20
Frederick L. Hale and Theodore Willis, 43rd Wisconsin Infantry
September to December 1864
The last known members of our family to enlist were Frederick Hale and his brother-in-law Theodore Willis. By this time the war was winding down in many areas; the Federal Government was in control of Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana and most of the coastlines, and most everyone knew the North was going to win. But the South still showed no signs of quitting the fight; the work had to be finished, and men were still being lost, so the states had to continue raising new regiments right up to the end.
Frederick Lincoln Hale was born about 1830 in Jefferson County, New York, the son of Ozias and Arthusa Hale. The family moved to Wisconsin sometime before 1855. Fred was a farmer and an engineer (we don’t know what kind of engineer) and was living in Racine County at the time of his enlistment. Fred was married to Mary E. Willis, and they had two children – Henry, age 7, and Emma, age 5 – when he joined. Mary was also two months pregnant with their third child when Fred left, which he may or may not have known. Fred was described as having a dark complexion, blue eyes and brown hair, and was 5 feet 7-½ inches tall.
Theodore F. Willis was born in New York, the son of Wilmot and Mary Willis, and the brother of Mary E. (Willis) Hale. His family were farmers, but we don’t know if Theodore himself was. He was living in Kewaskum, Wisconsin when he enlisted. I only found out recently and by accident that he was in the army, so I have no other information on him. I have not seen his official records yet; all we have are the dates of his enlistment and discharge.
The 43rd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment was a one-year regiment raised late in the War. It was one of 53 infantry regiments raised by the State of Wisconsin; the fact that it was a one-year regiment indicates that the North was confident that the war would soon be over. During the course of the war, the regiment lost only one man killed in battle, but 74 men died from disease.
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The 43rd Regiment was organized at Madison, Wisconsin on August 8, 1864. It was mustered in by companies at various points in the state from August 8 to September 30. Company G was formed at Milwaukee; it was commanded by Captain Bruce McCoy of Racine, and most of the men in the company were from Racine County.
Frederick Hale enlisted for one year at Milwaukee on September 19, 1864. He was mustered into service and assigned to Company G on the same day. The companies were assembled at Madison and began training in late September.
Amasa Cobb was appointed Colonel commanding the 43rd Regiment on September 24. He had been in the war earlier, as a Colonel commanding the 5th Wisconsin Infantry. He was at South Mountain and Antietam, where he was temporarily in command of a brigade in Franklin’s VI Corps. He resigned his commission in December 1862 due to being elected to the Wisconsin State Congress. Now in 1864, he resigned his position as Speaker of the House to raise the 43rd Regiment.
On October 10, after less than three weeks of training, the Regiment was loaded onto trains to move out. On that same day, Theodore Willis enlisted in the 43rd Regiment, so he may not have received any kind of training at all. The Regiment went by train from Madison to Nashville, Tennessee. We don’t know if Theodore traveled with them, or caught up with them later.
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The 43rd Wisconsin was assigned to the "Defences of Nashville-Northwestern Railroad" (Colonel Thompson), District of Tennessee (General Rousseau), Department of the Cumberland (General Thomas). Henry Kilburn and Horace Cookingham are also in the District of Tennessee at this time, on the "Defences of Nashville-Chattanooga Railroad."
Fred Hale and Theodore Willis were moved with their regiment from Nashville to Johnsonville, Tennessee. At this time there is some uncertainty over the date when the 43rd Wisconsin actually arrived in Johnsonville. Dyer’s compendium of returns lists them in Johnsonville as early as October 15. However, in a report dated October 24, General Thomas (Army of Cumberland) says the 43rd Wisconsin is at Gillem’s, "ready to go" (I don’t know where Gillem’s is). And in a return of October 25, Thomas lists the 43rd in a reserve pool for newly arrived troops, not yet deployed. In any case, we know for certain that they were at Johnsonville by the end of the month.
The 43rd Wisconsin formed part of the Johnsonville garrison, guarding the railroad and supply depot, from October 15 to the end of November. Johnsonville was a major supply depot on the Tennessee River, the end terminal of the Nashville-Northwestern Railroad, and the main exchange point between the railroad and river traffic. The city at that time was located on the right bank of the Tennessee River, and the railroad ran straight east from the river to Nashville. A range of hills came down almost to the river south of the tracks; north of the tracks, the ground was flat and open. The opposite side of the river was covered in heavy forest. They had built some earthworks on the hills, but only some rifle pits on the flats north of the tracks. Most of this is now under water, flooded by the damming of the Tennessee River by the TVA.
The Johnsonville garrison included the 43rd Wisconsin (about 700 men), parts of the 12th, 13th and 100th U.S. Colored Regiments (about 800 men altogether), two artillery batteries, and some Navy boats on the river. The 43rd Wisconsin was positioned in the earthworkson the hills, and in the rifle pits on the flats.
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At the time the 43rd Wisconsin was being moved to Johnsonville, Sherman’s army was preparing to leave Atlanta and start on its march through Georgia. The battles to take Atlanta had drawn in all available troops, leaving only small garrisons like those at Johnsonville and Murfreesborough to hold large areas of Tennessee. Most Confederate armies in the central part of the country were also at Atlanta, except for one – General Nathan B. Forrest with 17 regiments of cavalry, was based around Corinth, Mississippi and Paris, Tennessee. With the depletion of Union troops in the area, Forrest was free to roam about with his cavalry; he had no real objective other than breaking up supply and communication lines and destroying whatever he could find of any value.
