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"History of Eau Claire County Wisconsin, 1914, Past and Present"

Chapter 11 - Eau Claire County in the Civil War

by W. W. Bartlett

Part 1

(-as transcribed from pages 56 - 67)

Editor's Note.  To Mr. William W. Bartlett, of Eau Claire, is due the credit for this interesting and valuable chapter, and a work of explanation is here appropriate regarding the form in which the matter is presented.

Mr. Bartlett has long taken great interest in gathering reminiscences of the Civil War, and especially of those from Eau Claire county who participated in it.  In fact he is recognized as Eau Claire's authority of Civil War history.  In 1911 the fiftieth anniversary of the outbreak of the war, the Eau Claire Telegram started a Civil War column and asked for reminiscences from the veterans.  Knowing of Mr. Bartlett's researches along this line he was also asked to contribute, and responded with an article made up of verbatim extracts from the Civil War time files of local newspapers, narrating events in Eau Claire just preceding and immediately after the firing upon of Fort Sumter. Pertaining as it did to individuals known to many of the Telegram readers it awakened much interest and more was called for.  The result was a series of articles extending over several months.  Supplementing the extracts from local newspaper files, of official records and many hitherto unpublished private Civil War letters, Mr. Bartlett prevailed upon a number of surviving officers and members of companies recruited in Eau Claire county to furnish reminiscences of their companies.  These contributions constitute an almost complete account of Eau Claire's contingent in the war and were highly appreciated by the public.

The form in which the record appeared in the Telegram has been preserved in this chapter, not only because the series attracted great attention, but also because letters from men who participated in the great conflict convey a more intimate knowledge and more vivid impression than any other form of record could possibly give.  They also add an intensity of interest to the recital.

The publication of the letters makes this chapter somewhat lengthy, but a valuable chapter has been the sole aim of the publishers.  For that reason Mr. Bartlett was persuaded to edit, rearrange and make a connected story of the series.

We are also indebted to Mr. Bartlett for the fine collection of war pictures which illustrate this chapter.  They are the result of years of patient search and gathering.

Eau Claire, Wisconsin, March 4, 1911.

Editor Daily Telegram:  I have your request for some material for your proposed series of Civil War articles, and shall be pleased to furnish something along that line.  Doubtless it is your purpose to publish reminiscences of any sort which may pertain to the Civil War, but whatever I may furnish will be of a strictly local nature.  As you know, I am not a veteran, neither did I reside here during the Civil War.  My parents came here from Maine in the spring of 1867, when I was but six years of age, but other relatives have preceded us, and I had cousins in a good proportion of the companies recruited in this county, and also in some of the companies from other counties in this part of the state.

It would seem to me that no sketch of Civil War times in Eau Claire county would be complete without mention of Gilbert E. Porter, editor of the Eau Claire Free Press from December, 1858, until the fall of 1864, and who later became so prominent in the lumbering industry of the Chippewa Valley.  I am furnishing you today a picture of Mr. Porter, taken in middle life, and shows him as most of us younger men recall him.  Mr. Porter was a true patriot, and every editorial which appeared in his paper was a credit both to the man and to Eau Claire.

The following editorial, which appeared in the Free Press of December 24, 1860, presents the first rumbling of the approaching conflict...

Free Press, December 24, 1860

"We give today pretty full accounts of the succession movement.  It will be seen that South Carolina has passed an ordinance of secession unanimously, and the others of the cotton states are likely to follow suit.  How the matter will terminate is beyond the reach of mortal ken. If we had a Jackson at the helm of the ship of state we should not be kept long in suspense, but as long as the president's chair is occupied by the present corrupt old traitor we know not what a day will bring forth.  Dispatches from the South justify us in the belief that Buchanan has betrayed his solemn trust by ordering the surrender of the forts and the government's arms at Charleston upon the demand of the southern traitors.  If that be so we shall not be surprised if an attempt is made to impeach the Old Public Functionary for high crimes and misdemeanors."

Although realizing to some extent the feeling in the South, it seemed to Editor Porter hardly possible that it would go to the extent of beginning actual hostilities against the government.  The unexpected happened.  On April 12, 1861, Fort Sumter was fired on.  The Free Press came out with an extra announcing the fact.  Probably no copy of this extra is in existence, but the nest regular issue, April 19, was reprinted.  Following the display head are given the dispatches, with particulars of the bombardment and evacuation of the fort.  On the same page Mr. Porter expresses his feelings in an editorial as reproduced below:

"THE WAR BEGUN.

