St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-24
AN ECHO OF THE WAR.
G. f. HausdOrf still Claims to Have
Been the First Volunteer.


Been the First Volunteer.
To the Editor of the Globe.
In reply to the second absurd and abusive
attack upon me by j. r. King, in which he
proves nothing, but admits the larger por-
ton of my yindcation to his first abusive,
ridiculous and unreasonable attack upon
me, i'll which I stated nothing but facts that
are on record at Washington, and said no
more than what the attack called for. In
order to vindicate myself and the honorable
comrades who were with ME, whom he
thereby also Indirectly attacked wish to
state that | never CLAIMED to have enlisted
for a war before such war was declared.
l never claimed to have volunteered to re-
spond to call before the same was promul-
gated. But l do claim and always will
claim that l was the first to enlist for the
war. Immediately after war was declared,
and do claim that was the first volunteer
to respond to the call for $4,000 volunteers.
Immediately after
THE CALL WAS MADE,
which I did on the 10th day of April, 1861,
in the Armory hall, the place OF rendezvous.
in book of about five quires and of the
size of about SX12 inches, which was placed
on table in the ante-rOom to said hall. and
in the very room in which Maj. T. NJ. New
son now has his Office. The book. be-
lieve, was produced by Mr.. Zirckelbach,
who at the time owned and run confec-
tionery diagonally opposite the then Arm
DRY hall and who did all in his power to
help us along That was the book the
members signed their names in who enlisted
for Company A. First Minnesota regiment.
Let the public bear in mind that the militia
company known as the Pioneer Guards be-
! fore the war Tor the promises that were
| made in some of their meetings previous to
| the wary, had no more to do with the Or
| ganiZation of the first Company A of the
First Minnesota regiment than it had to do
with the first company of the First regi-
| ment in any other state in the Union.
Where was that little memorandum book
| together with the thirty or forty so-called
volunteers when war was declared? They
| were nowhere to be found, and the declar-
! alton of war and the
| CALLING FOR VOLUNTEERS
actually extinguished said militia company;
and as to the drilling of the company, that
honor belongs to different gentleman alto
| gether. That honor belongs to Col. Will
lam Crooks, who was the first gentleman to
drill and command the first Company, A,
the first that was capable of so doing, but
who was cheated out of a commission in
said Company A, but who drilled the
company day after day and night after
night, until our little Capt. Alexander Will
kin was selected as its captain, and who
assisted Capt. Wilkin thereafter in the
drilling OF the company. Col. Crooks also
had the command of division Of the regi-
marched up Third street. 1t is mystery
to me to this day, to know why the then
| governor of the state did not select Col.
! Crooks to fill one of the field offices, either
lieutenant colonel or major. for he was
surely more capable than either Lieut.. Col.
Stephen Miller or Maj. W. II. Dyke; and
am satisfied that if Col. Crooks had or
Ftoula have gone out with us as one of the
Lfeld officers, that he would have returned a
10 MAJOR GENERAL OF THE ARMY.
The question before the public is who was
| the first volunteer. and l will leave the
question to be decided by my comrades and
| the public at large, whether 1 was the first
| to enlist for the war Immediately after the
declaration thereof; whether 1 was the
| first to volunteer and respond to the call of
| the president for $4,000 volunteers imme-
| diately thereafter, or whether it was a
man, who, in some militia company, made
| some promise with other members thereof
| long before the war-a company that was
in existence before. but not after the dec
| laration of war, and which company did not
show up after war was declared. In cOnclr-
sion allow me to thank you for the kind
ness and courtesy shown me in this, my
controversy, and have the honor to be- sir,
yours most respectfully,
G. F. HAUSDoRF,
The Very First Volunteer.
st. Paul, Dec. %.