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Guide to the Margaret MacDonald Collection on the Grand Army of the Republic Wilson Colwell Post Number 38 of La Crosse, Wisconsin, 1865-1989 MSS 033

Guide to the Margaret MacDonald Collection on the Grand Army of the Republic Wilson Colwell Post Number 38 of La Crosse, Wisconsin, 1865-1989

MSS 033

Summary Information

Abstract
Information gathered by Margaret ("Peggy") MacDonald primarily about members of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Wilson Colwell Post No. 38, La Crosse, Wisconsin, and a few members belonging to the John Flynn Post No. 77 of the North Side of La Crosse.

Also some history of Civil War regiments having connections to La Crosse veterans.

The Colwell Post was formed in July 1882 and the last member died in Sept. 1939.
Collection Title
Margaret MacDonald Collection on the Grand Army of the Republic Wilson Colwell Post Number 38 of La Crosse, Wisconsin
Date of Materials [bulk]
Bulk, 1890-1939
Date of Materials [inclusive]
1865-1989
Creator
MacDonald, Margaret
Call Number
MSS 033
Amount
1.8 cubic feet
Physical Description
4 archives boxes, 1 card file box
Language of Materials
English
Repository
La Crosse Public Library Archives

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Margaret MacDonald Colletion on the Grand Army of the Republic Wilson Colwell Post Number 38 of La Crosse, Wisconsin, MSS 033, La Crosse Public Library Archives, La Crosse, WI

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Historical Note

The La Crosse Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Post No. 38 was founded in on July 15, 1882, ("Greatest Memorial Day is Last to be Handled by Veterans of Grand Army after 40 Years Service," La Crosse Tribune and Leader-Press, June 1, 1919, p. 2) and named after fallen commander Wilson Colwell. Colwell, a La Crosse Civil War captain, led Company B of the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry, also known as the Light Guards and later the Iron Brigade, from the organization of the group in 1861 until his death at the Battle of South Mountain, Virginia, in September of 1862.

The GAR met in a room in the La Crosse County Courthouse until the last member, John Hart, died on September 10, 1939. The GAR organized the annual Memorial Day parade and activities until 1919, and participated until the very end. To be eligible to join, prospective members had to have served for the Union in the Civil War but did not have to serve solely for a Wisconsin regiment. Many members served in the regiments of other states, such as New Hampshire, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana.

La Crosse's role in the Civil War is well documented in published sources, but the GAR's activities are not. Ms. MacDonald included excerpts in her notes from the GAR post minute book, but the whereabouts of this volume (volumes?) are unknown.

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Scope and Contents

Margaret "Peggy" MacDonald recorded information about the GAR veterans on 3" x 5" note cards and also typed up sheets which she kept in binders. She labeled each binder as a volume and there were four volumes in total, plus four metal note card boxes.

The original order has been maintained, but the material has been photocopied onto acid neutral paper and organized into archival containers. The beginning folders include general information on regiments and the Wilson Colwell GAR post no. 38 (the project Ms. MacDonald undertook) followed by the biographical information which is arranged alphabetically.

The project that Ms. MacDonald envisioned was never fully completed, so the Archives made a second set of the materials in the hope that someone else would someday again take up the project. The Archives staff searched the veteran names and added obituaries where possible to enhance the collection for genealogical researchers.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

La Crosse Public Library Archives 1997 May

800 Main St.
La Crosse, Wisconsin, 54601
(608) 789-7136
archives@lacrosselibrary.org

Access to Materials

Materials in this collection are available for patron use.

Acquisitions Information

(Accession No. 1997.005) Donated by Margaret (Peggy) MacDonald via Ruth MacDonald, Oct. 1996.

Processing Information

Processed by Jaime Dechant, May 1997; register prepared by Anita Taylor Doering.

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Controlled Access Headings

Corporate Name(s)

  • Grand Army of the Republic. Wilson Colwell Post No. 38 (La Crosse, Wis.).

