The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1917-12-21
Tribute to Henry Head.

forclbly to mind that the ranks of the
early pioneers and civil war veterans
are fast thinning. He came to Albion,
a pioneer boy with his father, Solomon
Head, his elder brother, the late Dr..
c.. r. Head, and family of six broth
ers and sisters, of which he was the
last survivor. His father was a man
of broad intelligence, an inveterate
student of history, both ancient and
modern, and was possessed of a re-
markable memory. He was volun-
teer soldier in the war of 1872. With
out doubt, vigorous patriotism was
enkindled in the mind and heart of
Henry Head by the teachings and ex-
ample Of his father.
In 1861, at the outbreak of the civil
war, Henry Head gave up his plans for
completing course of study at Rush
Medical college, where he had already
spent year in preparation for becom-
ing physician, and responded to his
country's call for volunteers. At the
age of about Is, prompted solely by a
sense of patriotic duty, he with other
Albion men, before the draft or large
bounties were made use of to stimulate
enlistment, volunteered in June Of that
year in the 4th Reg. Wis. VOL
An incident in his early experience
as a volunteer is typical of his marked
decision of character. Finding that
some of the officers of his company
were addicted to the excessive use of
liquor, he with other like-minded COM
rades, refused to muster into United
States service in that company, with
the result that that company was dis
banded and he and his comrades en-
listed in other companies of the regi-
ment under sober minded officers. He
had volunteered solely to render patri-
otto service to his country and by this
means he and his comrades brought it
about that the officers whose duty it
was to command his service should be
sober men.
The Fourth Regiment of Wisconsin
Volunteers entered the service as in
fantry. After the capture of Port
Hudson, they were changed to cavalry;
and for the greater part of year Mr..
Heads company served as heavy artil
cry. He went through all the vigorous
oo~oro;~nc ord avror;opood oil +ho ~
ceptional hardships and exposures of
that much buffeted regiment. He was
with his regiment at Ship Island where
its ranks were decimated by disease.
He was with General Butler at New
Orleans. He was at the fall of Port
Hudson when the Mississippi river was
made free to flow unvexed to the sea.
He served his full term of first en-
listment and then re-enlisted as vet
eran for the full period of the war. He
cheerfully endured all this as a good
soldier, that government of the people,
by the people and for the people should
not perish from the earth. Such men
are heroes and deserve to be gratefully
remembered and revered by their coun-
trymen and by posterity..
Returning to Albion from the war
with the inevitable enervation of his
constitution induced by the hardships
and shocks of such long war service,
he chose as an avocation the peaceful
pursuits of farming wherein he might
enjoy the blessings of the country he
had fought to redeem and save. He
married and here he reared his family
of one son, DR.. Merton Head Of Albert
Lea, Mimi, and Mrs. Glen Williams of
Albion, who in his declining years and
the closing days of his life tenderly
ministered to his every need and want.
A patriotic citizen, good husband
and father, progressive farmer, a
man of marked self-reliance, of indie
pendent judgment and sterling integ-
rity, he followed throughout his life
the paths of strictest rectitude. Of
him it can be truly said, that the world
is better for his having lived.