Letters Home from the Brothertown "Boys"

By Andrea R. Brucker and Caroline K. Andler

This book is about the educated Brothertown Indian men who fought in the Civil War and wrote letters home telling of this horrible war. American Indians, who despite the guarantees from the United States, found that same government continually stripping them of their lands. And, still, they rushed to volunteer their services to defend the Union.

The Brothertown Indian Nation is unique from many other tribes in that they are an amalgamated group. They are made up of remnants of the coastal tribes who made the first contact with the whites. As a result of the Great Awakening, a religious movement in New England during the 1740s, many Indian people in southern New England converted to Christianity, including the Mohegan, Pequot, Narragansett, Montauk, Tunxis, and Niantic. As these people tried to live Christian lives in New England, they found it difficult to resist the pressures from whites around them who encouraged them to abuse alcohol, give up farming and sell their lands. By the 1700s, the tribes were poverty stricken, decimated by wars and disease.

A small group of young Natives, educated at Eleazer Wheelocks Indian Charity School in Lebanon, Connecticut, became the impetus for forming a new community where they might live amicably together. On November 7, 1784 the band of Christian New England Indians settled on lands given to them by the Oneida Nation in New York and called their Town by the Name of Brotherton, in Indian Eeyam qittoowauconnuck.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463405427

Book preview

LETTERS

HOME FROM

THE

BROTHERTOWN

BOYS

ANDREA R BRUCKER

CAROLINE K ANDLER

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AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2011 Andrea R. Brucker and Caroline K. Andler. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 06/01/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4634-0544-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-0543-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-0542-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011908851

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Brothertown Indians Who Fought

The War of Rebellion 1861-1865.

A Memorial Day Address

The Brothertown Soldiers in the Civil War.

The Letters Home

Biographies

This Book Is Dedicated To

Otto Heller

Katherine Heller Hoyt

Gerald Walentoski

In Appreciation For Realizing

The Historical Importance

Of The Brothertown Indian Collection,

Not Only Preserving But Also

Sharing The Wealth Of Information.

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Brothertown Indians Who Fought

The War of Rebellion 1861-1865.

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A Memorial Day Address

The Brothertown Soldiers in the Civil War.

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Union Cemetery located in Brothertown, Calumet County, Wisconsin, may be the oldest cemetery south of Green Bay. It is the final resting place of many of the Brothertown Indians who fought in the Civil War.

On this beautiful crisp fall day with Lake Winnebago stretching out behind us and the wind tangling in the tops of the trees, join me on a short tour of this cemetery. The cemetery is half white, half Brothertown Indian, carefully segregated by the driveway in the middle. The Indian side today has large empty spaces where in pictures taken as late as 1935, the area is completely covered with tombstones. Unfortunately, the early Indian graves were never platted.

One of the unusual things about the cemetery is a row of seven star markers across the front of the cemetery. The seven stars represent the lost graves of one veteran from the War of 1812, and six Civil War veterans. Under the direction of the late Al Hertel, former Calumet County veterans service officer, the markers were erected in 1950. Hertel knew the seven veterans were buried in the cemetery, but exactly where was not known because the gravestones were either stolen, broken or removed. Each year, flags are placed in the star markers on Memorial Day.[1]

The seven star memorials do not tell the whole story of the Brothertown Indians who fought in the Civil war however. This is a story of all those young men who left the small Indian community of Brothertown to fight in the war of the rebellion. The story not only of those that lie buried in Union cemetery but the story of those who died on the battlefields, in prison and in the hospitals during that war.

These men heard the call of Lincoln for volunteers to put down the rebellion and preserve the constitution and the Union. They answered that call nobly for from the little village of Brothertown and its immediate vicinity, 140 men were mustered in before the end of the war. Sadly, we have almost forgotten the names of these men and what they did to preserve the United States and abolish slavery.

The oldest grave in the cemetery is Joseph Palmer, buried July 3, 1836. On his stone are carved the words, I was murdered by the Stockbridge Indians in Stockbridge. Palmer was at Brothertown, New York by 1818. He married Martha Waukeet, a Niantic Indian, and removed to Wisconsin in 1834. His son, Benjamin fought with the Kansas Volunteers in Company D 14th Regiment. He died after he returned home and is buried here.

