William Colvill Jr was born in Forestville, NY on April 5, 1830. He studied law at Forestville and Buffalo, where he read law in the office of Millard Fillmore. He was admitted to the Bar in 1851. In 1854 he came to Cannon Falls and took a tract of land upon which part of the city now stands. He opened a law office in Red Wing in 1854 and in 1855 established The Red Wing Sentinel, a Democratic newspaper. William stood 6' 5" tall. James Wright, a sergeant in Company F, later recalled him as being fairly proportioned, plainly dressed and that he did not talk much. When the war broke out 31 year old William was the first man from Goodhue County to volunteer. Though there were other aspirants he impressed the men enough that they elected him to be their captain. This group of men from the area would become Company F of the First Minnesota. Wright also noted: "We were a verdant lot of would-be soldiers at the beginning, totally ignorant of all things military and lacking proper appreciation of their importance. He, I am sure was without any special military training, but these things seemed to come to him easily. He was considerate and patient, without any temperamental demonstrations, whatever his feelings may have been; and soon gained the confidence, respect and command of the company, without any parade of official authority. He never found it necessary to fall back on army regulations to exact obedience. Under his administration of company affairs there never was any harsh punishments. He considered a private reprimand and a little fatherly advice better than a night in the guardhouse, or extra duty, and it generally worked better. In a way he was a comrade as well as a commander." William was wounded several times. On Monday, June 30, 1862, at the Battle of White Oak Swamp he received the first of his wounds. Phil Hamlin, of Company F, wrote home saying: "When we reached the rear of our reserves, we halted, threw off our knapsacks and advanced in battle line with loud cheers. We finally halted in a ravine at the edge of the woods, the field being in our rear and a knoll in front of us and, beyond the knoll, our troops in action. This was about 5 PM. We had not been in this position long before we began to receive scattering shots by one of which Captain Colville was wounded in the shoulder and compelled to leave the field. On being hit he said to those men near him "Say nothing about it" and picking up his sword walked away." Colvill's gun shot wound to his left breast was serious, however. He, along with other wounded soldiers, made his way back toward the James River. Alternately moving and resting he reached a field hospital at Malvern Hill sometime after daylight on July 1st. His wound was dressed and he was sent by boat to a hospital in Baltimore to recover. He did not return to the company until August 31, 1862." Asst Surgeon Daniel Hand spoke of the same incident and of the character of Colvill. He wrote: Before sunset I found among the wounded coming to the rear Captain Colville, of the First Minnesota. Finding a quiet fence corner for him near Frazier's house, I slipped off his coat and found a ball had entered his chest two inches below the left collar-bone. It was a dangerous wound, and I told him he must keep quiet. Other wounded men occupied my attention and it was near midnight when Colonel Sully sent me word he was on the Quaker road, moving towards Malvern Hill, and for me to follow. I had left my horse hitched near Captain Colville, and when I went back and told him we were retreating, and he must be left behind, he just pulled his tall form from under the fence and said, "No, he would not be left." I did not think he could make the march, and we had no sort of conveyance; but Major Morgan, of the First Minnesota, came round hunting for his men, and offered to let the captain ride his horse. Captain Colville would not accept that, but took a firm grip of the horse's tail, and off they started. Three days after I found the captain on a transport at Harrison's Landing." In September 1862, Lt Colonel Miller received a commission as colonel of the Seventh Minnesota Infantry and returned to the state. Upon Miller's resignation Captain Colvill was promoted to major. Shortly after the Battle of Antietam he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. William was promoted to and became the fifth and final colonel of the regiment on May 6, 1863. This was shortly after the Battle of Fredericksburg, when Colonel George Morgan was promoted to brigadier general. His personal strength and indifference to his rank endeared him to his men. An example of this occurred on June 25, 1863, at the Battle of Haymarket, when he had his horse killed from underneath him. James Wright recalled: "While on the march to Gettysburg our corps was shifted out of the northward moving column, and sent southwestward to hold Thoroughfare Gap and adjacent country against possible attacks against the left flank and rear of the other troops and trains. When recalled we left the Gap very