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The Volunteer Relief Committee and the Soldiers Aid Societies
of grant County
By Dennis A. Wilson
It is an old
piece of paper, words written in pencil.
Except for the fact that it is 150 years old it would be fodder for the
recycling bin. “We the subscribers”, it
said “agree to pay the several sums of money set opposite our respective names
… to defray all necessary expenses in carrying to Boscobel the volunteers now
about to leave us – until they shall be received into the service of the state
– or their services declined by the Governor of the State – then have
opportunity to return April 20, 1861.”
The first to sign was J.T. Mills who pledged $10.00 ($263.00 in today’s
money). This document was recently
donated to the historical society with a number of others which had belonged to
Addison W. Burr, a prominent Lancaster merchant. The documents were found in an attic, where
they had lain for God only knows how many years.
To put
this crudely drawn document in its historical perspective, we must go back to
April of 1861. In January of that year
seven southern states, led by South Carolina had seceded from the Union. In February they had drafted a constitution,
creating the Confederate States with Jefferson Davis as president. When he was
inaugurated in March, President Lincoln said he would not threaten slavery, but
would not tolerate secession. During
these months several southern forts were seized by the rebelling states, but
many hoped for a peaceful compromise.
That hope was dashed on April 12th when South Carolina forces
fired on Fort Sumter. On April 14th
the fort was surrendered and the nation knew that war was certain. On April 15th Lincoln called for
75,000 troops and militia for 90 days to suppress the rebellion. In his call he wrote: “I appeal to all loyal
citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the
integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of
popular government; and to redress wrongs already long enough endured.”
Richard
Carter, a clerk in the State Legislature carried the governor’s message in
support of the Presidents call to his home in Lancaster where a military
company was already in existence. C. K.
Dean of Boscobel spread the call throughout the county. Lincoln’s call brought the citizens of Grant
County to their feet. On April 20th
large numbers of volunteers and their family members converged on
Lancaster. A hastily arranged mass
meeting was held at the Courthouse “for the purpose of considering the
condition of our country and taking some action for the protection and support
of the families of those who may enlist in the present war.” No one imagined then what a long and bitter
war it would become. J. Allen Barber was
called on to preside. J.T. Mills spoke
to the crowd, arousing patriotic fervor.
The latest news was read to those assembled, a practice that was to
become common during the war.
A
committee was established at the mass meeting to “raise means of supporting the
families of persons absent in the war and for the cause generally.” The committee members appointed were Addison
Burr, Ed. Lowry and James Jones. Two
hundred and sixty seven dollars were pledged.
Money was to be raised throughout the county to support the soldiers and
their families. The meeting led to a
series of resolutions: “Resolved, That we
pledge to these defenders of our country’s honor all aid and assistance within
our power, and that their families shall never want for bread, nor themselves a
generous support in all times of distress.
Resolved, That a standing committee be appointed whose duty shall be to
see that the wives and children of those who have or shall enlist in our
country’s service in this vicinity are duly protected and provided for during
the absence of their husbands and fathers.” David Mckee, who would fearlessly lead Grant
County Volunteers, and later die leading soldiers of the 15th
regiment in battle on the last day of the year 1862, was asked to speak: “I assure you that the scenes and remembrances
of this evening and the acts of this community will be a source of extreme
gratification to us during our absence from you, which now soon begins, and
that the recollection of them will inspire us in the execution of our duties as
soldiers, in the great contest now already begun, to deeds of courage and
valor… Our duty calls us to arms, and we go the more cheerfully, because you
have promised to us all that as reasonable men we have the right to ask – that
you will care for and protect our homes and our families.”
It became the practice in many communities to hold a
dinner for the volunteers before they left.
One article from Hazel Green described volunteers being served a
“sumptuous” oyster dinner by the local Soldiers Aid Society. We find in Burrs papers several bills for
meals, probably for the departing sons of the county. One is on the back of an
1861 calendar, for 96 meals and lodging provided by the Barnett House in
Boscobel the night before the rally, held at that place on Monday the 22nd
of April 1861 where the company was formed and McKee was elected Captain.
We also find a payment of $5.77 for a telegraph
dispatch brought to Mrs. McKee from Boscobel, perhaps advising her of the regiments
move to Fort Corcoran in northern Virginia which was constructed to protect the
capital. By July 6th the enthusiasm of the subscribers may have
waned. Although $267.00 had been
pledged,
only $64.50 had been received. After disbursement a
mere $6.75 remained. Additional funds
were apparently received, because the committee was able to pay $26.95 to H.G.