"The terrible fact of a civil war now stares us full in t he face and lovers of the Union must meet the sudden though not unexpected responsibilities which devolve upon them.  Every Union loving heart will swell with emotion as it contemplates the unalterable baseness and dishonor of those who have inaugurated civil war; and we greatly mistake the temper of all good citizens, South as well as North, if they do not firmly resolve to aid when duty calls, in executing a terrible retribution upon the rebels.  Let the watchword be, "The government, it must and shall be preserved'; and if perchance there is a wretch in our midst whose sympathies are not with the government, let the execrations of all good citizens be upon him; let the finger of scorn follow him till shame burns his cheeks to a cinder."

In the press of the following week, April 26, appears the call for the first war meeting, reproduced below:

"PATRIOTS AROUSE.

"There will be a meeting of the patriotic citizens of Eau Claire and vicinity in Reed's Hall on Monday the 29th for the purpose of devising means to get up a company to go and fight the battles of our country. Speaking and singing may be expected."

In the Free Press of May 3, 1861, appears the report of that gathering as follows:

Free Press, May 3, 1861

"On Monday evening the citizens of this place, irrespective of party, met at Reed's Hall for the purpose of attesting their attachment to the good old Stars and Stripes of the Union.  It was in every respect by far the largest and most enthusiastic meeting ever held in this place.  A common cause brought them together and a common sentiment animated every heart.  At an early hour the hall was densely packed with people, including fifteen or twenty ladies, who came early enough to obtain admittance.  A great many were unable to get in the hall.  N. B. Boyden, Esq., was called to chair and J. G. Callahan was elected secretary.  Mr. Boyden briefly and appropriately addressed the meeting and his remarks were well received.  Messrs. Barnes, Meggett, Davis, Bartlett, Barrett, Woodworth, Taylor, Porter, Whipple, Wilson, Stillman and McNair were respectively called to the stand, all of whom made speeches abounding in patriotism and expressing warm attachment to the government and union. Men and means promptly tendered -- the former to fight for the country, the latter to equip the soldiers and provide for their families.  The Eau Claire Brass Band and Sprague's Military Band added much to the interest of the occasion.

"After the meeting the following names were enrolled to form the company:  John Taylor, G. W. Marcum, A. S. Bostwick, John Woodworth, A. C. Ellis, Thomas B. Coon, Charles Sargent, G. E. Bonell, D. R. King, Henry Schaffer, John Dennis, F. R. Buck, J. D. McCauley, Machler Striff, Robert Lackey, W. J. Cosporus, G. W. Wilson, Melvin M. Adams, G. M. Brewer, L. Cornwell, Jesse Adams, Myron Shaw, Theodore DeDesert, G. A. Brown, H. McDougal, John E. Stillman, A. Watson, H. H. Parker, W. P. Bartlett, J. Wells, J. Sloat, C. S. McLeod, Augustus Block, James Jones, George Eckart, J. Swan, Philip Hammer, Chriss Scholkopf, John Sloverman, B. F. Cowan, Jacob Siegil, John Harrson, C. W. Burbank, Osten Rutland, Henry J. Linhergue, William E. Kilgore, B. F. Buck, Oscar Sargent, William Monteith, M. V. Smith, J. C. Davis, J. S. Goodrich, Couradon Wyman, J. F. Hale, D. H. Hollister, Otis F. Warren, D. P. Gordon, A. Parker, J. A. Barberish, G. H. Hamilton, Henry Hunter, John Legore, J. S. Anderson.

"From present indications we have no doubt that two companies might be raised in this place and Chippewa Falls.  Of course the country about will be well represented.  Quite a delegation from Bridge Creek came down to enlist, and yesterday a wagonload drawn by four gray horses, decked with small Union flags, and a beautiful large one streaming from a staff supported in the wagon, came into town from Mondovi.  They were vociferously cheered by our citizens.  They are a determined and patriotic set of men and would fight like tigers when duty calls them to the battlefield."

Other names were added later and in the Free Press of May 10 we find the following:

"THE EAU CLAIRE BADGERS.

