Rufus Dawes and the Iron Brigade

This artistic depiction of the Union retreat after the Battle of Second Bull Run was published in "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War," an 1887 book about the War Between the States. Public Domain

“Only the dead have seen the end of war,” Plato wrote. Fortunately, this isn’t always true. The end of the Civil War brought a half-century of peace and prosperity for many Americans. One of these was Rufus Dawes, a participant in the conflict. Though war always haunts those who live through it, he went on to find joy in family and business.

Dawes is largely remembered for his wartime actions, which he described in his classic memoir, “Service With the Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers.” This legendary regiment, which saw some of the worst fighting of the war, is better known by its nickname: “The Iron Brigade.”

This 1865 photograph depicts Lt. Col. Rufus Dawes in Union Army uniform. Public Domain

Joining Up

In 1838, Dawes was born in Malta, Ohio, to a prominent family. His great-grandfather William Dawes had been the “other” midnight rider who set out with Paul Revere to warn of the British advance at Lexington and Concord on April 18, 1775.

Dawes was 22 when he answered Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers to suppress the Confederate rebellion. Of the 75,000 total volunteers requested, the sparsely populated state of Wisconsin had a low quota to fill: 780. Dawes, who had moved to the Wisconsin Territory, was among the first to sign up. He raised a company of 100 men and was elected captain. His unit adopted the name of the “Lemonweir Minute Men,” taken from the name of a nearby river.

As Dawes wrote to his sister: “I am Captain of as good, and true a band of patriots as ever rallied under the star-spangled banner.”

Optimists thought the rebels could be crushed in a mere two months. Dawes became skeptical of this estimate, however, after speaking with an old veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, who told him, “This is no job of sixty days.”

Leading the Iron Brigade

Dawes’s Minute Men were mustered into the Sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, one of the regiments in Gen. King’s Wisconsin Brigade. The first year was filled mostly with training and an inglorious stint of guard duty. Dawes was promoted to major in 1862.

The Sixth Wisconsin attacks at Turner's Gap in 1862. "The American Soldier," by H. Charles McBarron. Public Domain

In August of that year, he fought in his first major engagement at Second Bull Run when a large Confederate force led by none other than Stonewall Jackson attacked his Wisconsinites. As Dawes described it: “Our men stuck desperately and persistently to one deployed line, from which they delivered a steady and well-aimed fire.”

Stonewall Jackson called the conflict “fierce and sanguinary,” adding that Dawes’s regiment “maintained their ground with obstinate determination.”

Though Second Bull Run turned out to be a loss for the Union, the Sixth Wisconsin Infantry acquitted themselves honorably and resisted Jackson’s assault.

On Sept. 14, 1862, the Wisconsin Brigade received its famous nickname at the Battle of South Mountain. Dawes and his men “slowly advanced up the mountain … shouting and firing,” driving the rebel forces from woods, stone walls, and houses to secure the position.

According to an essay on the Wisconsin Historical Society webpage, Gen. McClellan, looking out with his spyglass, “saw the men fighting against great odds,” and “asked what men those were fighting on the pike.” When Gen. Hooker told him it was the Wisconsin Brigade, McClellan responded, “They must be made of iron.” After the battle, Hooker asked, “What do you think of my Iron Brigade?”

Three days later, at Antietam, the newly christened Iron Brigade learned that they were only made of flesh after all. Dawes and his men got caught in a crossfire with Confederates in a cornfield: “As we appeared at the edge of the corn, a long line of men in butternut and gray rose up from the ground.” Men did not merely fall, but “were knocked out of the ranks by the dozens.” Dawes jumped the fence and pushed on. There was “a reckless disregard of life, of everything but victory.” While Antietam was a win for the Union, Dawes wrote: “The flower of our regiment was slaughtered in that terrible cornfield. I dread the thought of the place.”

Finest Hour

The next year, Dawes was promoted to lieutenant colonel. The Iron Brigade fought in many more battles, but it is for their actions at Gettysburg that they are best remembered.

On July 1, 1863, the Sixth Wisconsin Volunteers were being held in reserve. When Confederates from Mississippi seemed about to outflank the Iron Brigade, Dawes marched his men in. According to Dawes’s official report: “The enemy had succeeded in turning the flank, and, flushed with victory, was pressing rapidly in pursuit of our retreating line.”

This diagram of battle tactics from Gettysburg uses the Sixth Wisconsin Brigade's nickname, the "Iron Brigade." Public Domain

As it’s posted on the “Battle of Gettysburg” website, Dawes noted in his official report that the Sixth Wisconsin was taking heavy fire, but “kept up a steady double-quick” to get in front of the advancing Confederates. Dawes ordered the Wisconsinites to fire on the rebels, forcing them to take refuge in an unfinished railroad cut. He gave the order to charge in the face of “a terribly destructive fire.” Upon the Union soldiers reaching the rebel line, the Confederates began throwing down their arms. In all, Dawes captured more than 200 soldiers of the Second Mississippi Infantry. One of the Sixth Wisconsin men, Corporal Francis A. Waller, received the Medal of Honor for capturing the rebel regiment’s battle flag.

A monument to the Iron Brigade stands west of Gettysburg today. Of the 340 men that Dawes marched into the field, only half left unscathed.

This nondescript railroad cut holds the memory of a horrific battle. It's where the Sixth Wisconsin made their charge. Djmaschek/CC BY-SA 3.0

Postwar Life

After his remarkable actions in numerous battles, Dawes was offered a promotion to full colonel in July 1864. He declined, since this would require signing up for another three years. He felt that he had lost too many of his men in service, so “in consequence of the regiment being badly cut up,” he put in for a discharge.

In proportion to its total number of enlisted men, the Iron Brigade suffered a greater loss than any regiment in the Union Army. Dawes was one of the lucky few from his original band of 100 recruits to return to his Ohio hometown. Most of the Lemonweir Minute Men were lumberjacks, so it seems appropriate that Dawes found success in the lumber business after the war.

From 1881 to 1883, he served a term as a U.S. Representative. In a touching letter to his wife during his time in Congress, Dawes wrote of visiting his fallen comrades at Arlington Cemetery, saying, “I found every grave and stood beside it with uncovered head.”

Dawes had four sons, all of whom became prominent businessmen. The most notable of these, Charles G. Dawes, rose even higher than his father in both war and politics. After serving as a general during World War I, Charles became Calvin Coolidge’s vice president and even won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Rufus Dawes fought for the America that would one day elect his son, Charles G. Dawes (pictured), to be vice president of the United States. Public Domain

Dawes concludes his memoir with a moving description of “the shadows of age,” saying that “our burdens are like the loaded knapsack on the evening of a long and weary march, growing heavier at every pace.” The sacrifice of his fallen and aging brethren was not for nothing, though.

He noted: “You have lived to see spring up as the result of your suffering, toil and victory the most powerful nation of history and the most beneficent government ever established.” If only those who grow up in times of peace could remember this lesson as well as wartime generations.

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