early on the morning of June 25, in a dense fog that soon changed to a steady drizzle of rain. Our brigade leading, we were under orders to hasten the march to connect with the other two divisions. We were hardly straightened out on the road before some of [Jeb] Stuart's cavalry were popping at the rear guard and flanking skirmishers and when near Haymarket they began shelling us from a hill on the right. It was the duty of the brigade following to take care of these raiders, and of ours to keep the road open to the front. The Colonel was riding at the head of the regiment on a splendid horse recently sent to him from friends in Minnesota, I think from Cannon Falls. Then a shell struck the horse breaking both legs, and sprawling horse and rider in the muddy road. The Colonel was promptly on his feet, quickly sized up the situation; had the horse shot to end its suffering, and stripped of the bridle and saddle. He gave the bridle to his his orderly, "Milt Bevans" telling him to find him a horse, then he picked up the saddle by the stirrup straps, threw it over his shoulder, looked back at the men with a twisted smile, said "forward" and we tramped on through the mud and falling rain. Of course he did not get far before he was relieved of the saddle. In less than an hour Bevans appeared riding an ordinary looking horse, and a few minutes later the Colonel was again in the saddle and rode to his place in the moving line, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened." Colonel Colvill was wounded three times at Gettysburg. When the First Minnesota made it's charge on July 2, 1863, he was at his position behind the regiment and in the center. Lt Colonel Adams was on the right and Major Downie was on the left. In the mad rush to stop the rebels, the regimental structure was blurred, but when Colonel Colvill fell Lt Colonel Adams took command. When he too went down, Major Downie commanded, until he too went down. Colvill had been shot three times. The first bullet entered the top right shoulder and tore across his back, clipping off a part of his vertebra and lodging under his left scapula. Almost immediately another bullet hit him in his right ankle, pushing bone fragments out the other side of his foot. The wounds left him in constant pain, maimed for life and required that he always walk with the aid of a cane. In a letter written some years later William described the action at the time he was wounded. He first told of the charge being ordered; then continues, "I was immediately behind the colors...I saw a number of our men lying as they had fallen...Then came a shock like a sledge hammer on my backbone between my shoulders. It turned me partly around and made me 'see stars'. I suppose it was a piece of shell. Just then I perceived Captain Coates, who said, 'Colonel, are you badly hurt?' I said, 'I don't know. Take care of the men.' Just then I was putting my foot on the ground; there was a smart pang through it. It gave way and falling to the ground I saw just beside me a gully not more than two feet wide and less in depth." "As I struck the ground I rolled over into it and listened among other things to the bullets zipping along the ground and thought how fortunate for me was the fact of the gully. I need not describe the rest of it. I saw it grow dark and then it became quiet. I saw the stars shining overhead. Presently I heard voices of our men. The boys were looking up the dead and the wounded. I heard some of them talking with the wounded and in one case where their search had found a comrade they were taking his last words for his home and family." William was found and carried to a field hospital. Though critically wounded, he was left to lay on the ground with no protection from the rain that began to fall in torrents that evening. Although he suffered intensely, he didn't complain, but rather kept inquiring as to the care of his men, saying that they should be treated first. In the words of Charles Hubbs, "He was ever brave, gentle, kind and tolerant." After the battle attempts were made to house all officers with the rank of colonel and above in the homes of local townspeople. Colonel Colvill three weeks in a field hospital. On July 28th with aid of his orderly, Milt Bevans, eight men carried him by stretcher to the Pierce home located at 303 Baltimore Street, at the corner of Baltimore and Breckenridge. His large frame was gently carried upstairs to the second floor, where he was placed in the front room overlooking Baltimore Street. There, between visits from the doctors, he was cared for by his nurses, Milt Bevans and Walter Reed, who, on August 5th, was detailed as a nurse to the colonel. Young 15 year old Tillie Pierce later recounted his stay at their home. "A few days after the battle, several soldiers came to our house and asked mother if she would allow them to bring their wounded Colonel to the place, provided they would send two nurses along to help wait on him, saying they would like to have him kept at a private house." "As we had a very