From the April 14th Joliet Herald-News "Joliet's civil warrior" by Tony Graf.
I had never heard of Union Col. Frederick Bartleson until my friend Lulu sent me this article. Then I ended up doing another hour's research on him. He was definitely a warrior of the highest level.
Besides being one of the first (possibly the first) to enlist, wounded and lost an arm in one battle, was captured and held prisoner for six months, exchanged and then killed on the battlefield in 1864. After the loss of the arm, that could have been the extent of his service, but it wasn't so.
He rejected pleas to retire and pleas from both Republicans and Democrats to run for Congress. While a prisoner, he wrote a poem.
Despite having only recently being married, he became captain of a company in the 20th Illinois and marched off to war.
More to Come. --Old B-Runner
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