Geographic Name(s)

  • La Crosse (Wis.)--Biography
  • Wisconsin--History--Civil War, 1861-1865

Subject(s)

  • Veterans--Societies, etc.--Wisconsin--La Crosse

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OCLC Number

42396895

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Collection Inventory

Box Folder

Transcription of Personal War Sketches of the Members of Wilson Colwell Post No. 38 of La Crosse (transcribed by Vicki Bott), March 1989 

1 1

Supplement to Personal War Sketches / compiled by Margaret ("Peggy") MacDonald, 1979 

Scope and Contents

Includes: introduction; Lists/Indexes; List of Civil War veterans buried in La Crosse County; Regiments/rosters and regimental histories; Sources of further information; Last days of the Wilson Colwell Post; Project overview

1 2-4

Biographies of Wilson Colwell Post #38 members 

Box Folder

Aiken, David L. 

1 5

Aiken, Frank 

1 5

Alden, Charles J. 

1 5

Alexander, Samuel E. (A.S.) 

1 5

Allen, Thomas 

1 5

Allison, John W. 

1 5

Anders, Ignatius 

1 5

Anderson, Wendell A., M.D. 

1 5

Angevine (Angeville?), James 

1 5

Arnold, Alexander A. (A. A.) 

1 5

Arnold, William 

1 5

Atkinson, George 

1 5

Atkinson, Millard 

1 5

Aylmer, Edw. P. 

1 5

Atwater, James 

1 5

Austin, Perry A. 

1 5

Babatz, William Felix 

1 6

Babcock, Godfrey S. 

1 6

Bailey, George H. (Hiram George) 

1 6

Barlow, Eliakilm 

1 6

Barnes, Robert 

1 6

Baty, John C. 

1 6

Beck, August A. 

1 6

Beckwith, Henry J. 

1 6

Bell, Walter D. 

1 6

Bentley, Charles S. 

1 6

Bentley, Edwin E. (E. E.) 

1 6

Benzie, Alex R. 

1 6

Biesecker, Rueben B. 

1 6

Bigley, John Ambrose 

1 6

Bird Brothers 

1 6

Blankley, John 

1 6

Bleekman, Adelbert E. (A. E.), Sr. 

1 6

Blyton, William H. 

1 6

Brown, John 

1 6

Brown, Edward (Rev.) 

1 6

Brown, William C. 

1 6

Bresee, Harmon Benjamin 

1 6

Bridgeman, E. P. 

1 6

Brice, Alexander 

1 6

Brizzee, William A., Jr. 

1 6

Bryan, Isaac R. 

1 6

Bryant, Benjamin French (B. F.) 

1 6

Bunnell, LaFayette H. 

1 6

Burdett, Frank D. 

1 6

Burgermeister, Joseph 

1 6

Burns, Robert W. 

1 6

Busbee, C. C. 

1 6

Buttles, Mark M. 

1 6

Cameron, Alexander 

1 7

Cameron, Don Carles 

1 7

Cameron, Dugald Dudley, M. D. 

1 7

Canterbury, J. B. (James) 

1 7

Carter, Amos Claude 

1 7

Carter, LeGrande 

1 7

Chatfield, Charles A. 

1 7

Clark, Sylvester 

1 7

Cleveland, J. J. 

1 7

Collins, Mathiah 

1 7

Colwell, Wilson 

1 7

Comeau, Theodore 

1 7

Cook(e), Chauncey, H. 

1 7

Cooley, Herbert 

1 7

Copeland, B. F. 

1 7

Copeland, Frederick Allen (F. A.) 

1 7

Cornell, Andrew 

1 7

Cox, Edward 

1 7

Cox, Lemuel B. 

1 7

Cronon, David 

1 7

Cronon, Edward 

1 7

Cushing Brothers 

1 7

Cutler, George W. 

1 7

Dailey, Dennis 

1 8

Dalton, John W. 

1 8

Dalton, George H. 

1 8

Dalton, Thomas E. 

1 8

Darling, William A. (W. A. Brizzee) 

1 8

Davidson, James 

1 8

Davidson, William J. 

1 8

Davis, David C. 

1 8

Davis, John R. 

1 8

Davis, John Warren 

1 8

Dayton, Almon 

1 8

Delameter, Adelbert B. 

1 8

Deniston, Hardy 

1 8

Desmond, John 

1 8

Doerre, Frank 

1 8

Dunn, Bernard 

1 8

Edmonds, Sarah Emma 

1 9

Edwards, Benjamin Eugene (B. E.) 

