Wm Hawley with his staff |
Union
Colonel William Hawley was made the commander of the 3rd Wisconsin
Infantry March 10th 1863.
William
Hawley was born August 19th 1824 in Porter, New York. Hawley served during the Mexican American War
with the rank of Sergeant. He moved to
Madison, Wisconsin in 1854, where he went into the furniture business.
When the
Civil War started Hawley received a commission in the Union Army. He helped to raise the 3rd
Wisconsin Infantry. It was made up
mostly of Scandinavians and mustered into Union service in June 1861 in Fond du
Lac, Wisconsin with Hawley as the Captain of Company K. He was promoted to Colonel and take command
of the 3rd on March 10th 1863. He would be with the men at the Battle of Chancellorsville,
Gettysburg, Sherman’s March to the Sea, and finally the Grand Review in
Washington, DC in May 1865. He mustered
out of service on July 18th 1865.
After the war
Hawley tried a business in Flint, Michigan before rejoining the United States
Army, serving as a Second Lieutenant in the 11th United States
Infantry, being stationed in Virginia.
He was promoted to First Lieutenant on December 6th 1866. He would serve in Louisiana, Texas and the
Dakota Territory.
Traveling
back east in December 1872 he was caught in a blizzard got frostbitten and came
close to dying from exposure. Hawley
died in Buffalo, New York January 15th 1873 after a short
illness. He is buried in the Glenwood
Cemetery in Flint, Michigan.
No comments:
Post a Comment