A soldiers story: Excerpts from Wis. Civil War vet David Noll Wolfs Diary
Saturday, March 18, 1865
Quiet, Pleasant.
Worked on drawers smoothing and scraping and polishing. Was out for a while on ---pass. Interesting rumor of R. Lee's conclusion about standing affairs in their confederacy. Viz "that all further resistance to the Federal Government is a waste of human life."
Friday, April, 7, 1865
Rainy
Worked at - up chairs.
News of a great Rebel defeat.
Monday, April 10, 1965
Between 12 and 1 AM we were aroused by the most welcome news that R.E. Lee had surrendered his army in the 9th AM. No sleep was allowed in the hospital all night. Ringing bells, thumping drums, playing bands. Firing muskets and distant cannons roar, delivering speeches, singing and shouting, and cheering were some of the evidences of the Nations joy and gladness witnessed by troops in this City. May God be praised, for in his wrath remembering mercy has saved us by His intervention.
Quite rainy
Made application for my savings bond.
Saturday, April 15, 1865
Rainy
The saddest of all news has been received here. Is it possible that our President is assassinated? Alas "tis true, God in thy tender mercy look upon us in this our affliction. Pity the distressed. Comfort us with tokens of thy favor. Raise us up such a man as may and will be able to do the work in hand which has dissolved upon them through foul act of treason. And may we come out of this funeral of affliction cleansed and purified like gold tried in the fire. God bless us and be with us ever. Amen
At 12:00 Johnson was sworn in as President promising to trust in God.
Wednesday, April 19, 1865
Pleasant and very warm.
All business interrupted today. The funeral of Mr. Abraham Lincoln, late President.
Born Feb. 12, 1809
Died April 14, 1865
We mourn his loss.
Friday, April 28, 1865
Pretty nice
Worked at -
The part played by Sherman proved less discouraging and with some modification Grant will surely set things to right again. No more loss of blood in the maintenance of civil and religious liberties is my hope and prayer.
Saturday, April 29, 1865
Windy and cool
Commenced getting out stuff for a Walnut bureau. The news of Johnson's unconditional surrender to U.S. Grant was received this morning and the important order of A.A. Nichols to discharge all soldiers in hospitals who require no medical attention. And the redistribution of all commissary stores to the amount actual necessary. This order was hailed with joy and gladness. Evening meeting of officers and soldiers to discuss their feelings in the transpired events.
Thursday, May 11, 1865
Very warm, evening rain sleet
Got pass went to city.
Met at the interesting, noonday prayer meeting of the Young Men's Christian Association. Felt deeply sensible of the effect, diseffectiveness in the part of former friends will have on the soldiers who return under these repulsive circumstances to their homes. I can but desire truly that my relatives who disapproved of the principles I espoused in word and manners may speedily be gained over again to me. The grace of God alone can accomplish it.
Thursday, May 18, 1865
Warm and fine
Got my discharge, went to the city for my money coming, and was refused clothing money due me, some $40. Shall the government make me much trouble, or refuse to straighten the mistake, or even the sanitary commissary refuse to aid me, neither need look to me for aid in promoting their selfish causes again. My heart burns with anger because I stand in great need. And have lived extremely saving to gain thereby. But all things end in good to those who put their trust in God. To Him I look for comfort and help. The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away, blessed be His name.
Wolf said his own father never really enjoyed farming, and wanted a different life for his sons.
"He believed that there was an easier way to make a living," Wolf said.
A bit of a rebel in his family, Wolf said he did it anyway.
"My brothers didn't want to do it. It seemed like the thing to do. It's an interesting challenge," Wolf said.
With Saturday marking the 150th anniversary of the first combat by Wisconsin Troops in the Civil War - and the first death of a Wisconsin soldier - Wolf recalled his great-great grandfather's legacy, and his own decision to farm the same land as Lentz Wolf.
The enduring legacy of those first 160 acres of post-war Wisconsin farmland began when David Noll Wolf moved to Green County, after serving as a private in Company D, of the 148th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteer.
The Wolf family historian, Jam Hummer, who is Lentz's cousin, is unsure the exact date or year David Noll Wolf moved to Green County, but believes it is somtime between May 1865, after Wolf's honorable discharge, and Janurary 1868, when he married Catherine.
"However, David took a soldier's claim for land in the City of Monroe right after the war, so we feel the date is closer to May 1865," Hummer said.
Wolf says he sometimes reflects on the past while walking the same land where his great-great grandfather once grew hay and wheat.
"It makes you wonder what he would have thought," Wolf said. "It would be interesting to talk to him and see what he would have thought."
Life on the farm
Wolf bought all 347 acres of his parent's original farm, which is now part of the 710 acres he currently owns.
He also rents about 2,500 acres, including the land once belonging to David Noll Wolf.
Despite fluctuating prices for crops and other variables faced by any food producer, Wolf says farming has worked out for him, though certain family members might still disagree with his choice to stay in Wisconsin.
"My parents moved to Utah to get the hell away (from farming)," he said.
Today, Wolf has plenty to keep him busy on the various acres on County P. He grows a mixture of corn, soybeans, and alfalfa.
He's also the owner of 750 steers and heifers, about 220 of which are milking cows. He's also a family man - Lentz Wolf met his wife, Shelly, in 1998, when she worked for him on the farm, feeding cattle.
They fell in love, and married on April 15, 2011, and have three children together: Tony, 4, and twins, Victoria and Quinton, 14 months. Wolf has two sons from a previous marriage: Cody, 14, and Travis, 10.
A soldier's story
David N. Wolf was born in June 21, 1839 in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. Wolf enlisted August 16, 1862, at Aaronsburg, Center Co., Pennsylvania for three years, where he was paid a premium of $2 and a bounty of $25. Wolf was muster-in at Harrisburg, Pa. on Aug. 28, 1862
While fighting in Chancellorsville, Virginia, Wolf was wounded from a gunshot to the right hip, which fractured the ileum (pelvis) on May 3, 1863.
Wolf was mustered-out on May 10, 1865 at Mower USA General Hospital, with a quarter disability, which made Wolf unfit for military duty.
Green County
After moving to Green County sometime around 1867, he married Catherine Ann Bressler on Jan. 3, 1868. The couple had eight children; seven boys and one girl.
The second-to-the-youngest child, Edwin Emanuel Wolf, is the great-grandpa to Lentz Wolf.
The Wolf family, a couple with only two children at the time, moved to the Dakota Territory in 1872, but a few years later, moved back to Green County, settling into the Town of Cadiz area.
David Wolf was an active member in the community, serving as superintendent and Sunday school teacher for over 30-years at Staver Church.
Lentz Wolf's grandfather, the son to Edwin Wolf, married Leona Mae Stamm. Lentz Wolf said the Stamm family, like his own family, is one of the oldest families living in the area. Leona Mae Stamm's father, George Milton Stamm, owned part of the land that Lentz Wolf is farming now.
Catherine Wolf died on March 17, 1927, at the age of 82, and is buried at Staver Church cemetery. Five years later, David Wolf died at the age of 94, and is buried at the same church cemetery as his wife.