Show FARMER LADS OF I CO Company I fall in for roll call Look at the gawks Well for a fact it was a rather awkward awk-ward lot of men which fell in for roll call on company Is sheet at Camp Randall that July morning in 1861 It tvas made up largely of farmer boys from Vernon county When it was decided i de-cided to raise the company a drummer and flier were put into a wagon and t driven out among the farmers As the r band played the farmer lads left their i plows and planting and sought the f cause of the demonstration That day N at dinner and supper the question of f enlisting was discussed Two days later the required hundred men and t boys had put down their names Most of them were under 20 many under 18 I rii strapping healthy fellows They had been too busy clearing the land and r making farms to get out and rub against the world to any great extent They swung their arms extravagantly r took long stepswalked just as they did in following the plow or carrying I I i milk to the springhouse It was hard to make them look to the front while on duty they were staring here and there seeing the sights and making L odd comments on scenes officers and the other companies It was laughed at t for its awkwardness A tony chap i said Look at the gawks 1 I am not going to say as the tony fellow did look at the gawks but I am going to ask the readers of the TimesHerald to join me in looking at company I At that time it was necessary in choosing an adjutant to take him Z from the line There was a young lawyer law-yer a graduate of an eastern college who was wanted for adjutant He was a trimbuilt handsome fellow and looked the soldier he proved to be The S resignation of a lieutenant of I company s com-pany opened the way He was commissioned commis-sioned a lieutenant in that company and immediately assigned as adjutant The boys were all strangers to him but he gave them much attention He liked those rosycheeked awkward fellows 1 fel-lows from the farms the restS rest-S of us thought better than he did the other companies He took particular pains to see that I company was well 3 drilled Within three months it had the military step and bearing that gave jt rank with the best drilled companies In the brigade On review its brasses uniforms uni-forms muskets and accoutrements were as the adjutant used to say hin applepie order Before the campaigning campaign-ing began all of the original officers of S company I had resigned Captain R R I Dawes of company K later General I Dawes father of Charles G the present S pres-ent comptroller of the currency was asked if he was willing that his firstS first-S lieutenant should be transferred to company I as captain He had a fondness S fond-ness for the happyfaced curlyhaired 4 lieutenant and hesitated somewhat but he wouldntstand in the way of hisS I his-S promotion so Lieutenant John A Kellogg S Kel-logg added a bar1to his shoulder straps and became Ts leader A couple of i o boys from Liberty Pole were made lieutenants lieu-tenants Clayton E and Earl M Rogers Rog-ers 000 While we have these three in mind let me say a word about them Kellogg Kel-logg served as adjutant general on General Cutlers staff for a time was on such duty at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg but was in command of his company at the Wilderness when he was wounded and made a prisoner He returned to the regiment the next fall as lieutenant colonel and a month later was made colonel and a few weeks later was placed in command of the brigade serving as such ofllcer until un-til the war ended He was made a I brigadier general After the war he was a Wisconsin senator and United I States pension agent He died at Wau sau in 18S3 When General W B Franklin commander of the left wing of Burnsides army at the battle of Fredericksburg wanted a trusty officer I of-ficer to brins in the picket line after the troops had crossed the Rappahan I nock in the dark Lieutenant Clayton E Rogers was selected He rode along the line and whispered to each picket to make the quickest time possible to the pontoon bridge The enemy was but a few rods in front of the jacket line but the wind was in the right direction di-rection and thanks to the gopd judgment judg-ment and activity of company Is first lieutenant the whole picket line was saved From that time until after Gettysburg Lieutenant Rogers served on brigade and division staff He was I on General wadsworth staff at Gettysburg Get-tysburg and distinguished himself It was Rogers who at Gettysburg when he carried an order to a division commander com-mander and found him so drunk he could not perform his duty placed him i under arrest and took him to headquarters I head-quarters It was the only case I believe be-lieve during the war in which a lieutenant lieu-tenant arrested an acting major generaL gen-eral Earl M Rogers was pQPular usa us-a staff officer He was on the staff of General James Wadsworth commander com-mander of a division in the Fifth corps in the Wilderness when Wads worth was killed and was the only officer who was with him when he fell At Petersburg Rogers was seriously seri-ously wounded He was commissioned captain and brevetted major He served four years as quartermaster general on Governor Rusks staff General Rogers in face so closely resembles re-sembles Napoleon that he is called Bona Rogers by all of the old command com-mand I > V 9 Let the record speak for Company I They participated in every battle of tho Army of the Potomac save those on the Peninsula under McClellan They were at Rappahannock Station at the Pope re treat The night before the retreat from there it was I company that was called upon to tear down buildings and construct a bridge across the Rappuljannock river At Gainesville no company In the regiment I regi-ment fought bettor or suffered worse It was at Bull Run on the 29th and H0th at South Mountain Antietam Fredericks j burg Fitzhugh Crossing ChancelIorsvUle Gettysburg and In all of the otircr battles I of the Potomac sirmy up to arid Including Appomattor One of Its members was I voted a mr da of honor by congress Sergeant Ser-geant Frank WaIler later a lieutenant captured tho nap of the Second IK S I plat t pl-at Gettysburg when the regimentcharged SS d = > T I the cut and made prisoners of Major Blair and most of his men menv II < t < v > dIn > I d-In the great review at Washington a I man without an arm both having been shot off at Antietam stood in front of the treasury building waiting for his old regiment When it swung to the right from the long stretch on Pennsylvania avenue and moved past the great building the noarmed man was full of smiles and comments As his old company approached approach-ed he Swung the stub of the right arm to his hat removed it bowed his head and I I said n1 could kneel to you Company A gal Fl I I When I company passed he did the same It was the tony young fellow who nearly I four years before had said Look at tho gawks < > 0 < From I companys ranks have fallen 41 killed in battle Fortyone All from one company or nearly half of the original number There were whole brigades that did not lose as many men in battle The I wounded numbered Co Many were wounded wound-ed two or three times Seventeen died of disease Company I contributed one brigadier I bri-gadier general John A Kellogg It contributed I con-tributed a colonel Frank A Haskell who was killed at Cold Harbor the day after he had been recommended for promotion to brigadier general With armless A H Young of Company boys J A Watrous in Chicago Times A 1 could kneel to Company Is farmer Herald |