50th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment

The 50th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

50th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment
Wisconsin flag
ActiveMarch 1865 to June 12, 1866
CountryUnited States
AllegianceUnion
BranchUnion Army
TypeRegiment
RoleInfantry
Size958
EngagementsAmerican Civil War
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Colonel John G. Clark

Service

The 50th Wisconsin was organized at Camp Randall in Madison, Wisconsin by Colonel G. Clark and mustered into Federal service between March and April 1865 with a total of 958 men. Leaving Madison, they arrived at St. Louis, Missouri, where they were assigned quarters at Benton Barracks.[1] While Colonel Clark headquartered in Jefferson City, the regiment was distributed throughout Missouri for guard and picket duty,[2] encountering skirmishes near Booneville, Missouri, on May 3, 1865.[3]

The regiment moved on to Kansas City and then to Fort Leavenworth, where they assited in quelling a mutiny in the 6th West Virginia Cavalry,[2] which took place in July 1985 after the cavalry regiment refused orders to fight Native Americans and instead demanded to return home.[4] For this, the 50th received an adulatory acknowledgement by Brigadier General Charles J. Stolbrand praising their "steadiness and devotion to duty".[2] The regiment would later depart for Fort Rice in the Dakota Territory – with Col. Clark placed in command of the post[2] – where they arrived on October 10, 1865 and were stationed until May 1866.[5][6][7] The regiment was mustered out between April 19 and June 12, 1866.[5][8]

Casualties

Records vary on the amount of casualties suffered by the 50th Wisconsin. An official book published in 1915 by the State of Wisconsin on its losses in the war describes 1 enlisted man killed in action, 1 officer[lower-alpha 1] and 3 enlisted men who died of accident, and 38 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 43 fatalities;[10] while A Compendium of the War of Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer describes 1 enlisted man killed in action and 1 officer and 43 enlisted men killed by disease, for a total of 45.[5]

Notes
  1. The officer in question is Captain Charles H. Cox, who was shot by Private Ole Julson on July 10, 1865, onboard the Post Boy steamship on the Missouri River and died the following day.[9]

See also

References
  1. Quiner, Edwin Bryant (1866). The Military History of Wisconsin: A Record of the Civil and Military Patriotism of the State in the War for the Union. Clarke & Co. pp. 867–868.
  2. Butterfield, Consul Willshire "C.W." (1881). History of Grant County, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical Company. p. 622.
  3. "Battle Unit Details: 50th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry". National Park Service. Archived from the original on December 30, 2020. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
  4. Downs, Gregory P. (2019). "Authority without Arms". After Appomattox: Military Occupation and the Ends of War. Harvard University Press. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-674-74398-4. LCCN 2014038048.
  5. Dyer, Frederick H. (1903). A Compendium of the War of Rebellion. Des Moines, IA: The Dyer Publishing Company. p. 1689.
  6. Love, William DeLoss (1866). "Thirty-Ninth and Fifth-Third Infantry, Inclusive". Wisconsin in the War of the Rebellion: A History of all Regiments and Batteries the State has Sent to the Field. Chicago: Church and Goodman. p. 875.
  7. Estabrook, Charles E., ed. (1914). "Sketches of military organizations participating in the Civil War". Records and Sketches of Military Organizations: Population, Legislation, Election and Other Statistics Relating to Wisconsin in the Period of the Civil War. State of Wisconsin. p. 164.
  8. "Union Regimental Histories: Wisconsin". American Civil War Archive. Archived from the original on September 14, 2020.
  9. Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861–1865. II. Madison, Wisconsin: State of Wisconsin. 1886. p. 883.
  10. Estabrook, Charles E., ed. (1915). Wisconsin Losses in the Civil War. State of Wisconsin. pp. 198–199.


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