As we walk through the cemetery we see small star shaped markers with GAR on it. GAR stands for Grand Army of the Republic.[2] That was the veterans’ organization for the Northern soldiers. Many have the number of the G.A.R. Post on them. When a Civil War veteran who belonged to the G.A.R. died, a grave marker was placed near the head stone and in May a flag was placed in the holder for Memorial Day. [3] Some are of iron, others are of bronze and still later ones are manufactured of aluminum. Those of aluminum are generally replacements for older one that have disappeared over the last 140 years or so. Many are being stolen from cemeteries to be sold as antiques.

It is the story of these men and their regiments I wish to tell. Stories told by the Brothertown boys in their letters sent home by the soldiers away from their tribal community for the first time in their lives. The loyalty of the Brothertown people has never been questioned, from the first introduction to the colonists, to the present. Although of a peaceful nature, these Christian Indians, were ever ready to fight on the side of the Colonies and states. During the French and Indian War of 1755 they lost heavily and we find the old familiar Brothertown names of Adams, Coyhis, Occom, Curricomb, Johnson and Skeesuck on the company rolls of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Some of these same family names are on the Revolutionary War lists, the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

The Brothertown Indians, as the remnant of the New England tribes, have had a peculiar plea for consideration and justice. They alone of all the scattered nations, which our forefathers were wont to term the lost tribes of Israel, can trace their ancestry back to the days of the founders of this Republic. The rolls of all the later Colonial wars contain the names of soldiers from whom they can prove a lineal descent. Their great-grandfathers fought in the Revolution, and so many of them perished that it was, by the testimony of William Williams, the death blow to their ancient tribal strength. In the War of 1812 their grandsires were engaged, and they themselves, out of their diminished numbers, furnished nearly threescore and ten soldiers in the Civil War. Where in this broad land can such a Society of the Colonial Wars be found? Whatever the merits of their claim may have been, which is not for the historian to judge, the survivors of the New England Indians have a title to the respect of the American People.[4]

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On April 10, 1861, Brig. Gen. Beauregard, in command of the provisional Confederate forces at Charleston, South Carolina, demanded the surrender of the Union garrison of Fort Sumter. Garrison commander Anderson refused. On April 12, Confederate batteries opened fire on the fort, which was unable to reply effectively. April 13, Major Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter, evacuating the garrison on the following day. The bombardment of Fort Sumter was the opening engagement of the American Civil War. They fired a salute of 50 guns to their flag before lowering it, marched out of the Fort with bands playing, beaten, but not whipped.

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On Monday, April 15, 1861, President Lincoln issued his famous Proclamation calling for 75,000 men for 90 days service to put down the rebellion. Wisconsin furnished one regiment. Brothertown men heard that news and on April 20th, Melancthon Peters, Charles Paul, Brothertown Indians, and Josiah Prossier enlisted in the service. To Peters goes the honor of being the first to enlist in the Civil War from Brothertown. He served in Company I 1st Infantry Regiment.

The men enlisted for ninety days and went to Camp Washburn in Milwaukee, expecting to be back home again before their crops would have to be harvested. "The company took its departure amid a strange commingling of cheers, sobs and tears. The train left Thursday morning over the Chicago and Northwestern Railway, from Fond du Lac, and the city was literally jammed with people from all parts of the county, to whom the idea of war and the sight of the soldiers were novel and inspiring.»[5]

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2nd WISCONSIN CALVARY CO A

There among the orange day lilies lies Louis Wauby of Co A, 2nd Wis. Cavalry. His company was organized at Fond du Lac during October and November under the command of Wm Woods and contained many Brothertown men. Hoel Crowell, Orlando and John W. Dick, Laton Fowler, William and Loren Murray Johnson, Alexander Hamilton Hammer, Henry Tousey, Sylvester Skeesuck, Syrenous Denny, the Oneida Indian married to a Brothertown woman, and Ira Wiggins all rushed to join the 2nd Cavalry. As soon as the company was filled it moved to Camp Washburn, Milwaukee for training. Their stay at Milwaukee was not a happy one. Soon after their arrival many became sick. The doctors didn’t recognize the disease but Loren Johnson wrote home to his friend, Abba Loretta Fowler that in his opinion, it was the mumps. We are all well but Vet (Edgar M. Dick) he is very sick, his eyes are swelled so that he is nearly blind. His left eye is completely closed and the other not much better. He has gone to the hospital but they have got such miserable doctors there that it is doubtful about his getting much help there but I hope he will get better soon. I don’t know what the doctors call it but it looks to me like the mumps. It is a rather hard disease anyway. Which, it consequently turned out to be. On Feb. 8th, 1862, Loren wrote once again to Abba; Vet has been sick in the hospital for about two weeks but he has got back again to camp. Hoel (Crowell) and Ira Wiggins has got the mumps and I guess that John Dick is going to have them.