"This company is about full and is aching for active service.  It is composed of active, intelligent men, who have good health, strong muscular development and determined wills.  We wish to correct the absurd rumor which is now going the rounds of the papers that a company has been formed here, all of whose members stand six feet high.  The Eau Claire boys in time of peace are probably not larger than the average run of men, but if they come to a hard fight we have no doubt the rebels will think that each man weighs at least a ton.  On Saturday last the Badgers met at Reed's hall and elected officers.  They are as follows: Captain, John Taylor; first lieutenant, A. S. Bostwick; second lieutenant, Henry Hunter; third lieutenant, Oscar Sargent; orderly sergeant, A. C. Ellis.  Captain Taylor left for Madison on Monday last for the purpose of tendering the services of the company to the governor.  He will probably return home as soon as Sunday."

(For some reason there was considerable delay in closing up the final arrangements for the mustering in of this company, and many of the recruits became restless.)

Free Press, 31 May 1861

"The Eau Claire Badgers have forwarded their application to the adjutant-general for their acceptance into service.  A reply will probably be had in a few days.  The boys are ready and willing to go to war, but if there is no show of being accepted they will probably disband.

"Mr. Victor Wolf, who has had several years' experience in the military service of the United States, has been drilling them for some time past, and it is said they have made commendable progress in the arts of war."

(Unwilling to wait longer for an opportunity to see active service the company began to drop out.  Just at this opportune time a recruiting officer from another county appeared on the scene as told in the Free Press as follows):

"The captain of the 'Prescott Guards,' of Prescott, came up to the Chippewa Valley yesterday for the purpose of filling up his company to the required number, it having been assigned to a lace in the Sixth Regiment, and notified to be in readiness for mustering by the 10th inst.   Some twenty of the boys of the Eau Claire Badgers enlisted under him last night and left this morning for Prescott, well pleased with the prospects of getting into active service.  Our boys, we doubt not, will 'make their mark' when the fighting comes."

(If these boys were looking for a chance to fight they certainly made no mistake in the choice of their company, for it will be remembered the Sixth Regiment with the Second and Seventh became a part of the famous Iron Brigade and saw some of the heaviest service of the war.  Among those who left the Eau Claire Badgers to join the Prescott company was A. C. Ellis, who attained the rank of first lieutenant, returned to Eau Claire and lived here for a number of years after the war.

Another Eau Claire man who enlisted in the Sixth Regiment, although not in the same company with Ellis and his associates, was Franz Siebenthall.  He was in Company D, was wounded at South Mountain, and on the 1st of July, 1863, was killed on the field of Gettysburg.  Mr. Siebenthall in the summer of 1855 bought from the United States government about seventy-five acres of land on the west side, for which he paid $1.25 per acre or $94.50 for the tract.  The following spring he sold the land to Ira Mead for $756, a very fair profit, but this amount would hardly purchase the land today, as it lay just south of Grand avenue and extended from about Fifth avenue east to the Chippewa river, comprising the principal part of what is now the Fifth ward.  In addition to those who joined the Sixth Regiment were a number of the Badger company who, a few days before, had taken blankets and other equipment belonging to the company, helped themselves to some boats and went down the river, where they joined an artillery company then being formed at LaCrosse.  These individuals may have been able to justify their conduct to themselves, but Editor Porter expressed very strongly his disapproval of same.)

Free Press, June 7, 1861

"After the company which had been formed here had concluded that they could not get into service, something like a half dozen committed a most dishonorable trick by running off in the night with all the available property, such as blankets, etc., they could lay their hands upon.  Un view of such a transaction we are glad the company was not accepted, as we want no men to go to the wars from Eau Claire who are not gentlemen. Of course those who remain would not countenance such petty theft, and who are exempt from the above reflection.  A good soldier must be a man of honor."

Under date of June 21 1861, the Free Press announce that Captain Taylor had received notice from Governor Randall that the company would be accepted, and in the same issue there also appeared the following:
 

"NOTICE TO EAU CLAIRE BADGERS.

"I have just received an order from the governor to fill up a company to be mustered into service.  I therefore request all of the old members of the Eau Claire Badgers and as many more as wish to join them to report to me as soon as possible that I may have my company ready as soon as July 4.  A meeting will be held on that day to complete the roll, on the grounds where the celebration is to take place -- West side.  Persons wishing to join should apply immediately, as I wish to notify Governor Randall of a full company at the earliest possible moment.

