Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-10-17
Incident of the Civil War.


On the z4tn OF August, 1862.
Tram from huntsvnle, Alabama,
passed through -arkinsVille en- route
Tor Nashville ~ way OF Stevenson,
ALABAMA. On this train were the
various companies OF the 10th Wis
consm regiment that had been guard
ing the Memphis and Charleston rail
road IN northern Alabama through
the summer OF 1862.
Orders had been received looking
to the abandonment of this road by
the union forces, and, while this
movement was part of that general
plan Tor Bueil's army to reach the
ONO river before Bragg should oc-
cupy Louisville, one important Incl
cent proved that at least one part of
the order was premature since the
occupation of Huntsville in April,
1862, by General Mitchell, army
stores had been accommodating at that
point until they reached a value of
one million dollars. By some -unae-
countable oversight these stores had
been abandoned, and while not res
ponsible for this oversight, the 10th
regiment, after having reached Dech-
erd, Tenn, returned. occupied the
road as before, and secured the
stores in Huntsville.
Lieutenant Colonel McMynn was
given command of this hazardous ex-
petition to re-occGpy the road
might have proved disastrous to so
small a force, yet the undertaking to
remove such valuable property was
attended with great risk of capture.
Colonel McMynn arranged that four
trains should proceed cautiously to
Huntsville-proceeded by a patrol
train under the charge of Captain
Collins, who in a recent letter says:
On the night when the last train
came out of Huntsville, l was in COM
mand Of squad of men, patroling
the railroad from station to station in
advance of those last hospital trains
to see that the track was not des-
troyed. l had an engine caboose and
fiat car, with men on each. We were
fired into, n stone cut, and Theo-
dore Hilgen, Co. F., was killed. This
attack was made by guerrillas who
fired and rode away-Poor Hilgen
was buried at early morning at Lark
insville-we moved on to Stevenson
and thence to Nashville"
Tbe expedition to and from Hunts
vile was successful, managed as it
was with good judgment and caution.
Operations of far less importance
had received from General Mitchell
appreciative notice. There must have
been come complication of circum-
stance that prevented an official re-
port from reaching either brigade or
division headquarters, and possibly,
the giving of our adjutant command
of Co F and may have interfered
with the usual reports of detailed
operations. However this may be,
the event stands to the credit of the
brave Tenth Wisconsin,
Tenth Wisconsin Infantry.
The 10th Wisconsin was one of the
regiments that did the best of service
for the union. 1t was organized in
Milwaukee from the 5tb to the 14th
of October. 1861, and was disbanded
November 8. 1864, after doing duty a
month more than three years. The
original strength of the regiment was
GIG, and during its time of service
it received 105 recruits, making a
total of 1.021 men. Sixty-six of these
III 90
wounds, 145 of disease, and eight of
accidents, making total loss of 24S,
a little more than one fourth of ali
belonging to the regiment. 1t had at
different times four commanders
Colonel Alfred r. Chaplin of Mil
waukee, Colonel John G. McMynn OF
Racine, Lieutenant Colonel John H.
Ely of juneau, and Lieutenant Colo
mel John w. Roby of Kekoskee. Dur
ing its term of service it was en-
gagged in twenty battles and skirm-
ishes, some of the battles being
among the hardest of the war.
When the 10th left the state, in
November, 1861, it went to Louisville,
Kentucky, and entered at once into |
active service in that state. II did
duty, during the war, in Kentucky,
Alabama and Georgia, closing Up with
the Atlanta campaign for the summer |
of 1868. At that time it was part OF )
the 1st brigade, LIST division, 14th
army corps.
The first colonel of the lon, A. R
Chaplin. was commissioned September
1s. '61. He served in this capacity till
January %, 1863, when he resigned
and returned to wisconsin. McMynn
had been. commissioned major Of the
regiment September "a, 81, =1d lieu
tenant colonel July %. 'e2. On the
zsd of January SO. be became colo |
ael of the regiment, position he
held till his resignation, because of |