20th Wisconsin

The men of this regiment were recruited in June and  July, 1862, and sent forward in squads to Camp Randall. The regimental organization was completed, and the regiment mustered into the United States service- the muster being completed on the 23rd of August. The field officers of the regiment were all promoted from the old regiments in the field. The Colonel, Bertine Pinckney, of Rosendale, having formerly been the Lieutenant Colonel of the Third Infantry, and Lieutenant Colonel Bertram, the Captain of Company A of the same regiment; and Major Henry A. Starr, who was one of the best drilled officers in the volunteer service, Captain of Company D in the First Infantry - a officer of capacity, as well as of experience.
The officers were as follows:
Colonel - Bertine PINCKNEY.
Lieut. Colonel - Henry Bertram. 
Surgeon - Chandler B. Chapman.
Major - Henry A. Starr. 
1st Asst. Surgeon - Emanuel Munk.
Adjutant - Henry V. Morris. 
2d Asst. Surgeon - M. A. Mosher.
Quartermaster - John A. Douglass.  
Chaplain - Wm. H. Marble.

Captains.                          First Lieutenants.         Second Lieutenants.
A - Aug. H. Pettibone.      Wm. H. York.            Joe. M. Brackett.
B - Byron W. Telfair.        Emory F. Stone.         Fred. A. Bird.
C - John McDermott.       Chas. E. Stevens.        Jacob McLaughlin.
D - Almerin Gillett.           Geo. W. Barter.          Chas. B. Butler.
E - John Weber.               Fred. Kusel.               Chas. A. Menges.
F - Nelson Whitman.        Albert H. Blake.          David W. Horton.
G - Edward G. Miller.      Albert J. Rockwell.      James Ferguson.
H - Henry E. Strong.        Geo. W. Root.            Geo. W. Miller.
I  - Wm. Harlocker.         Thos. Bentliff.              Albert P. Hall.
K- Howard Vandagrift.    Nathan Cole.              Sam'l P. Jackson.

On the 30th of August, the regiment left the State for St. Louis, where they marched to Benton Barracks, which they found very filthy and disagreeable. On the 6th of September they were ordered to take the cars for Rolla, where they remained ten days. There they received their quota of wagons and mules, all the mules being as wild as Indians, except one in each team. The mule breaking process, and harnessing them into teams, was, as usual, an exciting and ludicrous scene.

The 16th Regiment marched, with the rest of their brigade, to Springfield, which place they reached on the 24th, the distance being one hundred and thirty-five miles. There were now nearly one hundred and fifty cases of sickness in the regiment. The first severe march always proves too much for the strength of new troops. They suffered much on this march for want of water, all they found being sometimes only stagnant pond water. But at Waynesville an excellent spring twenty feet in width, of clear cold water, rising up constantly, gave them great pleasure.
The quartermaster, Lieutenant J. A. Douglas, was left sick at Lebanon, and died on the 14th of October, universally esteemed by the regiment. October 11th, the regiment marched for Cassville, sixty miles distant, where Colonel Pinckney was placed in command of the brigade, and Lieutenant Colonel Bertram, of the regiment. Not until about this time were they furnished with good guns, or of a uniform kind. October 17th, they commenced a march to attack the rebel camp at Cross Hollows, Arkansas. When near the Missouri State line, twenty or thirty of the Seventh Missouri Cavalry refused to cross the boundary into Arkansas, claiming that they could not be compelled to leave the State. Companies B, G, K, and E, of the Twentieth Wisconsin, were ordered forward, with fixed bayonets, to compel them to go. The Missourians concluded that prudence was the better part of valor, and marched on. In the afternoon of this day they were in the presence of the enemy, and expected a battle, but the rebels declined. In one part of their march, which included crossing the Boston Mountains, they were thirty hours without food, with only six hours of rest, and again they marched a whole day without food. On the 24th, they reached Cross Hollows, which they occupied without opposition, the enemy having fallen back; and, remaining there until November 4th, they started on the march northward to Wilson's Creek, having first held their election for State