"The old member will be entitled to one month's pay; and all who have families will be entitled to $5 per month extra compensation during their service.

"Patriots arouse!  Our country calls for our services.  Let us answer with our muskets.  Let the Chippewa Valley be represented in the ranks of our country's defenders.

"June 21, 1861                      JOHN TAYLOR, Captain."

For some reason the attempt to fill up the ranks of the old company was a failure, but almost immediately steps were taken to recruit a new one.  In the Free Press of July 19 we find this announcement:

"A NEW COMPANY.

"We learn that an effort is being made by Judge Perkins and Victor Wolf, Esq., to raise a company of volunteers for the war, independent of anything that has heretofore been done.  Rolls for that purpose have already been sent to the different towns.  When the company is made up the volunteers are to meet and choose their officers.

"We hope and trust that a company may be raised, as Eau Claire might and ought to be represented in the Grand Army of the Union.  If the matter is conducted with discretion it seems to us that there ought to be no difficulty in obtaining a full complement of men in a very little time."  This prediction came true, and the "new company," which retained the name "Eau Claire Badgers," became Company C, Eighth Wisconsin, the Eagle Company of the Eagle Regiment. 

In the Free Press of September 12, 1861, appeared a list of the officers and privates of the new company as given below:

"The following are the names of the officers and privates of this noble company:

NAME	RANK		NAME	RANK
PERKINS, John E.	Captain		WOLF, Victor	1st Lieutenant
McGUIRE, Frank	2nd Lieutenant		PIERCE, Seth	Orderly Sergeant
BRIGGS, Myron	2nd Orderly Sergeant		SCHMIDTMYER, F.	3rd Orderly Sergeant
ANDERSON, Robert	4th Orderly Sergeant		BUTLER, Thomas G.	5th Orderly Sergeant
SCHOLKOPF, Christian	1st Corporal		COWEN, B. F.	2nd Corporal
BUTTON, J. B.	3rd Corporal		KIRK, William G.	4th Corporal
GODDARD, M. N.	5th Corporal		PHILLIPS, Charles J.	6th Corporal
NOBLE, David	7th Corporal		QUICK, Walter	8th Corporal
ATWATER, James	Private		McCLAIN, David	Private
AVERY, William	Private		McCORD, Wilber F.	Private
BARBER, George	Private		McGINNIS, James	Private
BARNES, A. R.	Private		MONTEITH, William	Private
BARRETT, Frank	Private		MORE, Frederick	Private
BEEMAN, Alphonzo	Private		MURPHY, George	Private
BONELL, George	Private		OLLEN, Peter Ole	Private
BROWN, George	Private		PALMER, George W.	Private
BROWN, Nathaniel	Private		PARKER,  Charles	Private
BUCK, F. R.	Private		PHILLIPS, J. W.	Private
BUCKART, John	Private		PITCH, Adolph	Private
BUCKLEY, William	Private		PRINE, Elijah	Private
BURK, Phillip	Private		RANDALL, N. D.	Private
CANFIELD, Nathaniel	Private		RILEY, George W.	Private
COON, Thomas B.	Private		ROBERTS, Edwin	Private
CURTIS, Edward R.	Private		ROBINSON, C. B.	Private
DEMAREST, Burnett	Private		ROBISON, Charles W.	Private
DEVOE, Isaac	Private		RUSSELL,  Charles	Private
DICKEY, Hanson	Private		SARGENT, Charles	Private
DODGE, Robert	Private		SEGAR, Charles	Private
EMERY, Phillip	Private		SELB, Paul	Private
FARLEY, David	Private		SHIPMAN, C. F.	Private
GEBHARD, Gabriel	Private		STALLMAN, Adolph	Private
GUPPEE, William H	Private		STUKBURY, A.	Private
HAMILTON, John	Private		SWENSON, Hovel	Private
HANSCOME, Newell	Private		TALMETER, Silas M.	Private
HATH, Jacob	Private		THURSTON, Alfred	Private
HAWKINS, John	Private		TUTTLE, Albert	Private
HAYNES, B. F.	Private		TYREL, Andrew B.	Private
HEDGE, Riley	Private		WEST, Thomas	Private
HILL, John F.	Private		WHITE, Harry D.	Private
HILL, Julius A.	Private		WHITNEY, Milton	Private
HILL, Thomas J.	Private		WIGGANT, T. S.	Private
HOOPER, J. W.	Private		WILCOX, Ephraim	Private
HUMMISTON, Edward	Private		WILKINS, E. C.	Private
KIMBELL,  John	Private		WOODWORTH, John	Private
MACAULEY, Hugh	Private		WORTH, Max	Private
McCAULEY, James D.	Private		WYMAN, Daniel A.	Private

