tion of eight hundred mounted men, in pursuit of the rebel General Shelby's forces. At Bull Creek, forty-five miles from Huntersville, they encountered on the 27th a body of rebel cavalry, numbering twelve hundred, which they routed after a severe skirmish, and pursued upwards of a mile, our regiment sustaining no loss. Reinforcements of cavalry and artillery having arrived on the following day, they marched in pursuit of Shelby's whole force, estimated at five thousand. The pursuit was continued with varied success, and frequent skirmishes with bushwhackers and guerillas, until the 5th of September, when they marched in return to camp, resuming picket duty near Little Rock, on the 7th. On the 17th, camp was removed from Huntersville to the Mammelle road, one mile west of Little Rock, where they were stationed, with the exception of one hundred and forty-one men, under Major Derry, who left camp on the 25th, as part of an expedition to Fort Smith, and had not returned at the date of the report.1

The remaining companies of the regiment were stationed [September 30th, 1864,] in Kansas and Missouri as follows: company A, at Balltown, Mo., where they have been employed as picket guard since the 26th of July; Company C, on the 2d of August, was at Fort McKean, Mo., company D, at Fort Hamer, Mo., company Fat Fort Insley, Mo., and company M, at Pawnee, Kas. These companies have been almost constantly employed by detachments, in scouting, picket, forage and escort duty, and "but few, if any, troops in the service have done an equal amount of duty, involving much that is considered the most dangerous, and certainly the most irksome, and I believe the reputa- · tion of that portion of the Third Wisconsin cavalry stationed in this department, is as high as it is possible for troops to stand * * * especially with the commanding officer of the district and department."'*

*

*

*

It is due to Majors Schroeling and Henning, as well as Captain Carpenter and Lieutenants Pond, Porter and Bernard, to express my acknowledgements for reports furnished.

Major Derry's detachment returned from Fort Smith, Ark.,

1 Expedition from Little Rock, Ark., Sept. 25-Oct. 13, 1864. Report of Maj. Thomas Derry, 83 Rebellion Records 819–820. Organization, 85 Ibid. 199, 493, 504, 897. 86 Ibid. 373, 374, 378.

* Official report of Major Henning, Chief of Calvary, Department of Arkansas.

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and rejoined the regiment at Little Rock, Ark.,1 on the 13th of October, 1864, having marched about four hundred miles. The principal portion of the regiment, consisting of companies B, E, G, H, I, K, and L, was stationed in the vicinity of Little Rock, during the autumn and winter; detachments of the command, being constantly employed as scouting parties, guarding trains, patrolling the roads through the surrounding country, and participating in frequent skirmishes, with small bands. of guerrillas and bushwhackers.

623] On the expiration of the term of service of the original organization, the regiment on the 19th of April, 1865, was reorganized, by order of the general commanding the department. That part of the regiment stationed at Little Rock, was consolidated into five companies, A, B, C, D and E, under command of Major Derry. In the new assignment of companies, under this order, company F, stationed at Fort Insley, Mo., retained its old designation; company M, at Pawnee, Kas., became company G; company C, at Fort McKean, Mo., became company H; company D, at Fort Hamer, Mo., became company I; and company A, which had been stationed since the previous December at Fort Curtis, Mo., became company K.2

That portion of the regiment, which had been stationed at Little Rock, left that city on the 21st of April, arriving next day at Devall's Bluff, where the cavalry depot of the department had been established. Here they remanied until the 3d of June, when they embarked, and descending the White River to the Mississippi, proceeded to St. Louis, Mo.,3 arriving on the. 12th at that city. They left St. Louis on the 22d of June, and proceeding thence by rail to Rolla, arrived on the 1st of July at Springfield, Mo. Here they were employed in post duty until the 18th of July, when they were again put in motion, and marching across the country reached Fort Leavenworth, Kas., on the 2d of August. This battalion, with the field and

183 Rebellion Records 223, 225, 226, 465, 477, 489, 525, 572. Report of Operations, Oct. 16-Nov. 23, 1864, Col. Charles R. Jennison, 83 Ibid. 581–591. Col. Charles W. Blair, 83 Ibid 596-600, 601-606. Col. John F. Ritter. 83 Ibid. 897. Report of Inspection Lieut. Col. John M. Wilson, 86 Ibid. 569–571.. 86 Ibid. 552, 885, 985, 991-993.

1 In Kansas: 101 Rebellion Records 862, 1025. 1039, 1117, 1164, 1187, 1243: 102 Ibid. 75, 217, 269, 275, 293, 296, 421, 500. 553, 938.

* 102 Ibid. 733, 761, 863, 1044. Report of Capt. Robert Carpenter, 102 Ibid. 987-988.

i

staff officers, was mustered out on the 8th of September, 1865, at Fort Leavenworth, and arrived on the 14th at Madison, Wisconsin, where the men were paid and discharged.

From the imperfect data furnished by their reports on file, I am unable to give the movements of the other companies of this regiment, who were called upon for much service at various places on "the plains." Companies F, H, and I and K were mustered out on the 29th of September, at Fort Leavenworth, and arrived at Madison, Wisconsin, on the 2d of October. Companies G and L, were mustered out at Fort Leavenworth on the 27th and 23d of October, respectively; the former arriving at Madison, Wisconsin, on the 1st of November, 1865.

