Book chronicles duty, danger, death for county's Civil War soldiers. Text pasted below, link here
www.gazetteextra.com/civilwarbook031002.html(Published Saturday, March 09, 2002 10:39:15 PM CST, The Janesville Gazette)
By Anna Marie Lux/Gazette Staff
Thomas Walterman has gotten to know a lot of Rock County's Civil War veterans during the past five years.
He's read their letters home, their journals in the field and their intimate thoughts before battle. He's come to know them so well that he gets teary-eyed when reading their words. And when he recounts their deaths, far away from friends and family, he feels the loss.
Now Walterman shares their stories in "There Stands 'Old Rock,'" a new book about Rock County and the war to save the Union. The 399-page history is testimony to the sacrifice of Rock County citizens during the bloody conflict.
"It's really amazing what these men and women put up with," Walterman says.
"The volume attempts to humanize and personalize the war."
In July 1995, Walterman retired as associate vice chancellor of UW-Whitewater. Six months later, the Janesville man accepted a request from the Rock County Historical Society to research and write the book. A grant from the Jeffris Family Foundation in Janesville paid to have it printed. But the hundreds of hours that Walterman invested were strictly a labor of love. He was not reimbursed for his time.
"I took it on as a hobby," says Walterman, who is a past president of the historical society and former dean of UW-Rock County.
"The project gave me back so much more than I had anticipated."
Walterman has four degrees in history, but he was only a full-time professor for a few years before having a long career in administration.
"I used to envy those professors who were teaching and doing historical research--my first love," he says.
So when he got to read newspapers and bulletins, personal journals and letters, muster sheets and draft records from the Civil War, he happily lost himself.
Along the way, he discovered that 2,817 Rock County men served the Union between 1861-1865. In proportion to its total population, Rock County sent a larger number of people to the Union army than did any other county in the state.
"The vast majority were simply good and true men who understood the danger secession posed to their country and answered the nation's call to meet that threat," Walterman says.
Women also responded, and a few tried to enlist disguised as men. Some probably succeeded.
The tremendous outpouring of support by citizen soldiers reflected the county's strong sense of the Union with a mix of abolitionist sentiment among community leaders, Walterman explains.
Before the war's end, Rock County soldiers shed their blood at most of the well-known battles: First Bull Run, Second Bull Run, Shiloh, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Antietam, Chickamauga, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Atlanta, The Wilderness, Petersburg and others.
Sadly, 20 percent of those who left Rock County never returned. For every soldier who died on the battlefield, two died from a variety of diseases that plagued both Union and Confederate armies.
Rock County men also served in each of the three state regiments making up the bulk of the Iron Brigade of the West. Arguably the most famous brigade in the Union, it was known for its sheer tenacity in battle.
During his research, Walterman became acquainted with many unique characters.
Cordelia Harvey of Shopiere campaigned tirelessly on behalf of improved treatment of sick and wounded Union soldiers. The "angel of mercy" spoke to President Lincoln himself and forcefully laid out the need to improve medical services.
Capt. William B. Britton of Janesville commanded Company G with the 8th Wisconsin, led by their war eagle mascot, Old Abe. Britton forwarded a grisly memento of the war--a bullet cut from the body of a dead Missouri rebel--to the editor of The Janesville Gazette.
Henry Allyn of Shopiere left his family, friends and home in Rock County on a one-way trip to the war in 1861. Departing by train, Allyn crossed the Rock River on a high and long bridge and caught a glimpse of his home before leaving the state.
In his journal, he poignantly wrote that, if he ever sees his home again, it will be one of the happiest moments of his life.
Allyn survived both battles of Bull Run. Then his hip got shot away at Antietam, and he died from his wounds. Quotes from his journal make up some of the most powerful passages in the book.
Overall, Rock County can be proud of how its citizens behaved during the Civil War.
"They were fighting and dying on behalf of the Union," Walterman says.
"If they had not, we'd be a far different country than we are today. We should not let these things go unrecognized. Unless we know where we came from, we have no concept of where we are going."