Hyde, owner of the Lancaster House, for meals and horse feed provided on
September 19th and 20th, presumably for Company C of the 7th
Wisconsin
Volunteer Regiment under Captain Samuel Nasmith,
which left for Washington from Madison on September 21st.
As time
passed, the effort to support the soldiers in the field became more
organized. The U.S. Sanitary Commission
was organized on June 9, 1861 by civilians and provided supplies and nurses to
the army. Soldiers Aid Societies were
organized in almost every city, village, and township across the north. Grant County’s home support did not
fail. Women particularly redoubled their
efforts in making and supplying badly needed items to the army. In September of 1862 the Western Sanitary
Commission made the following appeal: “Can
the women of America enjoy and endure the luxury of peaceful homes, except on
condition of giving the labor of their hands and the prayers of their hearts to
those who are defending them at such cost?
Especially we appeal to LOYAL WOMEN, wherever they may be. They are the true “Home Guards” of the
nation, the ministering angels to sickness and suffering. Without them Sanitary Commissions can do but
a small part of their work, and upon their efficient assistance we principally
depend.”
Soldiers
Aid society of Cleveland, Ohio
The immense amount and
variety of items needed by the soldiers required organized work. Circles were formed to knit gloves, sew
clothing, and solicit funds. A system or
supply was established. In the Grant
County Herald of October 23, 1861 J. W. Angell, clerk of the County Board of
Supervisors placed the following:
“LADIES:
- Your husbands, sons and brothers are now imperiling their lives in behalf of
your country…But yet your duty to your country ceases not with the offerings
you have already tendered. It requires
at your hands still further sacrifices.
It requires you now to show benevolence equal to your patriotism…You are
solicited to come forward and tender the government your assistance in
alleviating their distress. Our soldiers
on duty – the sick and wounded in the hospital, require your aid and
assistance…A sanitary committee, composed of some of the most scientific and
benevolent citizens are appointed to act in concert with the agents of the
government to procure a supply of such articles as our soldiers stand the most in need…Form yourselves into neighborhood
societies, appoint some of the most active of your members to solicit money or
contributions of materials; hold weekly sessions, bring together what you have
been able to collect and purchase…Those articles that are now most needed are
blankets. Through your committees of
“Good Samaritans” solicit the donation of woolen blankets from every household that
can possibly spare one. If woolen
blankets cannot be had, get quilts or comfortable, padded with cotton…”
Angell
went on to say that he would take any articles from places where no societies
were organized, and ship them on. In
Lancaster, the stores of Howe and Jones and A. and T.A. Burr were the places to
take the production of the Soldiers Aid Society, which were then shipped to
Chicago and on to soldiers in far flung fields.
Vegetables, canned fruits and meats, sheets and pillows, shirts,
handkerchiefs, towels, splints and bandages were all solicited and
supplied. Bandages were made as
described by Mrs. L.H. Palmer of Sauk County in 1919; “There was no absorbent cotton or gauze in those days and thousands of
bandages were made by tearing old sheets into strips and rolling into hard
round rolls. Lint was provided by scraping old linen with a dull knife until it
became a fluffy mass and all ravelings were saved to be used as absorbents.”
Bandages
The
Grant County Historical Society has one more treasure that attests to the hard
work of these “Home Guards.” That is a
quilt made by the young ladies, who signed their names on their handiwork and
sold it to raise money for the soldiers gone but certainly not forgotten. The quilt bears a handwritten inscription
which reads “Made by the members of the Young Ladies Soldiers Aid Society Hazel
Green Wis. 1864.”
Detail - the Hazel Green Quilt
Quilt made by the Young Ladies Soldiers
Aid Society of Hazel Green
By the
time the war was a year and a half old the need of aid for soldiers and their
families had exceeded the capacity of even herculean voluntary efforts. To meet the need, on August 10, 1862 the
Grant County Board of Supervisors passed a tax levy of one and one half mills
on all taxable property. This was done
to raise $5,000.00 which would be distributed to town boards to provide support
to families of soldiers “and in no case to exceed the sum of five dollars per
month to any one family.” The war was the most ruinous in American
history. It was to take years to rebuild
the damaged property. The dead and
damaged men and their families could not be returned to what they were. The mending took generations.