suitable room she consented." "The wounded officer was carried to the house on a litter, and was suffering greatly. After they got him up stairs, and were about placing him on the bed, it was found to be too short, so that the foot-board had to be taken off and an extension added. The Colonel was a very tall man and of fine proportions." "He had been severely wounded in the right ankle and shoulder, the latter wound extending to his spine. The surgeons at first wanted to amputate his foot, saying it was necessary in order to save his life; but the Colonel objected, and said if his foot must go he would go too." "Mother waited on him constantly, and the nurses could not have been more devoted." "He was highly esteemed bu all his men, many of whom visited him at the house, and even wept over him in his suffering and helplessness. They always spoke of him as one of the bravest men in the army." "Before long his sister came, who with tender care and cheering words no doubt hastened his recovery." "Several months elapsed before he was able to be removed; when, on a pair of crutches, he left for his home in St. Paul. As he was leaving the house he could hardly express fully, his thanks and appreciation of our kindness; and on parting kissed us all, though he were bidding us farewell to his own kith and kin. We, on our part, felt as though one of our own family were leaving. He promised that whenever able he would come back to see us." "About three years after the battle, I was standing on the front pavement one day, when a carriage suddenly stopped at the front door. A gentleman alighted, came up to me, shook hands, and kissed me without saying a word. I knew it was the Colonel by his tall, manly form." "We were all glad to meet each other again, and we earnestly desired him to stay. He however, said his time was limited, and friends were waiting in the carriage to go over the battlefield. So we were forced to again say farewell." "When Colonel Colvill and his attendants left our house, one of the men who had been nursing him, presented me with a gun and bayonet, saying:" "I bought it with my own money, and I give it to you; and if any one comes after it, and wants to take it from you, just tell them that the gun was bought and paid for by the soldier who gave it to you." "One of the nurses was Milton F. Bevans, musician of Co. F, 1st Minnesota Regiment, now of Hamlin, Minn.; the name of the other, and the one who gave me the gun and bayonet was Walter S. Reed, private, Co. G, also of the same regiment." From Gettysburg, Colvill was sent to the Cotton Factory Hospital in Harrisburg. On Oct 30, 1863, he was sent home on a 30 day leave of absence. However, it appears that the travel was too arduous. From Gettysburg Walter Reed accompanied Colonel Colvill by train to Harrisburg. His wounds were so painful that he was unable to sit in a train seat or even lie down. He was placed on a stretcher and suspended from the ceiling of a train car by rubber band cords. When they arrived in Harrisburg, the colonel was admitted to a hospital. Colvill's Gettysburg wound left him partially crippled for the rest of his life. He remained hospitalized in Harrisburg and did not see the men of his regiment again until February of 1864, when they were ready to be sent home and mustered out. 1st Sgt James Wright, of Company F, wrote about the love the men had for their colonel. In his memoirs he wrote about a banquet held for them in Washington DC, the night before they departed for home: "The return of Col. Colvill to the regiment for the first time since Gettysburg was one of the events of the evening. Most men in his condition would have felt it impossible to be present. He could not walk or stand and was carried in by two of the stalwart members of the regiment, Captain Tom Sinclair and Sergeant Johnny Merritt. His entrance into the banquet hall was unexpected, and when he was brought in, there was a spontaneous outburst of shouting and cheering, which showed the feelings of the men toward him. He was the original captain of Company F and had won his way to command of the regiment." After the First was discharged in 1864, he returned to Minnesota, edited the Red Wing Republican until January, 1865, and then took a seat in the legislature, to which he had been elected the autumn before. Immediately after the adjournment of the legislature, he received an appointment as colonel of the First Minnesota Heavy Artillery (Feb 25, 1865 - Apr 26, 1865), which was stationed in Chattanooga. On May 6, 1865, he received a brevet commission as brigadier general. He was mustered out of service in July, 1865. After the war, he returned again to his home in Red Wing. Colvill was described as a man of commanding appearance. He was 6 feet 5 inches tall, wore a full beard and a Prince Albert coat. He was a member of the A E Welch GAR Post #75 in Red Wing. The Post was named after Abraham Edward Welch who had been a teacher at Hamlin College before the war and had served as a lieutenant in Company F when it had been formed