William H . Upham William Henry Upham ( May 3 , 1841July 2 , 1924 ) was a soldier , businessman , and politician who served as the 18th Governor of Wisconsin . Biography . Upham was born in Westminster , Massachusetts and moved to Racine , Wisconsin , in 1853 . He enlisted in the United States Army in 1861 and served during the United States Civil War in the Company " F " , of the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment called the Belle City Rifles . He was wounded during the First Battle of Bull Run by a bullet passing through his shoulder strap that supported his cartridge box just at the shoulder blade . After going to the field hospital , he was captured by Confederate forces and sent to the converted tobacco barn , Libby Prison along with privates of the Belle City Rifles , F . Lacy , James Anderson , John H . Anderson and Antle Henry . Congressman Alfred Ely from New York was captured along with them . At Libby Prison , he was attended by the Dr . Lewis the 2nd Wisconsin surgeon . His family back home was told that he was killed , since the captain of his company , Captain William Strong saw him shot and reported that he believed him to be dead . Thus back in his hometown of Racine , Wisconsin a funeral was conducted for him . Upham was released in a prisoner exchange in 1862 , and repatriated to Washington , D . C . , where he was introduced to Pres . Abraham Lincoln at a White House interview arranged by Wisconsin senator James Doolittle . Soon after , Lincoln appointed Upham to the United States Military Academy in West Point , New York , from which he graduated in 1866 , and served in the Army until 1869 , having risen to the rank of first lieutenant . While stationed at Fort Monroe , he was detailed as officer of the guard , overseeing the temporary quarters of the then - imprisoned President of the Confederate States of America , Jefferson Davis . In his memoirs , Upham related that he and Davis " usually . . . past the hours until after midnight " in conversation , adding , " Mr . Davis was very pleasant and social . . . full of reminiscences . . . familiar with all parts of Wisconsin , he could tell me the meanings of all the Indian names of the [ state ] . " Later in his life , Upham was a Grand Army of the Republic officer with the rank of major . Upham was a businessman in the lumber industry . He served one term as governor of Wisconsin but did not seek reelection . Some two years after the death of his first wife , Mary Kelly , in 1912 , Upham ( then 73 ) undertook a voyage along the Atlantic coast , that was forced by storm to harbor at Beaufort , North Carolina . There he met and married his much younger second wife , Grace Mason , and begat two sons : William H . Upham Jr . ( who was a member of Milwaukee Yacht Club until his death ) and Fredrick M . Upham , who survived his older sibling . Thus as of mid - 2009 , both of them were alive , meaning that between the father and his two sons , they lived all of the US history save its first 65 years . This means that children of civil war veterans are still alive . On August 20 , 2009 at age 93 , William H . Upham Jr . died in his home in Milwaukee , Wisconsin , due to pneumonia .