Stuart Stotts - Lucius Fairchild: Civil War Hero

Lucius Fairchild

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Lucius Fairchild

CIVIL WAR HERO

Stuart Stotts

Wisconsin Historical Society Press

Published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press
Publishers since 1855

2010 by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin

E-book edition 2013

For permission to reuse material from Lucius Fairchild: Civil War Hero (ISBN 978-0-87020-460-9; e-book ISBN 978-0-87020-663-4), please access www.copyright.com or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 9787508400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and registration for a variety of users.

wisconsin history .org

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Designed by Jill Bremigan

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Stotts, Stuart, 1957

Lucius Fairchild : Civil War hero / Stuart Stotts. 1st ed.

p. cm. (Badger biographies)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-87020-460-9 1. Fairchild, Lucius, 1831-1896Juvenile literature. 2. GeneralsUnited StatesBiographyJuvenile literature. 3. United StatesHistoryCivil War, 1861-1865BiographyJuvenile literature. 4. WisconsinHistoryCivil War, 1861-1865 BiographyJuvenile literature. 5. United States. Army. Iron Brigade (1861-1865)Biography Juvenile literature. 6. Gettysburg, Battle of, Gettysburg, Pa., 1863Juvenile literature. 7. GovernorsWisconsinBiographyJuvenile literature. 8. SoldiersWisconsinBiography Juvenile literature. I. Title.

E467.1.F225S76 2010

355.0092dc22

[B]

2010013945

Front cover: WHi Image ID 1884.

Publication was made possible, in part, by a gift in memory of our mother and grandmother, Mary Lee Meyer and Frances Fairchild Gary George L. N. Meyer Family Foundation. Additional funding was provided by a grant from the Alice E. Smith fellowship fund.

Contents

What Makes a Hero?

Wars create heroes. They always have. Through some mixture of courage, cleverness, strength, and just plain luck, a few soldiers who return from the horrors of war shine with the glow of .

People admire bravery. They admire others make. They admire leaders. Maybe people wish they had such qualities themselves. Maybe heroes actually bring out heroic qualities in people around them. Or maybe everyone just loves a good heroic story.

Heroes seem larger than life. Their service or their sacrifice lifts them above others. This position gives them power and influence to make a difference in the world, even as it changes who they are.

from Europe and people from the South and East were looking for new opportunities in the unsettled lands north of the Ohio River and west of the Mississippi River.

This is Lucius in 1865, 2 years after he lost his arm at the battle of Gettysburg.

The United States was also a country divided into free states and slave states. Western expansion and questions about slavery were both in the bloodiest war in the history of the United States, and came home in search of public office, he will always be known best for his sacrifice in war. We remember him as the governor with the empty sleeve.

This is his story.

Young Lucius

Lucius Fairchild was born on December 27, 1831, in Portage County, Ohio, near Cleveland. His mother, Sally, was from Massachusetts, and his father, Jarius, came from New York. Lucius had an older sister, Sarah; an older brother, Cassius; and a younger brother, Charles.

Lucius was 15 when his family moved to Madison, Wisconsin, from Ohio in 1846.

. He used the money he made at his jobs to start new businesses.

Despite his many business failures, Luciuss father Jarius became Madisons first mayor in 1856.

Still, as hard as he tried, Jarius was not very successful as a businessman. He went several times. And once, he even ended up in prison for owing money! He was so busy with his work that he had very little time for his children. Lucius wanted his fathers attention and didnt understand why Jarius was gone so often. Lucius needed someone to provide advice and affection, but his father rarely offered him either. As a result, Lucius had a troubled childhood.

Lucius did not like school, and he didnt go very often. He preferred playing outside, exploring the streets of Cleveland, and going to dances and on sleigh rides. His mother wasnt able to control him, and his father was gone too often and too long to make a difference.

Jarius Fairchild tried his hand at many different businesses and was often in debt. This record is for a $5,000 loan.

Lucius was kicked out of one school for fighting. He was from another for putting a cow in the church pulpit one Sunday.