Iowa County Courthouse

Dvdgeville Ranyers, Company C, TInrty-first Infantry. - The Thirty-first Regiment was principally recruited in the summer of 1862. The first rendezvous was held in September at Prairie du Chien, where, on the 9th of October, the recruits were mustered in under Col. L E. Messmore. One of the si.x companies mustered, C, or Dodgeville Rangers, was recruited in the town of Dodgeville. After lying in camp until the 14th of November, the regiment was divided, three companies going to Madison to take charge of the camps for drafted men. From there they were moved to Camp Jlitcliell, where the other companies had gone, and where, on the 13th of January, the remaining four companies were mustered in. On the 1st of March, 1863, the regiment was moved via Cairo, 111., to Columbus, Ky., where it was assigned to the Sixteenth Army Corps at Camp Halleck. While here, they were engaged in raiding, reconnoitering and guarding at different adjacent points. From Columbus, they proceeded via Caira and Louisville to Nashville, Tenn., in September, and remained there until October, when they moved to La Vergne, and thence to Murfreesboro. Soon after. Company B was detached and stationed at Stone River Crossing, where it remained until April, 1864, doing guard duty ; then joined the regiment at Murfreesboro. Soon after, the regiment was assigned to the Second Army Corps, and was divided into detachments, and placed on guard duty along the line of the railroad from Tullahoma to Murfreesboro. A mounted detachment under Lieut. Beattie did excellent service in Middle Tennessee from March to June. In June, the entire regiment was transferred to Nashville, Tenn., and placed on provost duty. On the 16th of July, 1864, they were ordered to Atlanta, where they arrived on the 21st of July, and took a position in the trenches, and where they were constantly under fire and engaged in fatigue duty until the evacuation by the enemy. Subsequently, thej' were engaged in foraging and garrison duty, until the 15th of November, when, with the Second Corps, they started and went through to the sea with Sherman. When within nine miles of Savannah, the regiment had to struggle through a terrible swamp, under heavy fire. However, it, in company with an Ohio regiment, captured the rebel camp and equipments, for which exploit they received the encomiums of the entire command. Eventually, the Thirty-first participated in the engagements at Chesterfield, S. C, March 1, 1865. At Averysboro, S. C, on the 16th of March. At Bentonville March 19, wiiere the regiment did distinguished service, helping to sustain five heavy charges, and losing sixty men. Thence they marched to Goldsboro and Raleigh, where they encamped. On the 3d of April, they started for home, stopping at Alexandria, Va., to engage in a grand review. May 20. Arriving at Louisville, Companies B and C were mustered out, June 20 ; reached Madison the 23d, and, on the 8th of July, were paid off and disbanded.

Passage source: History of Iowa County, Wisconsin, Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources...biographical Sketches.., published 1881.

This thriving village, now the county seat of Iowa County, is, in some respects, the most notable point in the county, and, indeed, in the entire lead-mining region of Wisconsin. Not because of its having preceded all others, but rather on account of its prominence in 1827 and 1828, as the principal mining point on the extreme frontier, and as having been the especial protege of Gov. Henry Dodge, after whom it was named. The annals of the early days are filled with the exploits of this noted man, around whom and Dodgeville the chief events and experiences connected with the miners who first came to this county, were centered. He was preeminently the prophet, law-giver and founder of this place not only, but was one of the figureheads in the history of the State that the sons and daughters of modern life love to contemplate. The reckless bravado of the early miners, and the no less unrestrained ruthlessness of the aboriginal inhabitants, which operated disastrously in the extreme for them in many instances, were doubtless the anterior means which opened the way to the present fruitful development.

Passage source: History of Iowa County, Wisconsin, Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources...biographical Sketches.., published 1881.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Dodgeville City - 27,097 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.