Of the above the following do not appear to have been mustered into service, as their names are not found in the official roster of the company:
 

ATWATER, James	MURPHY, George	TALMETER, Silas M.
BONELL, George	ROBINSON, C. B.	WILKINS, E. C.
HAWKINS, John

On the other hand, the roster contains the names of the following who evidently joined the company later:
 

AARON, Jacob	GRIFFITH, Shipman W.	PARKER, Frank N.
BECKER, Henry	GRINNELL, Henry	POPPEL, Nathaniel P.
BROWN, Andrew	HUTCHINGS, George	REYNOLDS, David K.
CANFIELD, Stephen	LENG, George	RITGER, Andrew
CHATWOOD, William	LOOMIS, George A.	SIBBALDS, Mark
CONNELL, William	LOOMIS, Harrison B.	SMITH, Dighton
DeLAP, William	McFAIT, Charles	SOAL, John
DICKERSCHIED, Martin	McLEOD, Collin S.	STRASBURG, Charles
FULLER, Dana S.	MILLER, Christian	THIEL, August
FULLER, Solomon	PAGE, William F.
GRASSER, Ferdinand	PALMETER, Silas M.

Editor Daily Telegram:  Just fifty years ago this coming summer Mr. A. R. Barnes, a former printer in the old Free Press office, resigned his position to enlist in the first company of volunteers from this village.  Editor Porter gave him the following complimentary and humorous send-off:

"Mr. A. R. Barnes, foreman of this office, informed us yesterday that he was off for the war, and in less than an hour he recorded his name and was sworn into service.  Mr. Barnes is an energetic, industrious young man, small in stature but large in heart, and if he uses his musket in battle as he uses his "shootingstick" in the printing office he will not only make his mark but hit it too.  May all of his leaded matter be found in the front column of the secession forces and may his shadow never grow less."

Mr. Barnes survived the war, went back to his trade of printer, not here but in his former home in Iowa, and is still living there, a hale and hearty veteran.  Knowing that a recital of his recollection of Eau Claire prior to and at the outbreak of the war would be of interest to your readers I dropped a line to him a few days ago, and in response received the very interesting and breezy letter which follows:

                                                                  Albia, Iowa, Feb. 23, 1911
Dr. William W. Bartlett, Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
    Dear Sir: In compliance with your request I give you some of my recollections of scenes and events in Eau Claire that came under my observation some fifty years ago.
    In the spring of 1860 I went to Eau Claire, going on boat on Mississippi river from Burlington to the confluence of the Chippewa river, and thence by boat to Eau Claire.  My purpose was to study law with an uncle, H. W. Barnes, who had located in Eau Claire but a short time before, and who had hung out his shingle as an attorney.  My duties were to sweep out the office, empty the cuspidor, submit to some grilling every day as to common law points and answer all questions as the "Judge" when he was away from the office.  I did not take to the work very enthusiastically, but my uncle was very kind to me.  One day while I was in the rear room reading Blackstone I heard a gentleman enter the front room and ask, "Say, Judge, haven't you a nephew here who is a printer?  My printers went to Chippewa Falls last night to attend a dance, and I suppose they are drunk, and I don't know when they will come back, and today is publication day, and I don't believe there is another printer in the Chippewa Valley."  It was Gilbert E. Porter.
    My uncle called me and I was introduced to Mr. Porter.  I told him I would help him out.  I went with him to the office -- upstairs in a long frame building near the big bluff -- and found that the printers had set the advertisements and the locals and made up the forms, leaving space on the local and editorial pages for a few more locals or advertisements and editorials.  He wrote an apology for late appearance of the paper and lack of local and editorial matter, and I put the same in type and locked up the forms and put them on the press -- a Washington hand press as I remember -- and along in the afternoon we started to "run off the paper."  The devil in the office was named Woods, and he had not been long enough in the business to know how to run the rollers over the type forms and was really to light for the work.  Mr. Porter saw the situation and said he could roll if I could run the press.  We tackled the work and kept at it till past midnight, taking only time to eat a bite of supper, and we wrapped the papers for out-of-town mail, and about two o'clock in the morning I went to my uncle's home and went to bed.  I think Mr. Porter slept in the office on a board.
    I slept late and did not get up to the office until nine or ten o'clock.  Mr. Porter had gone to breakfast and preceded me only a few minutes.  The printers got back from Chippewa Falls, and when they came to the office were surprised to find that the edition was printed and wrapped and addressed for the mails.  They took the forms from the press, washed them and put them on the imposing stones and were distributing the type in the cases.  When Mr. Porter and I arrived we went into the sanctum, apart from the composing and press room.  He pulled a chair over next to him and asked me to sit down.  I did so and he said:  "I want you to take charge of the mechanical part of this paper, and I will pay you $20 a week, and will get you all the help you need."  It was goodbye to Blackstone and the lawyer's career right then and there.  Twenty dollars a week was a big sum way back in those days, and I stayed with the job until Company C was organized and went to war.