officers at home. They encamped, near the Pea Ridge battle-ground, and on the next day experienced a terrible hurricane, and reached their old camp near Cassville, and on the 11th, joined Totten's command at Ozark. Through rain and mud they moved on, and on the 22d reached their late camp at Wilson's Creek, near the spot where the brave Lyon fell. Many of the regiment visited his grave, each one carrying a stone to aid in erecting a rude monument to the memory of the gallant hero. At this time many of the regiment were sick, one hundred being in hospital at Springfield, twelve miles away, under charge of the attentive and skillful Dr. Chapman. November 22d, Colonel Pinckney left for Springfield, sick. The regiment had, within two months and a half, moved four hundred miles, and suffered much from forced marches and exposure, and to this time twenty-five of their number had died. November 14th, Colonel Pinckney was presented with a sword by the regiment. December 3rd, they again broke camp, and accompanied General Herron's forces to effect a junction with General Blunt, who was then holding the enemy in check at Cane Hill, Arkansas. By a forced march over a rough and difficult country, they arrived in the vicinity of Fayetteville, on the 6th, having made the remarkable march of one hundred miles in three days. During the summer and autumn of 1862, a series of battles occurred on the "Frontier", which should here be described in their order.

BATTLE OF HONEY SPRINGS.
 As a supply train was returning to Fort Scott, in the month of July, they approached a heavy force of the enemy at Honey Springs, on the Elk River, in the vicinity of Fort Gibson.
General Blunt was passing with his body guard, and concentrated all his available forces to attack the rebels, July 17th. The troops here engaged were the Second Colorado Infantry, First Kansas Colored, the First, Second, and Third Indian Regiments, first battalion of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry, one company of the Fourteenth Kansas, a few recruits attached to the Fourth and Fifth Embryo Indian Regiments, and the first battalion  of the Third Wisconsin Cavalry, Companies B, G, H, 1, and M, commanded by Major Calkins. These all numbered about 3,000 men. The enemy's force was about 7,000.
General Blunt's army descended a long sloping prairie, but none of the enemy could be seen, though it was known, from the smoke of an occasional shot, that they were in position in the edge of a heavy wood. The national forces advanced to meet them on the double quick. As they descended the hill they charged into the timber. Lieutenant E. H. Ely rallied his Indian company, and advanced under a heavy musketry fire. At one time a portion of the Union artillery mistook our troops for the rebels, and fired upon them. The Second Colorado, and the First Kansas Colored Regiments, did the principal part of the fighting. The battle continued four hours, from first to last, the enemy being defeated, with a loss of two hundred killed and wounded, and eighty prisoners, while the Federals lost sixty-five killed and wounded, and captured valuable supplies and horses.

BATTLE OF NEWTONIA.
 A force of 7,000 or 8,000 rebels, under General Cooper, had collected at Newtonia, Missouri. In the afternoon of September 29th, 1862, Lieutenant Colonel Jacobi, under orders, marched to make a reconnaissance of the enemy's numbers and position, having in command Companies D and G of the Third Wisconsin Cavalry, a section of artillery, and a squadron of cavalry, which were reinforced at evening by Companies E and H of the Third Wisconsin, and the next morning by still other forces. As this force approached Newtonia, on the 30th, about 3,000 rebels, concealed behind stone fences and in a large stone barn, awaited their coming. When they were within thirty paces of the concealed foe, the rebels rose and fired upon them with deadly effect. The Unionists fell back in good order, checking the advancing rebels by repeated and well-directed volleys, our artillery also unlimbering as they receded, and pouring their shots upon the exulting Confederate rates. But the enemy were sufficient in number to flank our infantry on both sides, and take many of them prisoners, the cavalry and artillery escaping by the fleetness of their horses.