1 9

Edwards, Henry E. 

1 9

Emily, Anthony 

1 9

Emily, W. H. (William) 

1 9

Emily, Webster L. 

1 9

Estover, George W. 

1 9

Eveland, Abram C. 

1 9

Fahey, Richard 

1 10

Fairchild, Lucius 

1 10

Flynn, John [North Side Post namesake] 

1 10

Forbes, John 

1 10

Forbes, Herrick Alexander 

1 10

Foster, J. T. (Jacob) 

1 10

Fox, John A. 

1 10

Franz, August 

1 10

Fritz, Charles August 

1 10

Fry, John 

1 10

Gale, Joseph 

1 11

Garland, Richard H. 

1 11

Gardner, Myron 

1 11

Gautsch (Gausch), John 

1 11

Gibbon, John 

1 11

Gibson, William J. 

1 11

Gilbertson, Gilbert 

1 11

Gleason, Henry 

1 11

Gordon, William Wallace 

1 11

Green, Asa 

1 11

Greineisen, Peter 

1 11

Grover, William 

1 11

Gunn, Abraham 

1 11

Hackett, Ephram L. 

1 12

Hardy, Albert 

1 12

Harries, W. H. 

1 12

Harrington, Joseph 

1 12

Hart, Alvah 

1 12

Hart, John W. 

1 12

Hartwell, Frank R. 

1 12

Hauser, Theodore 

1 12

Haydon (Heydon), E. W. 

1 12

Hayes, Samuel 

1 12

Heald, Abner O. 

1 12

Hebberd, Stephen Southwick 

1 12

Heineck, Squaring/Squire 

1 12

Heymann, William 

1 12

Hirshheimer, Julius 

1 12

Hirshheimer, Henry 

1 12

Hockabout, William 

1 12

Holden, Isaac 

1 12

Holley, John Milton, Sr. 

1 12

Holmes, William S. 

1 12

Hood, Clark L. 

1 12

Hough, Henry P. (P. H.) 

1 12

Howard, Alonzo F. 

1 12

Hoynes, William J. 

1 12

Hughes, Robert 

1 12

Hunt, Clinton W. 

1 12

Hunt, Ezra 

1 12

Hyde, Warren 

1 12

Iverson, Ole 

1 13

Johnson, William 

1 14

Jungen, Carl William 

1 14

Kable, Ernest 

1 15

Kane (Kine?), James 

1 15

Kellogg, John 

1 15

Kempter, Richard R. 

1 15

Kennet, William Lush 

1 15

Kimball, Charles B. 

1 15

King, Levi Marble 

1 15

Kingsley, George Lyman 

1 15

Koblitz, Albert 

1 15

Kollock, Wellington 

1 15

Kuehn, Albert F. 

1 15

Langstadt, Gottfried 

1 16

Lasure, John B. 

1 16

Lawrence, John 

1 16

Lawrence, Tennis O. 

1 16

Lee, William 

1 16

Lightbody, James H. (J. H.) 

1 16

Lockman, Ezra M. 

1 16

Lord, David (see: Petty, David Lord) 

1 16

McCann, John W. 

1 17

McCauley, Thomas 

1 17

McClanathan, John P. 

1 17

McEwan Brothers 

1 17

MacLaren, John 

1 17

Maguire (McGuire), Arthur 

1 17

Mahoney, John 

1 17

Mairich, Wenzil 

1 17

Malbon, James A. 

1 17

Mansfield, John 

1 17

Markle, Jacob 

1 17

Markle, Samuel 

1 17

Marshall, James W. 

1 17

Martin, Christopher D. 

1 17

Meier, Michael 

1 17

Merrick, George Byron 

1 17

Miller, William F. 

1 17

Moody, James C. 

1 17

Moody, Samuel H. 

1 17

Moore, Martin Thomas 

1 17

Moore, Jerry 

1 17

Morrison, George 

1 17

Morrison, Hiram J. 

1 17

Mowers, Ezra L. 

1 17

Mueller, Charles M. 

1 17

Mulder, Henry 

1 17

Nelson, L. M. 

2 1

Newton, A. B. , M. D. 