Mr. Porter owed me more than $600 when the company was ready to start, and he asked me if I wanted the money.  I told him, "No, just give me a note, and if I never come back pay to my uncle and ask him to send it to my parents in Albia, Iowa."  My uncle took care of the note and gave it back to me when I returned from the war.  Mr. Porter paid off the note, principal and interest, and he did more, he took me from Eau Claire to Sparta in a buggy, went with me to Chicago, paid my railway fare and hotel bills while in the city, and bade me goodbye at the depot as I started for the home of my parents in this place.  It was very fortunate for me that I had saved the $600 and every cent was used in paying doctor's and other bills before I was able to go to work.

INCIDENTS OF THE OLD DAYS.

I recall many incidents in my experience in Eau Claire.  Mr. Porter was a typical gentleman and a splendid business man, but he was not a free and easy writer, and the bent of his mind ran in business channels. He had no knowledge of the printing business.

CAPT. JOHN E. PERKINS.

One day I carried some proofs into the sanctum for Mr. Porter to read, and a gentleman was present, and I thought him the homeliest man I had ever seen.  It was John E. Perkins, who later became the first captain of Company C, and a braver or better man I never knew.  In the first most important battle the regiment was engaged in at Farmington, Mississippi on May 8, 1862, he was mortally wounded and he died two days later.  He gave his life for the perpetuity of the Union, and no greater sacrifice was made in a Wisconsin regiment.

Thomas B. Coon, who came from Kelbourn City to work with me in the office, and who became a member of Company C, joining the company two weeks after I was mustered in, was a genial fellow and a competent workman.

Coon and I slept in the office and took our meals at the Slingluff House, and we got our first view of the sacrifices that were required in saving the Union.  We had eaten our dinner and came out onto the platform in front of the house, when a team of horses attached to a farm wagon and loaded with men drove up.  They were from Chippewa Falls and were the first soldiers to enlist from that place.  The men were taken to the dining room for dinner, and the horses were sent to the barn to be fed.  The men had not more than been seated when a carriage drove up that contained the man who had recruited the squad, his girl and his brother and sister.  They went to their dinner.  When all had had dinner the teams drove up.  The driver of the farm wagon got his load on board and was ready to start down the river, but was halted while the captain bade his sweetheart, brother and sister good-bye.  He was to go with the crowd, and his brother, sister and sweetheart were to return home.  Say, but that parting was awful, but the soldier was brave and never shed a tear.  He won an eagle on his shoulder, but if history is straight he fell in love with another girl and married her.

LEAVING FOR THE WAR

The memory of the march from the Slingluff House through the main streets and down to the river, where we boarded the little boat, "Stella Whipple," and the memory of the kind Eau Claire ladies who gave us their blessing and little red testaments with the motto pasted on the fly leaf, "The better the man, the better the soldier -- George Washington," will never be forgotten, nor will the boys who endured the forty-six days' march around Vicksburg, and sixteen days with only a cracker a day, forget the hardships of the trip.  It is surprising that one is left to tell the story.  The two events were impressed upon my mind never to be erased.

Note -- The Slingluff House, above referred to, was the Eau Claire House, of which Mr. Slingluff, a pioneer, was then proprietor.

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