General Salomon hearing the cannonading some miles distance pressed his forces toward Newtonia, arriving near the battle-field, says Major Schlueter, at sunset. Awaiting the arrival of Colonel Hall with a force by another route. and exchanging a few shots at long range with the enemy, General Salomon moved back his troops that night toward Sarcoxie, where they arrived next morning. In the battle we lost twenty-five, killed, and one hundred and sixty-seven prisoners, fifty-one of whom were wounded. October 3rd, preparations for another, attack on Newtonia having been made, the Third Cavalry marched with the first division for that place, and found it evacuated. Our wounded, captured on the 30th, were found and removed to Sarcoxie.

BATTLE OF CANE HILL.
November 27th, 1862, the first division of the Army of the Frontier - in the first brigade of which was the Ninth Wisconsin Infantry - marched southward across the Ozark Mountains, and on the 28th, approached Cane Hill, Arkansas. There the advance engaged the enemy, and drove him back ten miles, with considerable slaughter on both sides. Six companies of the Third Wisconsin Cavalry were participants in the strife, and the Ninth Wisconsin Infantry were present in the rear of our advancing column, though too far from the retreating enemy to be actively engaged. General Salomon and a portion of his brigade, took part in the engagement. The Twentieth Wisconsin was in General Herron's force, which at that time was on the march to join that of General Blunt's, at Cane Hill; this fact, with the gathering of forces by the rebel General Hindman, was preparing the way for a greater battle. On the 29th, the Ninth Infantry, with the first brigade, went back to Rhea's Mills, took possession, and ran them for the purposes of bread for the men and feed for their animals.

BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE.
At two o'clock on the morning of December 7th, the reveille sounded, and at three the first brigade marched to join the Federal forces at Cane Hill. But during the forenoon it was ascertained that the rebel Hindman and his men had effected a flank movement, and were on the march toward Rhea's Mills. General Blunt moved toward them from  the west, while General Herron approached from the north with the second and third divisions of the army, and commenced the battle at ten in the morning.
The rebels numbered 26,000, with twenty-two pieces of artillery under Hindman and his four division commanders, Rains, Marmaduke, Frost, and Parsons. General Herron had 7,000 men, with twenty-four pieces of cannon, and General Blunt five thousand with twenty-four pieces. The rebels had a strong position. They were on a wooded height, with large open fields in front and on their left. They were able to obtain a perfect knowledge of all our movements, and could mass their forces on any point we might attack. After considerable battling, General Herron directed all his artillery, at once, against the nearest of the enemy's guns, and silenced it in two minutes. He then tried another and another in the same way, till eight or nine of the most troublesome were abandoned by their possessors. When General Blunt's forces reached the field, at two in the afternoon, General Herron was nearly out-flanked by the numerous enemy, his batteries nearly ready to fall, and his men almost exhausted. General Blunt immediately marched his forces across the open plain, pushing the rebels inch by inch, till they reached the woods, where our troops charged upon them. On the crest of that wooded hill, for four hours, hung in perilous uncertainty that terrible conflict. But when Herron's men knew that Blunt's were on the way they were inspired with new bravery and power. At night an armistice was agreed upon, and in the morning it was found that the enemy had fled.
The Wisconsin troops engaged were, one battalion of the Second Cavalry, under Major Miller; five squadrons of the Third Wisconsin Cavalry, and two howitzers, under Major Calkins; and the Twentieth Infantry, under Major Starr, Lieutenant Colonel Bertram having command of the brigade. The Ninth Wisconsin, for the most part, had charge of trains.
Early in the battle the Twentieth Wisconsin were ordered to storm the height beyond them.
