The National tribune., 1906-03-22
THE SGD WIS. AS sPRINTERs.
A Regiment That Marched Thousands
of Miles Through the Heart OF the
Coufederacy,

n Regiment Tint Marched Thousands
OF Miles Through the Heart of the
Confederacy.
Editor National Tribune: Your brief
history of the SD Wis, given In the
issue OF Oct. 5, 1905, scarcely does jus.
tice to a regiment with such varied
career. a stranger to the regiment
would think from your report that its
entire service was in Veatch'S Division,
Sixteenth Corps.
If you will kindly grant space will
give a short account of its service. The
September, 1862. The enlistments,
however, were in August, and 1t had
been well drilled in camp at Oshkosh,
Wis, by it's Colonel (Howe) and a rel
alive of his, who was said to have seen
service in the Mexican War. prior to
its muster.
After being mustered we proceeded
TO Memphis, Tenn, and were assigned
to Buckland's Brigade, Tuttle's Divi-
sion. The brigade consisted of the 72d
and 95th Ohio, 93d Ind, Hath Ill. and
32d Wis. We took part In Grants
Tallahatchie campaign. After the cap
turc of Holly Springs by Van Dorm the
32d marched for that place, and we
claim to have been the first infantry
to arrive there after the capture. On
the evening of our arrival, about mid
night. we started for Grand Junction,
Tenn, distance As miles, and reached
there by the middle of the afternoon
of next day. Col. Howe, being the
senior officer, here took command. He
said It was expected we would be at
tackled here. He did not expect ii, but
If we were he told us his plan of de-
fense, and he expected we would wipe
out the stain that Col. Murphy had
brought on the State of Wisconsin by
his surrender of Holly Springs. There
were moved to Trenton, Tenn, by rail.
Here we were told to leave our KNAPP
sacks, and we began a series of rapid.
hard marches that ended at Jackson,
Tenn, about two weeks later. Buck
land commanded on this march, but
none of the old brigade save the 32d.
1 can't give the other regiments. but
think they were the Sth Wis. and 5th
MINI. l know we saw them frequently
about that time. In March, '63, we
went back to Memphis. The 25th Ind.
and 32d Wis. were brigaded under Col
Morgan. of the 25th, and did provost
duty in the city that Summer.
In the Autumn the four right COM
panies of the 32d were mounted and
patrolled the railroad between Mem
phis and Grand Junction, making sew
eral incursions into northern MisSiS-
sippi. If there are any of the boys
living who remember coming from one
of those raids into Moscow, Tenn,
where everything was frozen up, and
marching to Lagrange next day l
should like to hear from him. We gave
up our horses to take part in Sher-
mans Meridian campaign. AT Vicks-
burg the 18th y. Y. Zouaves were add
ed to the brigade, Col. Howe command
ing. on our return to Vicksburg we
started up the river and camped for
few days on the Arkansas side not
far from Memphis. From there we
took steamboat again for Cairo, Ill.
From here we went to the relief of
Union City, Tenn, but the place was
surrendered before we got there. Re-
tracing our steps to Columbus, KY, we
here took the boat for Paducah, land
ing and running up into the fort, every
man getting on the best way he could.
Soon Forrest sent in his flag of truce,
demanding the surrender Of the fort.
1t was not surrendered. Col. Hicks
commanded here. Proceeding from
this place by boat to Eastport, Miss,
we then marched to Decatur. Ala. My
recollection is that Gen. Stephenson
Later Gen. Matthias. and still later Col.
Howe commanded the post. About the
time of Col. Howe's resignation, July.
1864. the 18th \. Y. ZouaveS were
transferred to the Fourteenth Corps,
and the 10th Ill. took their place in
the brigade. About Aug. 1 We went
to the front. Col. Tilson, Of the 10th,
commanding the brigade and Gen.
Fuller the division. On the march to
the sea FulIer's Fourth Division, Six
teenth Corps. became the First Divi-
sion, Seventeenth Corps, and was COM
manded by Gen. Joe Mower. Whether
he took command at Atlanta or not l
am not prepared to say. i know he
was in command while we lay on the
canal, and started with the division on
a side campaign the day that Hazen' S
Division charged Fort McAllister. the
two commands crossing each others S
track in their march. Mower contin-
ued to command the division through
old brigade (the First). On the march
from Raleigh TO Washington Gen.
Force was in command of the First
Division, Seventeenth Corps. While we
are proud to have been under -Veatch.
we also like ii to be known that we
were under Fuller and Mower, and
helped to win Mowers second star for
him at Saikahatchie. The 32d forced
the crossing here by a flank movement
through the swamp. Our flag was
placed on the fort after the fight by
order of Gen. Mower. Again. at Edisto
River and also at Bentonville, we were
under Movers eye, who seemed to
have a very good opinion of a regiment
that is not in the fighting 500. I have
written the above from memory of
soldier in the ranks. in the hope that
some one better able Will write up the
SaIkahatchie and Bentonville scraps.
Especially would I like some of Full
ler's First Brigade tell what they ran
up against at Bentonyille.-Joseph
Bumby, Orderly-Sergeant, Co. f, 32d