* * *

The list of dead, pp. 624-629, is omitted and is published in full in volume 3.

630]

FOURTH REGIMENT.

The companies composing the Fourth regiment of infantry, were ordered to rendezvous about the 6th of June, 1861, at Camp Utley, Racine. The regimental organization was soon completed under the direction of Colonel Halbert E. Paine, of Milwaukee, and on the 15th of July, they left the state under orders to report at Baltimore, Md. After a delay of three days at Harrisburg, Penn., they arrived at Baltimore on the 23d. On the 28th, the regiment was divided, and sent out to guard the railroads, over which troops were passing into the city. They were reunited on the 5th of August, and went into camp at Relay IIouse, Md., thirty miles north of Washington. Here they remained, acquiring discipline and drill, until the 4th of November, when they embarked to take part in an expedition to the eastern shore of Virginia, under General Lockwood. No enemy was discovered, and the expedition resulted principally in allowing the troops a preliminary taste of the hardships of the field, on the march from Princess Ann, in Somerset County, to Eastville, Northampton County, and back again.

A return was soon ordered, and the regiment was placed in barracks, in the city of Baltimore, where they remained until the 19th of February, 1862. They were then ordered on board transports, for Newport News, Va., where they again embarked on the 6th of March, to join the army of the Gulf, arriving on

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the 12th at Ship Island, Miss., and disembarking on the following day. The hardships of the voyage in a crowded transport, had engendered disease, and many of the regiment found a soldier's grave in the sandy bosom of this ocean solitude.

The little army on the 15th of March, again sailed away towards the Southwest Pass, in search of a foothold; and from the 17th to the 27th, while our fleets, under Porter and Farragut, were bombarding the forts in front, they were cruising about from the pass to the rear of the enemy. Commodore Farragut having succeeded in passing the forts, they were surrendered on the 29th, when the transports crossed the bar, and stood up the river, to win from the hands of traitors the great metropolis of the southwest. A detachment of the Fourth Wisconsin, under command of Major Boardman, had been landed in the rear of Fort St. Philip, to prevent the escape of its garrison before the surrender. After a toilsome march of about thirteen miles, the troops being compelled to wade most of the distance, the desired position was attained, and the movement was a complete success. On the 1st of May, the city was entered and reclaimed, the Fourth Wisconsin being the second to land.

On the 8th of May, they embarked with their brigade, on captured transports, for an expedition up the river, which was extended to Vicksburg. They arrived in sight of that rebel strong631] hold on the 18th, and next day an action took place on shore between a small portion of the regiment and some rebel cavalry, in which two men were wounded, the first of its members shot by the enemy. Provisions becoming scarce, the expedi tion returned to and occupied Baton Rouge, entering the city on the 29th. On the way down the river, the steamer was fired into by a rebel battery at Grand Gulf, but although struck several times, no one was injured.

The expedition again embarked for Vicksburg, on the 16th of June, destroying on their way the town of Grand Gulf, from which the rebels persisted in firing into our boats. On landing near Vicksburg, an active siege was begun, and prosecuted with vigor for about thirty days. But they had to contend with the diseases of a southern climate in midsummer, and their strength rapidly wasted away. The subjugation of the city was abandoned, and the expedition embarked for its return on the 24th of July, and reached Baton Rouge on the 26th.

The attempt of the rebels, under Breckinridge, on the 5th of August, to regain Baton Rouge, was defeated after a sanguinary engagement. The Fourth being held in reserve, sustained no less. General Williams being killed in this action, Colonel Paine, as senior colonel of the brigade, was ordered to the command of the post, and on the 21st, when his forces were sadly exhausted by wound and sickness, he successfully evacuated the place in the face of an enemy in greatly superior numbers. From this time forward, Colonel Paine was lost to the Fourth as regimental commander, being retained in command of a brigade, with one exception of a few days, until he received his commission as brigadier general, in the month of May following. The expedition under his command finally reached Carrollton, about eight miles from New Orleans, on the 22d of August, and remained in garrison near the parapets until December, meanwhile making two successful movements against a battalion of Texas cavalry, on the west side of the river.

In December, a large portion of the army of General Banks was sent up the river to again take possession of Baton Rouge. Of these troops, the Fourth Wisconsin formed a part, being assigned to a brigade under Colonel Paine, in General Emory's division. Lieutenant Colonel Bean being absent on official business, the regiment was commanded by Major Boardman. They left the parapets on the 19th with nine companies, leaving company G to man the heavy guns on the works at that place. It may here be stated that this company remained at Carrollton, until the 22d of July, when it again rejoined its comrades. They disembarked at Baton Rouge on the 21st of December, and the New Year found them encamped in the suburbs of the city. 632]

The mortality among the members of the regiment during the year past had been heavy, but they still numbered, all told, between seven and eight hundred men.

The brigade moved down the stream about thirty miles on the 6th of February, and occupied Bayou Plaquemine, on the west side of the river. The enemy evacuated the place, at their approach, and retreated to Rosedale, on Bayou Grossetete. An important and successful reconnoissance of the enemy's position was accomplished on the 15th, by Major Boardman, in which the strength and location of the rebel force was ascer