Citizens Guard Participates in the Adopt a Position Program at Gettysburg National Military Park
The Preservation concept:
In December of 2009, the Citizens Guard was reorganized to take on a preservation project our membership is proud to be associated with that has strong ties to the Fox Lake community. We have been granted the opportunity to take care of the Company �G� 1st Regiment United States Sharpshooters monument (Wisconsin) by the Gettysburg National Military Park as part of their Adopt a Position Program.� Company G had over 20 men from Fox Lake and surrounding communities to serve in this company including many that were part of the Citizens Guard militia.� 1st Lieutenant Charles A. Stevens was an integral part of the Wisconsin Company of Berdan�s Sharpshooters and the well known brother of George H. Stevens, founder the Citizens Guard.� Charles was a prominent militia member in the Citizens Guard militia from 1860-1861, served as George�s right hand man in the Stevens� grocery store in Fox Lake, and was a contributor to the Fox Lake Gazette under the alias of Charlie of Nimrod.� In September of 1861, Charles enlisted in the Wisconsin Company of Berdan�s Sharpshooters along with many others from the Fox Lake area.� As he did during his time in the Citizens Guard, Charles would publish a series of Sharp Shooting Letters in the Fox Lake Gazette to inform the citizens of Fox Lake how the Wisconsin Sharpshooter were doing.� During several occasions, he would also discuss visits to the various camps where he would connect with his comrades in the Citizens Guard most notably his brother.
In 1892, Charles wrote the history of the Berdan�s Sharpshooters titled Berdan�s United States Sharpshooters in the Army of the Potomac under the name of C.A. Stevens.� The following passage is a description of the Wisconsin Sharpshooters monument by Charles Stevens on pages 546-547 of his book:
This handsome monument is placed at the
edge of the Emmitsburg road in the front of the "Rodger House," and
200 yards in rear of where the company, the farthest advanced on that part of
the field was in line of skirmishers, as indicated by a stone marker. The
figure of the Sharpshooter is life-size, on gray granite, five feet high. The
base is red granite (Wisconsin marble), and sits on a foundation of granite
from the battlefield. The amount appropriated by the state of Wisconsin for
this monument was $500. The committee appointed to select the site, and
superintend the erection and dedication of Company G's monument was James S.
Webster, Joseph K. Hawes, and Charles W. Baker. The dedication took place on
July 2, 1888.
We will be doing work at the National Military Park both in Spring and Fall as a preservation project we feel is our way of giving back to the men from Fox Lake and Wisconsin whom served from 1860-1865.�
Preservation of the George H. Stevens Banner
Members of the Citizens Guard ready to head off on the GHS march, April 2001.
The preservation of the George H. Stevens G.A.R. Post 100 banner was an important preservation project that the Citizens Guard undertook.� As the above photo depicts, we organized several events to make the restoration project a possibility including a historic preservation march covering the route George Stevens and his Citizens Guard went off to Camp Randall on May 4th, 1861.
Below is a speech given by Scott M. Frank, the evening the restored banner returned to its home in Fox Lake
George Stevens was born to a family of means in New York in the 1830�s. As a result he was educated in the private schools of New York. As a young man he joined the Seventh Regiment of the National Guard and was soon promoted to Sergeant. After four years in the National Guard, he resigned and set sail for Australia. In 1855 he returned to the United States and the next year he joined the Westward movement, and came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In Milwaukee he got into the grocery business, but he missed the military life, so he joined the Second Company of the Light Guard. He loved the military and all that went with it, so he therefore excelled. At a drill competition he won the prized medal for being the best-drilled soldier. There is a picture of him with the medal at the Fox Lake Community Library.
George moved to Fox Lake in the fall of 1858 with the intentions of making a living in the grocery business for a small but growing town. He soon met Harriet Purdy and married her the next spring on March 23rd, 1859. Harriet was a local gal who was also born in New York but had lived in the Fox Lake area since 1845. She and George had a son the next year when George was 27 and Harriet was 21.
In February of that same year, 1860, George formed the Citizen�s Guard a local militia group. The political scene had become such that a war between the states was a real concern, and George�s past military experience made him a perfect candidate to lead the group that may have to protect the homes and loved ones of Fox Lake.
The Citizen�s Guard and its military drills became a very popular activity, both with those who drilled and those who turned out in the college square to watch. By April 18th, 1861 when Governor Randall made his call for troops, Fox Lake was afire with the prospects of putting down the Southern Rebellion. The very next day, on the urging of the community, George Stevens telegraphed Governor Randall that the Fox Lake men were ready. On May 4th the Citizen�s Guard left by train for Madison�s Camp Randall, where the Governor himself greeted them and accepted them as the first company into the state�s first regiment. They were thereafter known as the Second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry � Company A.
Harriet, then seven months pregnant with their second child, saw her husband, Captain George H. Stevens, off to war. By the time the Second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry clashed with the confederate forces at a place called Gettysburg, George was Lt. Col. with the regiment. George was wounded in the first volley his regiment received on July 1st, 1863, and died on July 5th. He was laid to rest in the national cemetery at Gettysburg with the Wisconsin troops.
The Grand Army of the Republic, Post #100, was organized on August 29, 1883 and was named in Honor of Fox Lake�s most gallant soldier, George H. Stevens. Three years later, on the 21st of May, 1886, 23 years after George�s death, Harriet presented an elegant banner to the George H. Stevens GAR Post. The banner cost her $50 and the presentation was cause for a great celebration including speakers at the Baptist Church.
Over the years, the banner was carried in Parades and functions. When the post was disbanded, around 1930, the banner was returned to Lucy, George�s daughter whom he never met. She was then Mrs. RS Hunter. She kindly donated the banner to the library, and Henry T. Fanshaw made the frame and enclosed the banner. Henry was the son of the last living veteran in the GAR here in Fox Lake. The banner and it�s companion - the bible in the case � hung in the library until it moved to it�s present location in 1951, when the deteriorating banner, case and all, were thrown on the truck headed to the dump. Bill Linke, father of American Legion Member Richard Linke, pulled it off the truck and eventually brought it over to the American Legion Clubhouse.
About 1990 the conclusion was formed that if we were going to save the banner something had to be done, since the condition was continually getting worse. A fund was set up strictly for it�s restoration and preservation, and money slowly started to trickle in. About 1997, the re-created Citizens Guard decided to adopt the banner�s restoration as a project, since the banner is the last remaining remnant of the original Company A, Second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment known to exist in Fox Lake.
The re-created Citizens Guard has held numerous fund-raisers to benefit the banner, as has the American Legion. Altogether over $6000 has been raised through private donations, raffles, and reenacting events held by us and strongly supported by the American Legion. Private citizens, local companies, and civic organizations have helped with the cause, and in 2001 after the George H. Stevens Preservation March to celebrate 140 years since Stevens led the city of Fox Lake off to war, we decided that we had the funds to get the banner properly preserved.
Deborah Bede was carefully chosen as the most qualified person to do the job, and the banner was sent to Bradford, New Hampshire to undergo restoration and stabilization. Deborah completely dismantled the banner, cleaned each part separately and properly, then added a stabilization layer of Ivory Silk Crepeline, a sheer fabric to hold all the fragile pieces together. Washed cotton patches were placed behind weak and damaged areas, and everything was sewn back together by hand. Some of the stains were not able to be removed without further damaging the fabric, but further deterioration should be minimal.
The Citizens Guard was proud to have been involved in this project and thank the community of Fox Lake for allowing us to be part of this historical preservation project.