They advanced in line, at the double quick, one hundred-rods, until they were brought face to face with the rebels. The regiment now halted, fired two rounds, and commenced to ascend the bill. The whole slope was covered with underbrush, and they advanced with great difficulty; but pressing on, in as good a line as possible, they soon stood before a rebel battery of six guns; they halted, fired a volley, rushed over the rail fence between them and it, and captured the battery. The brave Major Starr led the regiment in this charge. The men raised an exulting cheer at their success, Sergeant Teal raised the stars and stripes over one of the pieces, and the regiment was wild with enthusiasm. They still pressed on up to the rebel lines. The right of the regiment had advanced to within thirty feet of the rebels when they opened on it a tremendous cross fire. Against such a storm of bullets men could not stand, and the right wing gave way. On the left the fire was also galling, but not so severe. By the daring energy of the officers the men were rallied and brought to the work again. Nobly they fought, but could not succeed. A heavy column of rebel infantry was seen advancing rapidly on the right; a minute more and the Twentieth would have been surrounded. No course was left but to retreat, and that at once, which was done. As they fell back, five regiments of the rebels were pouring their fire upon them, and pursued them so closely that they were compelled to abandon the captured Battery, partially destroying it as they left. Afterward, it is said, this same battery was entirely disabled, the horses killed, and gun-carriages broken to pieces, by our Parrott guns, at the distance of more than a mile. The Twentieth retired across an open field to a fence and reformed, and remained until the firing ceased for the day. After this, the Thirty-seventh Illinois and Twenty-sixth Indiana prepared to make a charge. They had seen war at Pea Ridge, and were considered to be two of the finest regiments of the "Army of the Frontier." They advanced up the hill in excellent order, but were also repulsed.
In this terrible charge made by the Twentieth, it was scarcely twenty minutes from the time the first man fell till they withdrew, but in that brief time fifty-one of their number were killed, one hundred and fifty wounded, and eight missing - nearly one half of the whole number engaged.
Colonel Bertram, in his official report of the battle, says of the Twentieth Wisconsin, the officers and men behaved nobly, and stood fire like veterans. The gallant behavior of Major Starr, and of the adjutant, Lieutenant Henry V. Morris, was also noticed, and their cool and prompt manner of executing orders commended. General Herron wrote to Governor Salomon, "I congratulate you, and the State, on the glorious conduct of the Twentieth Wisconsin Infantry in the great battle of Prairie. Grove." The Ninth Infantry, at night, escorted a train to Fayetteville, and at two o'clock the. next morning were ordered upon the battle-field again, having marched forty-five miles in thirty-two hours.
Captain John McDermott, of Company C, and Lieutenant Thomas Bintliff, of Company I, were killed in this fearful charge of the Twentieth Wisconsin. Captain McDermott fell bearing the colors of the regiment, which he had seized when the color bearer was shot. The Captain was a warm-hearted, earnest man, and as brave as the bravest. Lieutenant Bintliff was a Methodist clergyman, from Beetown, Grant County. He was a fine musician, and a genial, kind man. He was an excellent officer, did everything well, and was universally beloved. A fellow-officer of his says, "He died as he lived, a noble specimen of what I consider the highest type of manhood, a Christian soldier." Captain John W. Weber, of Company E, was severely wounded, and soon died. Lieutenant Colonel Bertram had a horse shot under him, and received a slight contusion of the thigh. Captains A. Gillett and H. C. Strong, and Lieutenants Jackson, Bird, Butler, Blake, Ferguson Root, and Miller, were wounded. George M. Reckerman, of Company G, fell, pierced by eight balls. On the 9th the dead received a soldier's burial.

Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park

In these marches and conflicts, Wisconsin troops repeatedly passed over the battle-ground of Pea Ridge, though it appears that no troops from that State were in the battle. There was fought, March 6th and 7th, 1862, one of the most severe battles of the war. The Union force was 16,500, and the Confederate, by their own estimate, from 30,000 to 35,000. The leading Union commanders were Generals, Curtis, Sigel, Asboth, Davis, and Colonel Carr - the last four having each a division. The rebel commanders were Price, Van Dorn, McCulloch, and McIntosh. The Federals were at first surrounded and repulsed, but the day was saved, in great part, by the genius and bravery of Sigel. There McIntosh, who was a cultivated man, and is said to have grieved because he found himself in such bad company among the rebels, was slain; and there the notorious Ben. McCulloch fell, mortally wounded, declaring with the most horrid oaths, as he was borne from the field, that he would not die, that he was not born to be killed by a Yankee. But he died!