and when Colvill had been elected captain. William served as a legislator from 1865 to 1866. He was elected Attorney General of the state from 1866 to 1868. Then he returned to his law practice in Red Wing. He also served in the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1878. During the next decade he served as register of the Duluth Land Office, from 1887 to 1891. While living in Duluth he became acquainted with the North Shore of Cook County on several visits to the area. William had married Miss Elizabeth Morgan of Oneida County, New York, in April, 1867. In April 1893, they boarded the Dixon and traveled up river to the shoreline seven miles north of Grand Marais, Mn. There they staked out a homestead of 167 acres. The land was east of a small Creek that would soon be named Durfee Creek, in honor of Judge George Durfee of Grand Marais. Judge Durfee also happened to have served in the First Minnesota under Col Colvill during the war. While living in Duluth, William had become good friends with both George and his brother Chester, another First Minnesota vet. They were probably responsible for showing him the beauty of the area. William may have seen to the naming of the creek near his property. Eventually other people settled there. The community became known as Colvill, and goes by that name today. Elizabeth died at Duluth in Nov, 1894. Although Colvill always maintained a home in Red Wing, he spent his summers on his Cook County homestead until 1900. In June of that year, he boarded the Dixon for the last trip down river to Red Wing. He was now in constant bad health, partly because of his war wounds. On June 12, 1905, he left his farm in Red Wing, and traveled to the Soldiers Home in Minneapolis. He looked forward to attending the reunion of the veterans of the First Minnesota to be held the next day. Because of the all the lead his body absorbed during the war by way of his many wounds, his comrades called him "the arsenel." He visited with many of his old comrades who were living at the Home until 11:00 that evening. Freeman L McKusick was a resident and the adjutant at the Home. When William went to bed, he said goodnight to Freeman and said that he felt sure he'd get a good night's rest. Freeman slept in the adjoining room with an open door in between. He heard nothing during the night. Shortly after 6 am Adjutant McKusick went to call on the Colonel. He entered the room and spoke to his friend but got no answer. He approached the colonel, was startled by the pallor on his face and upon closer inspection found that he was dead. The body of the colonel lay naturally on its left side, with the left hand under the cheek. His features were calm. The old soldier had evidently gone to a peaceful sleep, never to return. He was 75 years. The Commercial Club of St. Paul, whose membership numbered more than 1,000 of the city's principal businessmen, took charge of preparing a funeral suitable for the revered colonel. Henry Childs, a member of the club and a comrade in the First Minnesota was one of its representatives and served as one of the colonel's pallbearers. The funeral was held at the Church of the Redeemer in Cannon Falls, MN. The honorary pallbearers were Gen. L. F. Hubbard, Gen. C. C. Andrews, Judge William Lochren, Henry W. Childs, Joseph Lockey and L. A. Rosing. His active pallbearers were Major Martin Magginis, Capt. Christofer B. Heffelfinger, Capt. Thomas Pressnell, Henry Bevans, Capt. Richard Gorman and Freeman McKusick. All the active pallbearers as well as Lochren and Childs of the honorary pallbearers served with the colonel in the First Minnesota during the war. Colvill was buried in the Cannon Falls cemetery on June 21, 1905. He and Elizabeth, who predeceased him, lie buried beside each other underneath a statue dedicated to him in the Cannon Falls Community Cemetery. The monument was dedicated on July 28, 1928. Besides the many remaining veterans of the First who attended, the Governor of Minnesota was there, as was President Calvin Coolidge and 20,000 other dignitaries and attendees. Sources: 1860 Federal Census, City of Red Wing (Red Wing PO), Goodhue County, Minnesota, p 22. George Buckman Diary, July 28 & Aug 5, 1863. Evening Telegraph, Harrisburg, PA, Oct 9, 1863, p 3. Pioneers in the Wilderness, Willis H Raff, Cook County Historical Society, 1981, p 115. Philip Hamlin letters to his family, July 6, 1862, page 4, MHS. No More Gallant a Deed, James Wright, 2001, Minn Hist Soc, p 158, 198 & 401. St Paul Dispatch, St Paul, MN, May 9, 1903. The Red Wing Republican, Red Wing, MN, June 14, 1905. The Red Wing Republican, Red Wing, MN, June 21, 1905. The Winona Republican-Herald, Winona, Mn, July 26, 1926, p 8. Letter from James Wright to Mabel Marvin, July 18, 1928. Daniel Hand, "Reminiscences of an Army Surgeon", Glimpses of the Nation's Struggle, Minnesota Commandery, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, St Paul, MN, St Paul Book and Stationery Co, 1887, Vol 26, p 291-2. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
