Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-11-14
Thoughts Suggested by November I


Forty-fve years ago today, Novem-
Der /. a train Of thirteen farmers
wagons loaded with boys and young
men came into Madison over the Bara-
boo and Lodi road The farmers rein
ed up their teams in front Of the
Lake House" standing on the present
site Of the Petri. Harrington & Co.
warehouse on East Wilson street
There ali went into the big dining
room to eat a dinner ordered in ad-
vance for them. When dinner was over
one hundred of these young men and
boys fell in" and marched through
the streets Of the city out to Camp
Randall, for they had volunteered to
defend the union, and had sworn to
serve their country three years, IN
less the war should close before that
time. They had been enlisted from
about Kilbourn. Mansion, and Reeds
burg. and had for some weeks been on
drill at the little village OF Delton,
four miles south Of Kilbourn.
When they marched through the
gate at Camp Randall they saw before
them the greatest military display OF
their lives. 1t was the 18th Wisconsin
regiment on battalion drill. 1t was in
deed a fine sight to those young fei-
lows. Colonel Harris, commanding the
the 18th, was a West Pointer and he
presented a fine military appearance.
Also, there was Lieutenant Colonel
Wood. known in Madison as Charley,
and he. too. was worth looking at az
he gaIloped his horse up and down the
drill ground.
The men of this new company
we're unauthorized. dressed in all
sorts of clothing, and they felt little
absurd as they marched across the
parade ground in full view of the gal
liant Colonel Harris and his fine look
ing regiment. But in due time they,
too, were decked out in army blus
and went on battalion drill as a part
of Colonel George g. Bryant's 18th
Wisconsin infantry. Yet so long as
the Eleventh was in Camp Randall
the men IN it were considered as vet
rams and mentally given the right OF
way. They were something like sen
Tors at college. On the Goth of Noven-
Der. however, they were graduated,
as it were, and sent to the front %
begin the actual business of war. It
was good regiment. Two compan-
les. A and B. also part of Company
G, we're recruited from Dane county.
The most of the regimental officers
were from Madison.
After the departure of the 18th,
the men of the 18th became the vete-
rams of the camp Under the best OF
discipline they became able to drill
we'll and so astonish all new Corners.
Every few days a new company of
awkward young fellows came march
ing for the first time through the
gate and gazed in big-eyed wonder
at the veterans of month on bat
talon drill. These new companies
were soon organized in the 18th regt-
ment and those VINO came still later
into the 10th The 18th we're Scandl-
navians. and many Of them were
Dane county men, especially those of
companies B. f, and H. There were
at one time in Camp Randall % COM
panies OF men, the most Of them
used to be on the drill ground at the
same time. Such a scene was a most
lively one. The appearance of one Of
the companies was much Ike that Of
company at the university in these
days.
1t was on the 18th day OF January
when the 18th broke camp AMI went
away to service. This regiment came,
before the close of the war, to be
known as the Marching Twelfth"
Its goings to and fro have been care.
fully computed and are found to have
been as follows: BY railroad, 2,506
miles; by steamboat, 1850, miles:
by Foot and Walkers Line" 1913
miles; making a total of 1874 miles
They served in every southern state
excepting Arkansas Texas and Flor,
ida
The Twelfth and Sixteenth, having
ASA AACu plEd0dAL IcidIOnS III camp
Randall before going to the front.
were happily associated much OF the
time during the war They came In the
summer of 1864 during the strenuous
days of the Atlanta campaign. TO De
placed side by side In the same bri.
sade, and they marched together to
Me sea" and from Savannah to
Washington in the Campaign of the
Carolinas They marched together
also in the Grand Review at Wash
ington May "a, 1865, and we're to
gether at Louisville Kentucky, when
mustered out in July of that year.
the 18th on the 18th of the month and
the 18th on the 10th inst
OF late years the 18th and the 10th
have sometimes held their reunions
at the same time and place. When al
Minneapolis, August IA last at the
time of the National G. A. II. En-
campment. the 12t1 held a reunion
about twenty men of the 16th were
present,-not by formal appointment.
but because Of the attractive influence
of good comradeship.
At this reunion of the Twelfth
there were Ill men registered. Some
close comrades of war times met
there for the FIRST time in Il years. The