Forrest’s Raid into West Tennessee began from Corinth on October 30, ending in an attack on Johnsonville. On November 2, Forrest’s small army approached Johnsonville from the west; that is, from the forests on the opposite side of the river. He placed artillery batteries on the river above and below the town, cutting off the garrison from river traffic and trapping the three Navy gunboats that were there at the time. The gunboats tried to break through the artillery points on November 3, but failed, and returned to Johnsonville.
Johnsonville was attacked on November 4. The Confederate cavalry was unable to get across the river, so the attack ended up as mostly an artillery battle. The Federal forces involved were the 43rd Wisconsin, 11th Tennessee Cavalry, 12th U.S. Colored Infantry, detachments of the 13th and 100th U.S. Colored Infantry, 1st Kansas Battery, a battery of U.S. Artillery, and the three Navy gunboats. Eight men were killed, including one from the 43rd Wisconsin.
This was not a big fight, especially as the opposing forces could not get across the river at each other. It would never have received much notice except for the actions of the Navy. The Naval officer in command of the three boats became afraid that the Confederates would try to capture them, so he decided they should burn them. The resulting fire spread from the boats to the docks, and they were unable to put it out. It spread from the docks to the commissary, and from there to the supply warehouses. The U.S. lost over $1.5 million in supplies stored at the depot (equivalent to several hundred million today), plus the three gunboats, for no good reason.
The records are filled with investigations into this incident. Col Cobb, commanding the 43rd Wisconsin, gave a statement in which he said the Navy Lieutenant commanding the boats was negligent and should be arrested.
The Confederates bombarded the town and garrison with artillery once more on November 5, then they disappeared, moving back south into Mississippi.
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Sherman started his March to the Sea on November 16. General Hood was commanding the main Confederate army in the area. He thought that instead of trying to chase after Sherman, he would go back and invade Tennessee – the idea being that Sherman would be forced to come back and deal with him, just as Lee had always been able to pull the Union armies away from Richmond. In this case it didn’t work; Sherman cut all communications and continued on, trusting Thomas to hold Tennessee with the troops left behind. But Hood continued with his plan, resulting in the last big Tennessee battles of the war, and indirectly affecting the 43rd Wisconsin.
About the third week of November, Fred Hale became sick. On November 25, he was removed from active duty with rheumatic fever.
Thomas started reorganizing and pulling in some of his scattered troops in late November, in response to Hood’s approach. On November 26, Rousseau’s District of Tennessee was broken up. Rousseau was moved to command the XX Corps. The 43rd Wisconsin (and also the 12th Ohio Battery) were also moved to the XX Corps. Colonel Thompson, commanding the Johnsonville garrison, wrote to complain about this on November 28. He asked if the 43rd was to be moved immediately, stating that at that time they were the only troops left besides the 2nd Tennessee for guarding the supply trains.
While this was happening, Fred Hale was sent by train from Johnsonville to Nashville. Theodore Willis remained at Johnsonville.
On November 29, General Thomas replied to Colonel Thompson, instructing him to start pulling everyone off the railroad. That same day the last train was sent out from Nashville. They loaded it with the last supplies; Johnsonville was evacuated. The troops started marching back toward Nashville, picking up their outposts along the railroad as they went. Theodore Willis with the 43rd Wisconsin started out on November 30.
The Battle of Franklin took place on November 30; the Confederates continued on toward Nashville. Also on November 30, we see the 43rd Wisconsin being commanded by Lt Colonel Byron Paine – don’t know what happened to Colonel Cobb.
Probably about December 1 or 2, Fred Hale was sent by train from Nashville to Jefferson, Indiana. This may have been the normal way of doing things, or they might have been clearing the sick and wounded out of Nashville in preparation for the coming battle. Fred was admitted to the Jefferson General Hospital on December 3. Their diagnosis was "dyspepsia" (ulcers or chronic indigestion), which we know is wrong – he had rheumatic fever. We have his hospital card, which shows he was in Bed 39 of Ward 5. He gave his residence as Racine, and said Mary was currently living with her parents in Boltonville, Washington County.
On December 5, Theodore Willis and the other troops from Johnsonville reached Clarksville, Tennessee. The 43rd Wisconsin was left in Clarksville as garrison, while the others continued on with Colonel Thompson for Nashville. According to a weekly report dated December 12, the 43rd at this time consisted of 27 officers and 715 men, and was now listed as part of the 4th Division of XX Corps.
The 43rd Wisconsin remained in garrison at Clarksville and was not directly involved in the subsequent battles. On December 12, about 4000 Confederate troops under General Lyon attacked Hopkinsville, Kentucky, just north of Clarksville. The Battle of Nashville took place on December 15, in which Hood was finally defeated.
By December 24, things had returned to normal and troops were being sent back out along the railroad lines again. The 43rd is mentioned by Rousseau as a possible source for a garrison along the Columbia Road. But on the 27th they were assigned to guard the Nashville-Chattanooga Railroad (as was the 12th Ohio Battery). They traveled by steamboat from Clarksville to Nashville. On December 28, they became part of the 3rd Brigade, "Defences of Nashville-Chattanooga Railroad" (General Milroy), District of Tennessee (Rousseau), Army of Cumberland (Thomas).
On December 30, 1864, the 43rd Wisconsin was ordered to travel by train to Elk River and Decherd. They were to take over the string of railroad blockhouses, from #17 south of Tullahoma, south along the Chattanooga Railroad. Their headquarters from this time would be at Dechard.
At the end of the year, Fred Hale was listed on his company muster rolls as still being in the Jefferson Hospital.
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