After the battle of Prairie Grove, the Ninth Infantry again became employed in flour and bread making at Rhea's Mills, then in a raid on Van Buren, then in a chase after Marmaduke, then in foraging expeditions, marches and countermarches, incident to the border warfare, with which they had become very familiar. Toward summer they came to Forsyth, Missouri, and to Springfield, and the 8th of July to St. Louis.
Colonel Pinckney leaving the command of the Twentieth, on account of ill health, Lieutenant Colonel Bertram was promoted to the colonelcy, December 10th, and Major Starr to the lieutenant colonelcy, the same day.
After this battle, the Twentieth Wisconsin remained in camp at Prairie Grove until the 27th of December, when they accompanied a force of 12,000 of our troops, with thirty-six guns; upon a reconnaissance to Van Buren, on the Arkansas River, but found no enemy. Shortly after this the regiment marched back into Missouri, and spent the balance of the winter there, moving from place to place in the south-western part of the State.
While camped at Mountain Grove, on the 14th of March, this regiment, and the Second Wisconsin Cavalry, adopted a series of patriotic resolutions, strongly denouncing northern opponents of the Federal prosecution of the war, and expressing the most devoted love for the country. The Twentieth adopted them unanimously, after being requested by Colonel Bertram not to vote affirmatively unless they cordially indorsed them. On the 31st of March, the regiment went into camp at Lake Springs, near Rolla. During their six months' absence from Rolla, they had marched 1,100 miles, and lost, of officers and men, two hundred and forty-six including the discharged and wounded who had died. Of those who were still in the regiment, one hundred and thirty-one were absent, sick, and but four hundred and thirty-nine were present and fit for duty.
June 3rd, they marched to Rolla, and took the cars for St. Louis, and the next morning embarked on the steamer Empress, for Young's Point, in Louisiana, a short distance above Vicksburg. They landed there on the 10th, and moved over the peninsula to the river below Vicksburg, crossed the river, and took position in the trenches on the left of the line of the investing force. Here they lay, doing their proportion of picket duty, till the city surrendered. On the 5th of July, General Herron's division moved inside of the rebel works.
The wounded of the Twentieth Infantry in the battle of Prairie Grove, as officially published, were as follows : Company A-2d, Lieut. S. P. Jackson, Corp. S. Smith, Privates E. W. Blake, W. Brownell, W. Heines, A. Huddleston, P. Dean, W. Morrison, G Pettengill, H. E. Thompson, H. Underwood, M. J. Paine, E. W. Hestleroth, G. B. Shaffer, Jerry Brandon. Company B-Lt. F. A. Bird, Privates,
C. M. Atwood, J. Davolt, S. R. Ewing, H. Hineman, J. Holden, G. Hoffman, R. M. Jacks, E. Lewis, P. C. Pool, H. Pine, M. Simpkins, C. M. Welton, J. Gray. Company C_--Sergt. K. Smith, Corps. J. M. Reynolds, S. Livingston, Privates J. Ewing, S. Fitzgerald, J. Hammond, A. Houghtaling, 
A. Norton, A. S. Richards, J. Watkins. Company D-Capt. A. Gillette, Lt. C. B. Butler, Sergt. E. E. Ellis, Corps. F. Swinger, S. Doane, Privates F. E. Garner, J. Girsenheimer, C. Pagel, G. H. Phillips, C G. Read, J. L. Rockwell, S. D. Stevens, B. J. Thompson, D. Tool, H. C. Wood. Company E--Lt. F. Kuzel, Sergt. H. Sommers, Prs. G. Janish, C. Rettig, H. Mueller, W. Tank, L. Zanener, W. Bandle, H. Volkman, W. Hahn, W. Wodke Company F-Lt. A. H. Blake, Sergt. W. E. Marshall, Corp. J. T. Paine, Privates S. Paine, J. Harris, R. Russel, E. Holmes, J. Wagner, G. Lamb. 
Company G-Lt J. Furguson, Sergts. O. S. Phillips. W. Scott, Corps. T. Parr, D. S. Burbank, Privates A. Hazlewood, D. Foley, M. W. O'Kean, S. G. Lockwood, F. Larson, W. Brandt. 
