Kewaunee County: Co. K, 21st Wisconsin at Chickamauga

Edward Salomon became Wisconsin’s Civil War governor in 1862 upon the accidental drowning of his predecessor Lewis Harvey. Almost immediately, responding to a federal request, Salomon called for more volunteers and set up a draft. His plan included dividing the state into five recruiting sections and putting Col. B.J. Sweet in charge of District 4, which included Kewaunee County.

Sweet was a cousin and law partner of Ahnapee’s Rufus Wing, a man who, with other members of his family, rose to prominence in Kewaunee County. Wing continued his law practice in Ahnapee, but it was in Chilton, Wisconsin where he had lived and practiced with Sweet.

Sweet was commissioned to raise a company at about the same time Kewaunee merchant Charles Cunningham was organizing Co. A, 27^th.  Though it was said Sweet was an honorable, high-minded, qualified man whose regiment would be a good one in which to enlist, Sweet was not successful recruiting, raising only 14 Ahnapee men. His efforts were joined by Cousin Wing who had also received a recruiting commission. On August 14, 1862, the men left Ahnapee for Oshkosh where they became part of Co. K, 21st Wisconsin Infantry.  A week after mustering into federal service, the 21st left for Cincinnati and on October 8 fought in the Battle of Perryville, only to loose heavily. One newspaper article reported Sweet faring better than most, even though he was kicked by a horse, but the report didn’t have all the information. As it was, Sweet, who had contracted malaria, led his men into battle. A ball to the right arm ended that part of his military career. Though his arm was paralyzed for life, it didn't prevent him from a political life and remaining in the employ of the federal government. Following his recuperation, Sweet was put in charge of Camp Douglas in Chicago. History tells us he foiled a Confederate prison breakout designed to attack Chicago just before the 1864 presidential election. Ironically, Col. Harrison Hobart, Sweet’s successor in the 21^st , had a prison break of his own.        

Of the 14 men leaving Ahnapee that day, some saw plenty of action in Tennessee. Others died before they got there. Joseph Bowden was killed in action at Chaplin Hills, also known as Perryville, Kentucky, Manual Londo died on October 29, 1863 from wounds suffered there. William Perry was taken prisoner there and discharged for disability in March 1863. Peter Simon was also taken prisoner. He got back to his regiment and was mustered out in 1863.  John Sartell also died before arriving in Tennessee. He died of disease at Bowling Green in January 1863.

After arriving in Nashville in June 1863, the 21^st was assigned guard duty. A month later, they were sent to Chattanooga. The Tennessee River winds itself around Chattanooga - going from Tennessee, into Georgia, back into Tennessee and  on to Alabama - being fed by numerous Tennessee and Georgia creeks surrounded by valleys and mountainous ridges. Chickamauga Creek, including East and West Chickamauga Creeks and the main branch, was where the Ahnapee men of Co. K. saw action. The men were near a gap at Missionary Ridge in front of one of the Chickamauga fords during much of the battle. For both the North and the South, the battle was one of confusion. History points to turmoil and uncertainty among the leadership, with much of the muddling due to the jealousies of those in command. Nobody was sure of where the next unit was and there was “friendly fire.” History tells us the part of the line held by the 21^st never faltered and when the retreat order was given, the 21^st never got it. By the time they realized other units were falling back, they were being surrounded by Confederate soldiers. Hobart and 70 officers and men were captured.

That was not the last of Harrison Hobart. How many of the 70 were sent to Libby Prison, a Richmond hell hole, is unclear, but Hobart was indeed there. Libby was thought to be a fortress. An old warehouse in downtown Richmond, the prisoners were kept on the 2^nd and 3^rd floors. There were escapes here and there, and men were shot for just looking out the windows. There are stories about the prisoners who got into the basement and began digging a tunnel. The time came when 100 men escaped through the tunnel. Hobart led them.

Wisconsin saw its 1^st, 10^th, 15^th, 21^st and 24^th Infantries and 1^st Cavalry, and 3^rd, 5^th and 8^th Light Cavalries at Chickamauga, but the men from Kewaunee County were primarily those from Ahnapee. Others had been in some of the other units but had transferred out or had not made it that far.

Of those serving on that battlefront, Homer Bacon was badly wounded at Chickamauga and crippled for life. John Goettinger, George W. Warner and Thomas Allen were in bad health. Though he wasn’t in the 21^st, Ahnapee’s John McDonald said he lost his good right arm at Missionary Ridge, part of the same campaign. A Civil War list says it happened at Stones River. Charles Ross, who was serving with an Illinois unit, also lost an arm at Missionary Ridge. Spencer Dunham, George Foss, Benjamin Fowles and Pierce’s Hubert Lauscher remained healthy. If they shared the horrors of Chickamauga, it was not chronicled.

When the 21^st was mustered out on June 17, 1865, it had  lost 305 men. More than – 183 – died of disease. At Chickamauga itself, the Union loses were 16,351 killed, wounded or missing. The action was said to be a narrow Confederate victory, although their loss stood at 18,999.

Note: It was Spymistress by Madison author Jennifer Chiaverini that aroused an interest in Libby Prison. I wondered if any Kewaunee County men had endured its horrors and might have escaped with Hobart. It is fascinating that when Hobart was called from Mississippi to take the place of the wounded Sweet, he was taking the place of one he knew from the very small community of Chilton, Wisconsin. Then there is Rufus Wing’s tie-in. Certainly there remains an additional story. Wing’s son George later prepared the list of those serving from Kewaunee County and without him much would be lost. It is said Wing prepared the military list from his memory and that of others. Anyone using it would also be well advised to check other resources, especially where there are notes indicating desertion. There are errors.

Sources: An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River, c. 2001; George Wing’s list of the men of Kewaunee County and their units, compiled by this blogger; Chickamagua’s Park Rangers; E.B. Quiner, Military History of Wisconsin: A Record of the Civil and Military Patriotism of the State in the War for the Union, c. 1866; William De Loss Love, Wisconsin in the War of Rebellion, Vol. 2, c. 1866; Steven E. Woodworth, Six Armies in Tennessee, c. 1998; Jennifer Chiaverini, Spymistress, c. 2014.

The Painting - Longwood Plantation at Natchez, the ironclad USS Cairo, blockade runners, soldiers, offices, guns and death are part of a Civil War oil painting collage used with permission of the artist at NLJArt.