Camp Hamilton/Wood in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

Following up on the entries from earlier this month on Private Stockwell's gun and the 14th Wisconsin Infantry.

The 14th Wisconsin were mustered in on January 30, 1862, at Camp Wood in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, which was their training camp. The place was originally named Camp Hamilton after Charles S. Hamilton, the commander of the 3rd Wisconsin Infantry who trained there before mustering into Union service.

It became Camp Wood when the 14th Wisconsin trained there and was named after its commander, Col. David E. Wood.

During the war, it was outside of Fond du Lac, but now is inside the city. Only a small park marks its existence these days.

--Old Secesh

Football in the Civil War? You Betcha, Well, Sort Of

In the last post, I mentioned a plaque at Camp Randall in Madison, Wisconsin, with the names of 27 men from the 14th Wisconsin who were wounded and died at the Battle of Shiloh on April 7, 1862. The only Camp Randall in Madison, Wisconsin, that I know of is Camp Randall Stadium where the University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers play their home football games.

Could this Camp Randall have a connection?

Turns out it does. Camp Randall Stadium was actually a Civil War training camp where some 70,000 Wisconsin volunteers and draftees learned how to be soldiers during the war.

So there you have your Civil War- football Connection.

Wonder if Badger units marched off to the strains of "On Wisconsin?"

One Has to Wonder. --Old Secesh

The 14th Wisconsin Infantry: Private Stockwell's Regiment

From Wikipedia.

Four members of the 14th won the Medal of Honor at the Battle of Corinth, Oct. 3-4, 1862, including Color-Sergeant (carried the battleflag) Denis J.F. Murphy of Green Bay who was wounded three times.

The 14th organized in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, on January 30, 1862 and mustered out at Mobile, Alabama on October 9, 1965.

During the course of the war, 6 officers and 116 enlisted men were killed in action or mortally wounded. Another 3 officers and 194 enlisted died from diseases.

There is a small metal plaque at Camp Randall in Madison (where the University of Wisconsin plays football) that says 27 men of the 14th died of wounds received at the Battle of Shiloh (where Elisha Stockwell was wounded) on April 7, 1862.

It was sometimes called the Northwest Regiment (because most of the men were from the northern part of the state) or the Wisconsin Regulars. Private Stockwell's Company I was called the Black River Rangers.

The Story of a Regiment. --Old Secesh

Some More On Private Stockwell

Elisha Stockwell's memoirs were put into a book in 1985 "Private Elisha Stockwell, Jr. Sees the Civil War," 224 pages, edited by Byron R. Abernathy.

Several sources said it was good reading, especially to get a teenager's view of service during the war. He enlisted in 1862 at the age of 15.

He was in Co. I, of the 14th Wisconsin, Infantry from Fon du Lac, Wisconsin.

--Old Secesh