Company H-Capt. H. C. Strong, Lt. G. W. Miller, Corp. E. M. Lull, Privates A. Nass, F. Cruger, B. Smith, L. St. George, David Weber. Company I-Corps. John Stoek, E. Sprague, C. W. Snider, G. W. Day, Privates M. Bitney, G. C. Johnson, C. R. Saddleback, M. J. Whiteside, Wm. Waddle, J. Woodhouse, A. M. Barnum, E. Hulthcroft, B. Peasley. Company K-1st Lt. N. Cole, Sergt J. Blackstone, Corps. F. Rinses, W. Nagues, J. M. Hunter, Privates M. Aaron, J. W. Hamilton, H. Herbig, E. Hager, B. F. Hickman, M. H. Judd, G. Otto, 1). W. Plopper, J. Shaffer S. Smith, J. Sullivan, W. Wilcox-123.

The Twentieth Regiment reached Vicksburg about the 10th of June and took position in the left division of the line. June 3rd, Captain Gillett with twelve men of Companies B and D, advanced carefully to within four rods of the rebel rifle-pits and killed one and captured thirteen of the enemy. for this service General Herron appointed Captain Gillett inspector general of his command.
They were sent too late to take part in the battles around Vicksburg, but bore an honorable part in the siege.
After the surrender of that fortress, their division (General Herron's was ordered to reinforce General Banks, at Port Hudson; but the surrender of the enemy there rendered the movement unnecessary, and they engaged at once in the expedition to Yazoo City, where they captured sixty or more straggling rebels, besides a company of forty or more commanded by an officer, who voluntarily surrendered to Captain Miller and ten men occupying Yazoo City as provost guard until the 21st, they that returned to Vicksburg. Two days later they embarked for Port Hudson where they remained, suffering much from sickness until 13th when they embarked for Carrollton, Louisiana, and September 5th accompanied an expedition to Morganizia, in that State. The following day at ten o'clock in the evening while out with their brigade. on the Simmsport Road the enemy suddenly opened fire upon them in ambuscade, causing them to fall back in the darkness seven miles to Grossetete Bayou. They returned on the 7th, to Morganzia, with a loss of one man killed.
This "movement" as a feint to compel Dick Taylor to divide his forces, and thus it enable General Franklin to occupy Opelousas without serious opposition. They next embarked for the mouth of tile Red river where they were engaged until October 9th when they returned to and prepared for a winter campaign They were now to thirteenth army Corps, And with It went to tile Rio Grand.
This regiment the Twentieth Iowa were crowded upon the steamer Thomas A. Scott and on the afternoon of the 26th dropped down below New Orleans to the head of the passes and awaited the arrival of the balance of the fleet.
At two in the afternoon of the 27th, they crossed the bar and the twenty-seven vessels composing the fleet stood out to sea. On the night of the 29th they encountered a violent storm which continued through the 30th. At sunset Nov. 1st, they dropped anchor off Brazos Santiago. The Scott was soon afterwards ordered to the mouth of the Rio Grande, where on the 3rd, Colonel Bertram attempted to land his brigade.
Starting in small boats with one hundred men he got through the surf, losing two men of the Twentieth Iowa and two sailors drowned. It being found impracticable to land the brigade, the ship, on the next day, joined the fleet, when the men took a light-draught boat, crossed the Brazos bar safely, and at dark, landed. During the voyage religious services were held every morning on the Scott, conducted by the Chaplain of the Twentieth Wisconsin. They were seasons of interest to all on board.
On the 9th of November, the regiment arrived at Brownsville. The rebel General Bee, with 300 men fled at the approach of the Federals burning a large amount of cotton and the soldiers' barracks. The citizens welcomed the union troops cordially. Here the regiment was employed in the performance of fatigue garrison and picket duty at Fort Brown and in preventing the shipping of cotton and the smuggling of English goods into the country, English cloth and horseshoes, and many other articles from Great Britain were seen here. They were landed at Matamoras, Mexico and passed across the river as opportunity offered.
