially in summer. The amount of Coke sold is evident in the wooden soda cases piled at the left. According to the sign on the car, Kelly tires were for sale and one only needed to call 255 for service. It was a time when phone calls went through an operator.

Such stations have mostly faded into the past, however a trip through sparsely populated areas often provides a trip down memory lane. Some are on the Historic Register and some are hair salons or craft stores. Once Leon Meyers' Deep Rock, on the southwest corner of 4th and Steele, the station building is the site of an automotive museum, complete with the gas pumps outside. What could be better than that?

More about the gas stations of Algoma can be found in Volumes 1 and 2 of The Commercial History of Algoma, Wisconsin, c. 2006 and 2012, respectively. Photos are used with permission and information comes from a family member.

 

Kewaunee County and Prohibition

January 14, 2014 marked the 100th anniversary of the Volstead Act, better known as Prohibition. History has proven that legislating the drinking habits of the country led to increased corruption, loss of taxes, loss of income - except for those whose income depended on enforcement - and for some, almost unimaginable creativity. In Kewaunee County, that creativity extended to hiding alcohol producing stills in tree canopies and hiding product beneath the manure in the barn's gutter. Wisconsin was the 39th state to ratify the 18th Amendment. It affected nearly every part of life as most knew it.


There were always those who tried to curtail any kind of alcohol use, or abuse, but for the German, Bohemian and Belgian immigrants to Kewaunee County, beer, or sometimes a shot, was a part of culture and social life. Wisconsin's Anti-Saloon League was in force as early as 1898, but Ahnapee's Temperance Society was formed following the Civil War. Good Templers Lodge was established by a large number of influential men and women including Judge Boalt, Rufus Wing, DeWayne Stebbins and Simon Hall. It was Ahnapee's first attempt at such a movement. The Lodge, #111, gave parties and masquerades in addition to other entertainments. It was pointed out that in Sweden it was forbidden to purchase alcoholic beverages unless a food purchase was made at the same time. The idea did not catch on in Ahnapee, however, the Enterprise opined that the Temperance Lodge was "a good move and should be sustained." When Casco's St. Patrick's Temperance Society made news in 1909, it was more of the same.


Temperance came at a bad time economically for Kewaunee County breweries which were beginning to prosper. Documented breweries operated in Ahnapee, Carlton, Casco and Kewaunee Towns. No doubt there were others. Saloons were found throughout the county's larger communities and at nearly every crossroads. When Prohibition was finally repealed in December 1933, it was the Christmas present of a lifetime to many. Though it happened more than 40 years before the ratification of Prohibition, Temperance even affected the naming of a postal community!


During 2002, this blogger and others were invited to tour a late 1860s' era building undergoing significant restoration. A ballroom began to appear as the walls of rooms were torn out of the hotel's second floor. Removing ceilings brought to light another rounded, or somewhat arched, ceiling with blue and yellow medallions at each end. Gas light fixtures had been suspended from the center of the medallions. Lathe construction was evident in the rooms off the hall where much of the plaster had been removed. The horsehair and coarse Lake Michigan sand were visible in the thick plaster.


A three-foot balcony, accessed by 3 or 4 steps, ran the length of the south end of the hall. There were places on the back wall where square dance callers had jotted their calls. On the inside walls were "Great Indian Medical Miracle" labels, apparently from liquor bottles. Adequate daytime light was provided by a number of windows overlooking the community's many tin roofs. Most unusual was a small opening, about an inch square, a few inches from the medallion to the south. In his inspection of the attic above the hall, the owner found crocks upside down above the opening and realized they had been there since Prohibition. He removed one crack but did not otherwise disturb them. What appeared to be peeling paint in the ceiling was actually a cleverly disguised opening for (then deteriorated) rubber tubing that access the crocks. That peeling paint escaped the eagle eyes of the revenue agents. Perhaps they were the same men who never looked up to see a still up in the trees.


One hundred years after the ratification of Prohibition, alcohol remains a social issue that brings tax money to government coffers, just as casino gaming has more recently. Legalizing marijuana isn't far behind.