"Men of Iron - Stories of the Civil War in Their Own
Words," by Ken and Marcia Helgerson. ISBN
978-1-60264-082-5 (softcover) $16.95, 438 pages.
Our brigade moved along the turnpike on that quiet
summer evening as unsuspectingly as if changing camp.
Suddenly the stillness was broken by six cannon shots
fired in rapid succession by a rebel battery, point blank
at our regiment. The shell passed over the heads of our
men and burst into the woods beyond. Surprise is no
sufficient word for our astonishment, but the
reverberation had not died away when gallant old Colonel
Cutler’s familiar voice rang out sharp and loud,
“Battallion, halt! Front! Load at will! Load!”
The men fairly jumped in their eagerness; and the iron
ramrods were jingling, when--“Bang! Bang!” went the rebel
cannon again they overshot our men, but a poor horse was
knocked down over and over against the turnpike fence.
“Lie down!” shouted Colonel Cutler. Fortunately a little
bank along the roadside gave us good cover. Battery “B,”
4th U.S. artillery, now came down the turnpike on a
gallop. Quickly tearing away the fence, they wheeled
into position in the open field, and the loud crack of
their brass twelve pounders echoed the rebel cannon.
Thus opened our first real battle.
-Rufus R. Dawes, 6th Wisconsin Infantry
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ken grew up on a farm near Columbus, Wisconsin and
worked for the Wisconsin Power and Light Company in
Madison for 24 years and as a private contractor for 16
years. He and his wife Marcia have operated Enchanted
Valley, a bed and breakfast inn near Cross Plains,
Wisconsin for 19 years.
He published an article “Draft Resistance—Civil War
Style” in a Madison newspaper, The Capital Times and
wrote and illustrated Bored Silly, a children’s book.
As Marcia typed Ken’s manuscript, she noticed that
women weren’t mentioned and did a little reading herself.
She found many interesting sources, not only from the
soldiers but others as well, that cushioned and vivified
the war. The results made their way into the story.
She grew up in Spring Green, Wisconsin and had an
article published in the Columbia School Newspaper, The
School Press Review, Winter 1984, “U.S. Office Managers
Start to See Problems of Automated Workplace.” Marcia
studied counseling and journalism during the autumn of
her life. She is grateful for the opportunity to weave
her earlier endeavors into this book.
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