The English merchants at Matamoras were doing an immense business. On the 12th of January the regiment with the Ninety-fourth Illinois, and a battery, crossed the deep and rapid, but narrow, Rio Grande, to Matamoras in Mexico, under command of Colonel Bertram who was ordered by General Herron to protect Mr. Pierce, the United States Consul there, and assist in the removal of property belonging to American citizens. Colonel Cortina, a Mexican officer with a small army had become engaged in a civil broil with the authorities of Matamoras and in the night attacked the town
In a short time an exciting battle was raging in the streets in the heart of the city. The federals advanced with the stars and stripes flying, and the bands playing "Yankee Doodle" and "Rally Round the Flag, Boys." The Twentieth was detailed to guard the residence of the Consul during the fight. Each of the belligerents sought the aid of the Yankees against the other. The women thanked God at their approach. Colonel Bertram, however, in accordance with his instructions, took no part in the fray. For the skillful manner in which he performed his delicate task, he was afterwards complimented in all order by Major General Herron. General Banks, also, says that the duty could not have been entrusted to better hands to execute. The consul and three army wagonloads of gold and silver were escorted across to Brownsville for safety. All returned to the American side on the 14th, and the Twentieth returned to Fort Brown. 
For years, a kind of guerilla warfare had been waged along both sides of the Rio Grande, in which Mexicans, Texans and Indians had taken a part, -the Mexican, a cross between the Indian and Negro, and the Texan, an outlaw, who had fled from civilization to save his head. The Poorer Mexicans lived in houses of cane and straw that resembled cow sheds rather than human dwellings. Many of them obtained a livelihood by selling wood which they transported on the backs of poor, wretched, little, lean donkeys, the crooked limbs of the wood being adjusted to the animal's ribs.
Hay was carried in the same way, and also upon carts drawn  by oxen hitched together at the horns,-oxen poorer than Pharaoh's lean kind. Half naked Mexicans harnessed themselves to barrels in which they drew water about the streets for the citizens. The common dress was of leather - horse hide tanned with the hair on being preferred as most genteel. Deer-skin jackets, hats with enormous brims, belts with concealed knives, and red sashes, constituted some of the articles of clothing seem in the streets of Brownsville. During their stay of eight months, the regiment enjoyed excellent health. The water of the Rio Grand was more healthful than any they had drank except that of the Mississippi, since leaving Missouri. They built an icehouse, and cleaned the filthy streets of Brownsville. Only five deaths occurred in the regiment while they remained.
A army church was formed in the brigade. The third article of their creed expressed their unyielding love of Country. Patriotism and religion were entwined together about the hearts of these frontier soldiers. Divine service was held daily for four months in the Episcopal Church. Two hundred and fifty of the brigade, representing sixteen denominations, united with the army church, of whom eighty were of the Twentieth Wisconsin. Of those, twenty were new converts. The church was filled with soldiers every night, and Chaplain Walters says that better-behaved audiences never met. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered from time to time. All sectarian feelings were buried, and the union was thoroughly Christian. The religious element in the regiment predominated from this time to the close of the war. Hymnbooks, testaments, religious tracts and newspapers were the common literature of the soldiers. The officers paid respect to the religious services, and cooperated with the chaplain in his labors for the good of the men.

