Horace B. Wilson
Horace Brown Wilson, sometimes referred to as H.B. Wilson, was a politician, military officer, professor, civil engineer, mathematician, and prominent citizen of New Albany, Indiana, and Red Wing, Minnesota. During his lifetime Wilson worked as the professor of mathematics and civil engineering at Hamline University. Wilson served in both the American Civil War and Dakota War of 1862 as the Captain Company F of the 6th Minnesota Infantry Regiment under William Crooks. In his later life Wilson served as a legislator representing the area of Red Wing and Goodhue County as part of the 16th District of Minnesota in the 19th Minnesota Legislature, the 21st Minnesota Legislature, and the 22nd Minnesota Legislature from 1877 to 1883. Wilson later served on the Board of Regents for the University of Minnesota.
Early life
Horace Brown Wilson was born in Bingham, Maine on March 30, 1821. He was the son of Episcopal Reverend Obed Wilson and Christiana Gray. Wilson was educated in the Maine public school system and eventually studied at Maine Wesleyan Seminary in Kents Hill, Maine and graduated in the summer of 1841. Wilson eventually moved west to Cincinnati and taught school, later moving to Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where he took charge of the Dearborn County, Indiana seminary. While living in New Albany, Indiana, in 1844 Wilson served as the Superintendent of Schools from 1844 to 1850 and served in the Municipal Government of New Albany as the city civil engineer from 1850 to 1856. Wilson later studied at Indiana Asbury College and graduated with an Honorary Master of Arts degree in civil engineering in July 1858. Following his term at Asbury, Wilson briefly studied law and was admitted to the Indiana bar examination, although he never practiced law.In 1858, the same year that Minnesota was admitted into the Union, Wilson moved to Minneapolis–Saint Paul and taught mathematics and civil engineering as a professor for Hamline University which at the time was located in Red Wing. According to the Minnesota Historical Society, the inclusion of Wilson as a professor of both math and civil engineering allowed Hamline University to offer a complete college curriculum. Besides pedagogy, Wilson served as an alderman and member of the municipal city council in Red Wing, Minnesota.
Military career
At the outbreak of the American Civil War at the age of 41 Wilson enlisted into the Union Army on August 22, 1862, and was enrolled into the officer ranks of the 6th Minnesota Infantry Regiment as the Captain of Company F. The majority of Company F came from Goodhue county and even included some of Wilson's students from Hamline University. Wilson, along with the rest of Company F of the 6th Minnesota had originally been raised to fight in the Western theater of the American Civil War, however, due to domestic disputes with the Dakota people, broken promises from the Minnesota and United States Government, and late annuity payments to the Dakota, several companies of the 6th Minnesota would end up fighting in the Dakota War of 1862. Company F was raised in August 1862 in Goodhue county and mustered into service at Camp Release and was subsequently posted on outpost duty at Forest City, Minnesota. According to Adjutant General of Minnesota Oscar Malmros the 6th Minnesota was overwhelmingly armed with lower quality firearms, primarily smoothbore Belgian and French muskets, along with the Springfield Model 1842.The 6th Minnesota's first battle was at the Battle of Birch Coulee which ended in disaster. Wilson's Company F acted as the relief force commanded by Henry Hastings Sibley and Samuel McPhail to rescue Captain Hiram Perry Grant of Company A, Major Joseph R. Brown, and Captain Joseph Anderson of the Cullen Frontier Guard mounted militia who were all ambushed by Big Eagle while as a part of a burial detail to recover and bury the bodies of the victims of the attack at the Lower Sioux Agency. Company F's first formal engagement was the Battle of Wood Lake, during the battle Wilson was shot through his shoulder and gravely wounded. According to Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge's book The History of Goodhue County Wilson never fully recovered from the wound in his shoulder. The book Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars 1861–1865 states the following about Wilson and Company F during the course of the battle:
The engagement continued about two hours, after which the Indians retreated in great haste, and were seen no more that day. The men were ordered back to camp. Those of Companies A and F were nearly a mile from the rest of the regiment, overlooking a ravine in which many Indians were concealed, lying down flat on their faces in the tall, rank marsh grass. It was here that Capt. Wilson was wounded in the shoulder. His company was very busily engaged.Wilson and members of Company F were the guard detail which escorted the Dakota prisoners during the 1862 Mankato mass execution. The 6th Minnesota later took part in Sibley's 1863 Campaign in the Dakota Territory and fought at the Battle of Big Mound, the Battle of Dead Buffalo Lake, and the Battle of Stony Lake. Following the end of Sibley's Campaign the 6th Minnesota was re-routed to the Western Theatre of the American Civil War where it continued to fight against the Confederates at the Siege of Spanish Fort and the Battle of Fort Blakeley. Wilson was discharged with the rest of the regiment on August 19, 1865.