2 1

Noble, Addison Rudolph 

2 1

Nutting, Oscar F. 

2 1

Olenbough, Charles 

2 2

Olin, Carlton (Stephen Cobra) 

2 2

Olson, Andrew W. 

2 2

Orcutt, George Washington 

2 2

Osborne, Rockwell E. 

2 2

Ottilie, Charles, M. D. 

2 2

Otis, George H. 

2 2

Outmans, James C. 

2 2

Owen, John 

2 2

Parker, Jerome E. 

2 3

Parmalee, Joseph E. 

2 3

Peck, George W. 

2 3

Pederson, John A. 

2 3

Perkins, Eugene Gillet 

2 3

Peters, David 

2 3

Pettibone, August H. 

2 3

Petty, David Lord 

2 3

Phelps, Dudley G. 

2 3

Philips, Dwight (George B.) 

2 3

Philips, Jason F. 

2 3

Pitkin, Milo 

2 3

Plummer, Philip W. 

2 3

Polleys, J. W. 

2 3

Polleys, Thomas 

2 3

Porter, Edgar A. 

2 3

Powers, Edgar A. 

2 3

Purdy, George (Tim Brady) 

2 3

Putnam, C. H. 

2 3

Putnam, W. R. 

2 3

Rask, Christian (Peter) 

2 4

Recob, William 

2 4

Replogle, Daniel O. 

2 4

Ricker, Henry F. 

2 4

Rooney, Thomas H. 

2 4

Rossiter, L. 

2 4

Rossiter, William 

2 4

Rusk, Jeremiah McLain 

2 4

Russell, John F. 

2 4

Sacia, Marion 

2 5

Sagear, William 

2 5

Sanborn, Charles P. 

2 5

Sasil, Harmon 

2 5

Sauer, Jacob 

2 5

Schaller, Frank 

2 5

Scott, George W. 

2 5

Scott, Robert A. 

2 5

Schultz, Charles 

2 5

Scoville, Eugene 

2 5

Selby, William Milton 

2 5

Short, Allan M. 

2 5

Short, George L. 

2 5

Sickles, Henry 

2 5

Sisson Brothers 

2 5

Sly, Benjamin 

2 5

Snow, Edwin 

2 5

Snow, John W. 

2 5

Smith, Wallace 

2 5

Spicer, Asher 

2 5

Stanford Brothers 

2 5

Stephenson, Joseph 

2 5

Stevens, A. O. 

2 5

Stewart, Edwin E. 

2 5

Stordahl, Nels P. 

2 5

Sturdivant, L. M. 

2 5

Suiter (Sutor?), Walter F., M.D. 

2 5

Sultana steamer, 1865 

2 5

Sweet, Lafayette 

2 5

Sweet, William A. 

2 5

Symes, George G. 

2 5

Tancre, Louis 

2 6

Tenney, Edwin A. 

2 6

Thiel, John 

2 6

Tilton, William H. 

2 6

Tippetts, William 

2 6

Tuechek, Joseph, Sr. 

2 6

Tuechek (Tuchek), Wenzel 

2 6

Van Kirk, Jerry 

2 7

Van Loon, Albertus A. 

2 7

Van Loon, Ryndert 

2 7

Van Wie, H. C. 

2 7

Vincent, Henry K. 

2 7

Vought, Thomas L. 

2 7

Waller, Phineas B. 

2 8

Washburn, C. C. 

2 8

Watts, William 

2 8

Webster, Daniel (of La Crosse) 

2 8

Webster, Daniel (of Prairie du Chien) 

2 8

Welch, Freeborn N. 

2 8

Westerhouse, Henry 

2 8

Wilcox, Lansing 

2 8

Wilhelm, John 

2 8

Wilson, John E. 

2 8

Winters, Adoniram Judson 

2 8

Withee, Charles 

2 8

Withee, Levi 

2 8

Withee, Zachariah 

2 8

Woessner, Andrew (including information on Spanish-American War) 

2 8

Wood, James D. 

2 8

Woodward, Gilbert Motier 

2 8

Woodward, James 

2 8

Wright, George W. 

2 8

Woolson, Albert 

2 8

Young, Eliot 

2 9

Young, James W. 

2 9