In July, 1864, military movements at other points rendered it expedient to withdraw from the Rio Grande. On the 28th of that month all the troops left Brownsville, taking their sick, all their munitions of war and two thousand refugees. On the first of August the fleet left Brazos Santiago for New Orleans, the Twentieth Wisconsin embarking with the commanding General as his escort. They reached Carrollton on the 5th, debarked and on the next day went into camp on the Shell road. On the 7th, they embarked on the same boat to join Farragut's expedition against the forts commanding Mobile. Four days afterward they landed and took position at Navy Cove,  four miles from Fort Morgan, where they took part in the investment and reduction of that stronghold. They were situated on a belt of sand two-thirds of mile wide washed on one side by the Gulf of Mexico, and on the other by Mobile Bay, Fort Morgan being at one end. On the 23rd, the fort surrendered and the Twentieth Wisconsin and an Iowa regiment received the garrison of six hundred men as prisoners of war were afterwards actively employed in building Bridges and repairing railroads and telegraph lines. In September they rafted 50,000 feet of lumber down Fish River, and had a light, skirmish with the enemy. They remained near Mobile until December 14th, when they sailed with other troops to Pascagoula, Mississippi, and landed on the following day pushing their horses overboard, and compelling them to swim ashore. The rebel cavalry guarding the place fled at their approach. Colonel Bertram immediately moved his command into the country towards Mobile. On Sunday, the 18th at two in the afternoon, while halted upon Franklin Creek, near the state line of Alabama, heavy firing was heard along was in line in three The picket line. The Twentieth was in line in three minutes and at once double-quicked to the stream, crossed the bridge, and joined in a fight. General Granger said it was the quickest time he ever saw made by a whole regiment. The rebels were routed after a brisk skirmish. One man of the Twentieth was dangerously wounded.
On Christmas day, the regiment embarked on a immense raft of lumber, which they had put into the stream at a saw mill and floated on it thirty miles down the Dog River, through hostile country with no protection against sharpshooters and guerrillas along the banks, except breastworks of cotton bales on one, side of the raft, and of sweet potatoes on the other. They reached the confluence of the Dog and Pascagoula rivers, with their lumber in safety. Remaining in the vicinity of  Pascagoula until February 1st, 1865, they then returned to their old camp at Navy Cove near Mobile.  At Pascagoula, Colonel Bertram commanded the military district, and Lieutenant Colonel Starr, the brigade to which the Twentieth belonged, and Major A. H. Pettibone, the regiment. All distinguished themselves as officers, and had the unbounded confidence of their commanding general.
On the 8th of March the regiment with the entire brigade, moved out five miles toward Mobile and encamped until the 17th when the march was resumed up the peninsula. On the 22d, they crossed Fish River at daylight on pontoon bridges and encamped to await the arrival of the whole army. On the 25th the march was resumed and a number of horses were killed by torpedoes planted in the road by the rebels.
On the 27th they went into position before 'Spanish Fort, and at four in the afternoon, advanced within short range of rebels. 
Companies A, and B were deployed as skirmishers. Captain Stone, of Company B, led them bravely, and fell, mortally wounded. He was a noble and patriotic young officer, and died greatly lamented. The regiment held their line all night, and for several days were on duty almost constantly until they were nearly exhausted, losing four killed and wounded. In the afternoon of the 31st, the rebels shelled them furiously. The regiment was alternately a day in the trenches and then in the rifle-pits in front, and were located on the extreme left of the line. Mobile soon after surrendered, in the reduction of which the regiment were engaged so long, and performed so important a part. On the 21st of April they moved to Blakely. On the 5th of May, the order was received announcing the cessation of hostilities east of the Mississippi. On the next day the regiment crossed the bay, and encamped four miles from Mobile, on the Shell Road, expecting soon to be mustered out. In June the regiment was sent to Galveston, Texas, and four weeks after, July 14th, were mustered out, and embarked for home. They reached Madison, July 30th, where they received their pay and were disbanded. They returned with four hundred and seventy-five enlisted men and left eighty-four recruits at Galveston, with the Thirty-fifth Wisconsin. Their loss during the war was five hundred, a large proportion of them having been discharged for disability. They traveled by rail and water, and on foot seven thousand miles. For their good conduct and courage, while under his General Granger in a letter to Governor Lewis at the time they were mustered out, praised the regiment in the strongest terms. The muster-out roster, as given by the General, was as follows

REGIMENTAL STATISTICS. -Original strength, 990. Gain:- by recruits in 1863, 12; in 1864, 120; in 1865, 6; Substitute 1 ; total,, 1,129. Loss: by death, 227; desertion, 41 transfer, 115 ; discharge, 222 ; muster-out, 524.

Love 1866