Name: Lucius F. Hubbard Company: A
Enlisted as private Company A December 19, 1861; promoted Captain
February 5, 1862; Lieutenant Colonel March 24, 1862; Colonel August 31,
1862; mustered as Veteran February 12, 1864; Brevet Brigadier General
December 16, 1864; wounded at Corinth May 28, 1862 and at Nashville
December 16, 1864.
Birth
Date: January 26,
1836
Place: Troy,
Rensselaer County, New York
Mustered
In
Date: December 19,
1861
Rank: Private
Age: 26
Residence prior to
military service: Troy, New York (1836-1839); Chester, Vermont
(1839-1848); Granville, New York (1848-1851); Poultney, Vermont (1851);
Salem, New York (1854); Chicago, Illinois (1854-1857); Red Wing,
Goodhue County, Minnesota (1857 on)
Vocation prior to
military service: tinner's apprentice; Publisher of the Red Wing
Republican Newspaper; Register of Deeds
Death
Date: February 5,
1913
Place: at the home
of his son, Charles F. Hubbard, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota
Burial: Lakewood
Cemetery
Mustered
Out
Date: September 6,
1865
Rank: Brevet
Brigadier General
Age: 29
Residence following
military service: Red Wing, Goodhue County, Minnesota; St.
Paul, Minnesota; Minneapolis, Minnesota
Vocation following
military service: Grain business, railroad building, Minnesota
state Senator, Governor of Minnesota
Lucius F. Hubbard Biography and
Civil
War Narrative
Lucius Frederick Hubbard was born
the eldest son of Charles F. and Margaret (Van Valkenberg) Hubbard on
January 26, 1836, in Troy, Rensselaer
County, New York. Charles was a sheriff and died when Lucius was age 3;
his mother
died when he was 10. After living with an aunt in Chester, Vermont, he
attended the academy at Granville, New York, for three years. He began
an apprenticeship as a tinsmith in Poultney, Vermont, at age 15, and
completed the apprenticeship at Salem, New York, at age 18. After
working as a tinner in Chicago, Illinois, Lucius moved to Red Wing,
Goodhue County, Minnesota, in 1857. He started the successful Red Wing
Republican newspaper and served as register of deeds for Goodhue
County. At the time of the 1860 Census, 25-year-old L. F. Hubbard
resided at a hotel operated by C. D. Wendson in Red Wing and worked as
an Editor.
In December 1861, Lucius F. Hubbard sold his newspaper and enlisted as
a private in Company A of the Fifth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry
Regiment on the 19th of the same month. He was elected Captain of the
company on February 5, 1862, and on March 24--with the official
organization of the 5th Minnesota Regiment--he was promoted to
Lieutenant Colonel.
In May seven companies of the 5th Minnesota were sent south to serve in
the Civil War, while three companies were sent to the Minnesota
frontier. Hubbard and the seven companies reported to General John Pope
near Corinth, Mississippi, on May 24th. They were immediately put to
work in the Siege of Corinth, including the battle of Farmington on May
28th, during which he was wounded.
On July 19, 1862, Martin Webster of
Company A wrote home to his wife
concerning an incident which apparently contributed to Hubbard's
promotion to Colonel of the 5th Minnesota:
Our regiment does not get along very
agreeably together. I will give one little incident of many to show how
we pass the time. A few days ago Company A dug a well. It afforded
about water for their own use and a little for the hospital for
drinking purposes. In order to protect their well they had to place a
guard at it to keep other companies from drawing all the water out. The
Colonel [Rudolph von Borgersrode] sent his nigger to their well for
water. He was refused. On his return the Colonel sent a company of
armed men and took the guard away and ordered him tied to a tree
twenty-four hours without food or water for refusing to let him have
water.
The company appealed to Capt. Dart to know if he would allow his man
tied up. "No, never!" says Capt. Dart and started immediately for the
barracks tent and says to the Colonel, "Did you order a man tied to a
tree?"
"Yes," said the Colonel, "and it shall be done."
"It shan't be done," replies the Captain and left him, but reported it
to headquarters and an officer came immediately and arrested the
Colonel and took his sword from him and gave the command of the
regiment to the Lieut. Col.
I think we will be either blessed or cursed with a new Colonel soon. At
any rate a change could hardly be worse.
On August 31st, Lieutenant Colonel
L. F. Hubbard was promoted to Colonel of the 5th Minnesota. He
commanded the regiment at the battle of Iuka, Mississippi (September
19, 1862; 5th Minnesota held in reserve), the Battle of Corinth
(October 4, 1862), the
battles of Mississippi Springs (May 13, 1863); Jackson, Mississippi
(May 14, 1863); Satartia, Mississippi (June 4, 1863); Mechanicsburg,
Mississippi (June 6,
1863); Richmond, Louisiana
(June 15, 1863); and the
assault and siege of Vicksburg (May 18-July 4, 1863).
Colonel Hubbard was then given command of the Second Brigade, First
Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, and Lieutenant Colonel William B. Gere received the command of
the 5th Minnesota. Hubbard replaced Colonel Stephen G. Hicks as
commander of the Second Brigade. While under Hubbard's command, the
Second Brigade participated in the Red River Expedition (March 10-May
22, 1864), Lake Chicot, Arkansas (June 6, 1864); Abbeville, Mississippi
(August 23, 1864); Mower's Expedition to Brownsville, Arkansas
(September 2-10, 1864); pursuit of Price through Arkansas and Missouri
(September 17 - November 15, 1864); the Battle of Nashville (December
15-16, 1864); and the Mobile Campaign
(March 7-April 12, 1854).
Colonel Hubbard was quite critical of top leadership decisions made
during the Red River Expedition, particularly those of General N. P.
Banks, commanding the Department of the Gulf. He described the
expedition as "a conspicuous failure," continuing that "it wholly
failed in accomplishing the purpose for which it was undertaken, and
that that failure was largely due to a lack of genius and skill in its
directing spirit." The primary objective of the campaign was to destroy
the Confederate army led by Dick Taylor, headquartered at Shreveport,
Louisiana. Hubbard drew a sharp contrast between the bright, shiny,
rested, and well-equipped "Army of the Gulf" with the worn, shabby
appearance of the 16th Army Corps, including the 2nd Brigade and the
5th Minnesota Regiment. When Banks' army met up with the Confederates
on April 8 at Sabine Cross Roads (also known as Mansfield), they were
turned back soundly and retreated to Pleasant Hill. Early the next
morning, A.J. Smith's 16th Army Corps was placed into line of battle to
protect the retreating New Orleans army. Throughout the day they
repelled repeated attacks by Dick Taylor's Confederates. Hubbard
described some of the fighting late in the day as "some of the hardest
fighting and bloodiest work, for the numbers engaged, of any battle of
the war. Our troops stood as if rooted in their tracks. They could be
killed, but they could not be driven. Our losses were heavy, but the
slaughter of the enemy was appalling." When General A.J. Smith called
into action a few regiments held in reserve, the Confederate army
retreated toward Shreveport. As emphatic as Hubbard's description of
the battle was, his comments on the events of the next morning were
even more so:
We were aroused at 2 o'clock on the
morning of the 10th, expecting, of course, to be sent in pursuit of the
fleeing enemy. To our astonishment, however, as we filed into the road,
the head of the column was turned to the rear, and we commenced
marching as if for dear life in the direction from whence we had come.
What could this movement mean? Were we dreaming? Were we the defeated
instead of the victorious army, and were we fleeing from a pursuing
force? This was not the kind of strategy in which the old Sixteenth
Corps had been educated, and we were dumb with amazement. All but old
A. J. