30th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Service

Service

The Regiment was recruited under the call of July, 1862, for three hundred thousand men. The first man to sign enlistment papers for the new regiment was James Berry, of Captain David С Fulton's Co. D, on July 21, 1862. The enlistments closed August 23, 1862, with a full regiment of 1020 men. Many of the enlistment papers were made out for the Twenty-fifth Regiment, but volunteering was so brisk that thirteen full regiments were raised, from the Twenty-first to the Twenty-third, inclusive, within thirty days from the call.

The regiment was mustered into the United States service, October 18, 1862, at Camp Randall, Madison, Wis. As mustered in, the regiment was composed as follows:

Co. A, Captain Samuel Harriman, and Co. D, Captain David С Fulton, from St. Croix, Polk and Pierce Counties; Co. F, Captain Martin A. Driebelbis, from Pierce County; Co. I, Captain Napoleon B. Greer, from Eau Claire County; Co. K, Captain John Klatt, from Chippewa County; Co. C, Captain A. A. Arnold, from Trempealeau County; Co. G, Captain Asa B. Swain, and Co. H, Captain Andrew Bedal, from Waushara County; Co. B, Captain Lewis S. Burton, and Co. E, Captain Edward Devlin, from Iowa and Lafayette Counties.

The regiment was composed of as good material as was ever assembled. The average age of the men was twenty-five years and six months; their average height was 5 ft. 7 7-10 inches. They were lumbermen, farmers and miners, inured to hard work and privation. A majority were used to handling arms, many of them being hunters. A number were Indians from the Chippewa Reservation. Nearly nine-tenths were born in the United States. All were patriotic, and ready for active service. All expected to be at the front with Grant within sixty days. That they were not, was not the fault of any one, officer or man, in the regiment. It was the exigencies of the service and the accident of time, that we were not in place of the 25th, 28th, 29th or 32d, all of which were mustered in about the same time.

The following record of the services of the regiment is quoted largely from the report of Adjutant General August Gaylord for the year 1865:

The regimental organization was completed October 18, 1862, at Camp Randall. Subsequently regimental headquarters remained at Camp Randall, while portions of the regiment were almost constantly detached in the performance of various kinds of duty.

On the 2d of May, 1863, companies D, F, I and K, under command of Lt. Col. Bartlett, were ordered to the Upper Missouri, on the Indian expedition under General Alfred Sully. These companies served with this command at different points on the river, from Sioux City, Iowa, to Fort Pierre, Dakota Territory, until the l0th of August, 1863 when companies I and К were ordered to report at Camp Washburn, Milwaukee, Wis., leaving companies D and F at Fort Pierre; these companies arrived at Milwaukee ou Sept. 12, 1863.

On the 26th of May, companies G and E left Camp Randall, the former for Superior, Wis., and the latter for Bayfield, Wis., in anticipation of trouble with the Indians at these points. They remained at these stations, respectively, until the middle of August, when they were recalled; arrived on August 31 at Camp Washburn, which was placed under command of Major John Clowney, of this regiment. The remaining companies, at various times, were sent to various parts of the state to maintain order during the enrollment and draft, under the Conscription Act. Colonel Daniel J. Dill was Post Commandant at Camp Randall during this time.

In the month of December, 1863, the regiment was transferred to Camp Washburn, and subsequently to Camp Reno, at Milwaukee, Wis., where the headquarters of the regiment were established.

In the month of March, 1864, detachments of the regiment were ordered to various points in Dakota Territory and Northwestern Minnesota, and in General Sully's campaign against the Sioux Indians, moving from point to point during the summer, performing many very long and difficult marches through an extremely wild and arid country, and participating in several engagements with the Indians.

On 1 October 1864, detachments of the 30th Wisconsin were stationed at various places in Dakota Territory as follows : Companies A, C, F, and H, under the immediate command of Colonel Dill, at Fort Rice, of which Post Lieutenant Colonel Bartlett was placed in command ; Companies B, E, G and К under command of Major Clowney, at Fort Wadsworth, near Coteau des Prairies ; Company D, under command of Captain Fulton, at Fort Sully, and Company I, under command of Captain Greer, at Fort Union.

Companies A, C, F and H, commanded by Colonel Dill, left Fort Rice, Dakota, Friday, October 12, 1864, and descending the Missouri river in flat boats built by themselves, arrived November 2, 1864, at Sioux City, Iowa, where they were joined by Company D, under command of Lieutenant Lewis O. Marshall, Captain David С. Fulton having been promoted Major of the First Battalion Heavy Artillery, on the 14th of October. Continuing their journey down the river they arrived at St. Joseph, Mo., November 17, 1864.

Company H having been detained by floating ice, Captain Bedal abandoned his boat a few miles above St. Joseph, and marched his command to the city, rejoining the other companies November 23d.

Leaving St. Joseph on the 24th of November, and proceeding by rail, they arrived on the following day at Quincy, Ill., and thence proceeded by way of Springfield, Ill., and Indianapolis, Ind., arriving on November 29, 1864, at Louisville, Ky., where they went into camp.

Companies B, E, G and K, under command of Major Clowney, left Fort Wadsworth, Dakota Territory, on the 29th of September, 1864, en route for Fort Snelling, Minn., where they arrived on the 20th of October, having marched upwards of four hundred miles in twenty days, making an average of 20½ miles per day. This march indicates better than words can express, the vigor and hardiness of the men composing the Thirtieth Regiment. Embarking on steamboats at Fort Snelling, Minn., on October 20, they descended the Mississippi to St. Louis, Mo., where they arrived on the 26th, and were quartered in Benton Barracks. They left St. Louis on the 29th of October, and arrived next day at Paducah, Ky, at the mouth of the Tennessee River. Here they were employed in guard duty until December 6, 1864, when they again embarked and proceeding up the Ohio River, landed at Louisville December 10, where they rejoined the balance of the regiment, with the exception of Co. I, which still remained at Fort Union, Dakota Territory.

On the 12th of December 1864, the nine companies of the Thirtieth left Louisville by rail, and next day went into camp at Bowling Green, Ky. Here the Regiment was assigned to the Second Brigade, Second Division, Military District of Kentucky. Colonel Dill took command of the Brigade, and Major Clowney that of the Regiment. On the 10th of January, 1865, the Regiment left Bowling green for Louisville, arriving on the 12th, where they were assigned to duty as guard to the military prison in that city.

On the 20th of January, 1865, Companies A, D and F, under command of Captain Meacham, of Co. F, were detached as provost guard in the city. On the 8th of February, 1865, Companies B, E and G, under command of Major Clowney, proceeded by rail to Frankfort, Ky., sixty five miles from Louisville, under orders to assume the duties of permanent garrison of that city. Company B, on the 30th of March, moved from Frankfort to Georgetown, Ky., near which they were stationed as garrison, under command of Lieutenant William H. Gill.

Lieutenant Colonel Bartlett rejoined and assumed command of the Regiment at Louisville in the latter part of February, 1865, and on April 17, 1865, Colonel Dill was appointed Provost Marshal General of Kentucky. Company В rejoined the command May 27, and early in June Companies E and G returned to Louisville, where Company I also rejoined the Regiment June 22, 1865, having been relieved from duty at Fort Union, Dakota Territory, June 4. During the service of the Regiment in Kentucky it was engaged in running down and capturing the numerous bands of guerrillas which infected the Department. The notorious Sue Mundy was captured after a desperate resistance, and with many others hung by sentence of Court Martial which was in continual session for the trial of these assassins.

The regiment was mustered out of service at Louisville, Ky., September 20, 1865, and immediately started for home, arriving at Madison, Wis., September 25, 1865, where it was paid and disbanded.