John Dick confirmed that when he wrote home, I have got the mumps.I have had them most a week and I don’t see as they get any better. Hoel and Ira have also got them, Sylvester (Skeesick) has got some better so he is out of the hospital but can hardly see anything out of one eye. All the rest of the boys are in good health.

HOEL CROWELL

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They had no more than recovered from that and the measles struck the company. But through it all those that could, drilled.

When the time came for each company to receive its name, the Brothertown boys had been so well trained that they were designated as Co. A and John W. Dick, on Dec. 26th, 1861, proudly wrote, "We are Company A of the 1st Battalion, so you can see we are on the right of the First Battalion and on the right of the Regiment and in front on a march.. The Colonel says we are the best disciplined Company in camp. There are ten companies in camp and they expect two more in as soon as they can get some barracks ready for them. That will fill the Regiment. There will be 1200 men here and 1200 horses. It will be the largest Reg’t ever raised in the state.

We haven’t got only about 50 horses yet but they are buying them as fast as they can. We have not got our uniforms yet but we shall get them in a few days, I hope. We have got our shirts, socks and boots.

I have just returned from the hospital. There are four boys in there from this company sick with the measles."

The Civil War saw many changes in warfare from previous wars, the mass transit of troops was just one. Instead of walking or riding on horses or in wagons, troops could be conveyed from point to point via the fledgling system of railroads, cutting down the traveling time tremendously. As the war progressed, hundreds of thousands of Union troops were conveyed on the railroads. The men were herded into open railcars, without benches or seats, nor any protection from the relentless sun, the drenching rains or freezing cold winds.

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They left Camp Washburn on March 24, 1862 for St. Louis, From Benton Barracks, Mo, on March 2, 1862 and J.W. Dick wrote home:

"We are here in Mo. safe and with the exception of one, he fell off from the cars just this side of Chicago and was run over…We left Camp Washburn on Monday morning about 8 o’clock and arrived at the Mississippi River Tuesday night at 12 o’clock and staid on the cars the rest of the night and in the morning one of the Sergeants let us go out to wash in a pond that was close by, and when we got there the water was so dirty we all started running for the river and the Sergeant kept telling us to come back but we paid no attention to what he said but ran all the faster and for the first time in our lives saw the beautiful river Miss. And the smoky city of St. Louis all along the opposite shore. The river was all covered with boats and after we had washed ourselves and looked around long enough, we all went back to the cars and ate our breakfast. We then marched to the river and the Regiment crossed on a boat. We marched through the city and thence to Benton Barracks where we now are.

The streets of St. Louis are narrow and the buildings are dirty. So was the city of Chicago and none of the places look as nice and clean as Milwaukee. We stopped at Chicago and had some hot coffee and once more at a place called Matoon. Tuesday morning just as the sun was rising the train stopped on the prairie of Illinois and we all got off and washed in a little brook that ran along the side of the track and the snow was all gone and the birds of spring were singing all around and the grass was so green and some of the farmers were plowing but we could not stay there long before we had to go on the cars and go ahead.

I heard last night that as Barstows Cavalry (3rd Reg’t Cavalry) met with a sad accident on the cars, had a real smashup, there were 10 men killed and 25 wounded. We came over the same place and it was an awful looking place.

We camped on the fairgrounds about five miles from the city and it is a handsome place. There are 2000 troops. Henry Tousey is here. He belongs to the 17th E Reg’t. There is three or four Wis. Reg’ts here now. We have got a handsome place to camp it is in a little grove and we have got some new tents. It is just like summer here We had a game of ball this morning with one of the Iowa Reg’ts and beat them badly. We have not found our match yet at a game of ball.

The 1st Wisconsin Calvary is here and Steve Nicholas is here now and is the same old Steve, looks as fat and hearty as ever. We have to come right down to our drill now. Viz: 8 o’clock A.M. Company drill, 10 o’clock A.M. Battalions drill, 9 o’clock A.M. dress parade, 2 P.M. Company drill, 3P.M. Battalions drill, so you can see we do not have a great deal of time to waste. "

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Their stay at St. Louis was short but pleasant and on May 15th they embarked on boats for Jefferson City, Missouri. Here they received their first army rations. They called this hardtack or Missouri shingles. Loren Murray Johnson wrote from Springfield, Missouri on June 4, 1862:

"I am enjoying good health at present. But Orlando (Dick), Ira (Wiggins) and Late (Laton Fowler) are not very well, not fit for duty but the rest are in tolerable good health and as for me I am getting to be as Tough and Hearty as any one in our Company and can live on anything even these Mo. Shingles, some call them Hard Crackers and I believe they are rightly named for they are hard enough. But we are going to have soft bread after this. We have to begin to gnaw on them before we get up mornings to get enough off for Breakfast.

We have to sharpen our Teeth every little while to keep them so we can eat the crackers. They are wet up in water and fried in the same."

For their soldierly conduct and splendid appearance they were chosen as bodyguards for Brig. Gen. Brown.

They fought in no large engagements as did those in the east but the dangers they ran were no less for they had guerilla war fare and the bushwhackers to contend with which was more vicious and deadly than many a pitched battle. They never knew when a volley would be poured into them as they passed through a woods. Many a picket was found murdered in the morning. But Co A lost its most men not by bullets but by disease. John W. Dick wrote in his letters home how he planned on eating so many peaches and who, when he exercised the horses always made it a point to stop at the home of a woman from Iowa. She always gave him a home cooked meal and usually a piece of pie. But he was taken ill with typhoid fever and lay in the hospital for four months. While he was in the hospital his friend and fellow Brothertown Indian, Ira Wiggins, died in the General Hospital at Springfield, Missouri and was given a military funeral.

In October 1862, he and a number of other Brothertown soldiers of Company A were discharged as unfit for duty. Their comrades remained in the Army of the Frontier until the end of the war and were mustered out of service November 15, 1865.

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4th Wisconsin Cavalry Co K

The 4th Wisconsin Cavalry has the distinction of being the only regiment in Wisconsin to be organized as a Regiment of Infantry. They remained as infantry from July 3rd, 1861 to September 1st, 1863 when they were designated as the 4th Wisconsin Cavalry.

Company K of the 4th was organized at Chilton under the command of Harrison C. Hobart. The first enlistments began the last week of April 1861 only ten days after Lincoln’s call for troops. The Brothertown Boys who enlisted were Stephen Welch; Charles Dick; Lucius Dick; Orrin Gridley Fowler; James A. Hart; Melville Johnson; Asa Dick; and George Hammer; Erastus Welch and his son, Erastus Welch Jr.; George Alexander Johnson; Joseph M. and Nathaniel H. Johnson

"Calumet County showed itself loyal to the Union in 1861. It raised more than it’s quota of troops. On June 10th, the Fourth Regiment, commanded by Capt. Harrison G. Hobart, left Chilton. From early dawn until the time the company formed in marching order, the men bade good bye to their families and friends. At eight o’clock, the Company formed a line in front of the

Reviews for Letters Home from the Brothertown "Boys"

[nedoba_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A Treasure. One hundred and forty young men of the Brothertown Nation served during the Civil War. Many were well educated and they wrote letters home to their friends and loved ones. The authors have transcribed dozens and dozens of letters. They also compiled biographies of the various companies the men served in and biographies for many of the men, including some wonderful period photos.The authors are to be highly commended for their effort to bring these letters into the light of day for all to read. I think the "boys" would be proud.The letters cover just about every subject from politics to life as a soldier to descriptions of the country side to descriptions of battles.If you enjoy Civil War history, you should enjoy reading these letters home. A moving look at the Civil War from the eyes and hearts of some young men from Wisconsin.