Rufus Dawes and the Iron Brigade

“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.”
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.”
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.