The Baraboo news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1884-1911, 1907-11-13
VETERAN RET|RES
FROM THE SERVICE
MASTER MeCHANlC w. n. HUFF
MAN MANY YEARS WITH
ROADS.
WAS ENGINEER DOWN IN DIXIE
Twice Captured, Twice Blown up and
Twice Sat in Councils With the
Sioux.

Sioux.
Master Mechanic w. II. Huffman
retired from the service Of the Chicago
g. Northwestern on the last day Of
October after an active service Of 40
years. A half-century is a long span
and as Mr.. Human looks back over
the nine and forty years he recalls
many stirring scenes Of adventure that
would fill a volume of stories and tales.
on Nov. /, 1858, he commenced his
railroad career at Clinton, Iowa, as a
pewsboy on one Of the trains of the
line known at that time as the Chi
cago, Iowa q Nebraska road. This
road was later absorbed by the Chicago,
Galena q Union railroad and then by
the Chicago & Northwestern and so
the old Chicago, Iowa & Nebraska
road is now known as the Iowa DiVi-
sion of the Chicago e Northwestern.
An Engineer at Is.
From neWSbOy he became brake
man on a freight where he remained
long enough to delight in the visits Of
pay cars and then went to the machine
shops at Clinton where his father was
at that time master mechanic. After
Ia months in the machine shops he
went back to the road as a fireman,
then between IA and Is years of age.
When 1G years and months old he
was promoted to the position of reg
ularly assigned engineer.
When the government first made
a call for voluntary locomotive engi
neers to enter the service early in the
civil war in order to transport supplies
and troops, Mr.. Huffman was one of
the first to respond for that service,
with headquarters at Nashville, Tenn,
and with a run between Nashville and
Chattanooga.
Aided General Sherman.
early in 1864 there was a bulletin
placed on the blackboard in the round
house at Nashville asking for ten en-
gineers to go to Newburn, North Caro-
lima, to operate trains in North Caro-
lima and South Carolina, on account of
Gen. Sherman's march to the sea. He
ran an engine there until the war was
over. He recalls that while oiling his
engine at Raleigh and with orders to
take Gen. SchOfield to Newburn to
confer with Gen. NeWburn, the news
came that Richmond had fallen
and this ended his service down in
Dixie.
Union Pacific Small Then.
Mr.. Huffman then returned to Clin-
ton but only remained short time be-
fore going to Omaha where he engaged
as engineer on the Union Pacific rail-
road. At that time the company had
but 40 miles of track west of Omaha.
He remained in the service of the Union
Pacific until the rails had been laid
over the summit of the mountains be-
yond Cheyenne. From the west he re-
turned to Clinton and went from there
to KeOkuk as an engineer on the KeO-
kuk & DeS MOines Valley railroad.
Again he returned to Clinton where he
entered the service of the Chicago &
Northwestern in 1879 as an engineer.
After 10 years he was promoted to
ToundhOuse foreman and next to mas
tex mechanic. After his residence in
Iowa he came to Baraboo and has been
here at the head of the shops for sever
al years.
Twice Captured by Rebels.
During his service in the south his
most exciting experiences were with
the bush-Whackers who gave all kinds
OF trouble to the Union army. 1t was
the favorite pastime of this element of
the Confederate army to remove a t
rail from the track, build q big fire,
heat it in the middle and twist it
while hot around tree. When the
train came along, it was necessary to
cut sapling, spike it to the ties and
move the train over the break.
Often the rebels would shoot a hole
in the water-tank and let the water
out. Mr.. Huffman has seen as many
as AZ holes in an engine jacket. Dur
ing SO much excitement it was alb
solutely necessary to have the cab
lined with iron and with but small
openings for observation.
On two occasions Engineer Huffman
was captured by the rebels. They Sc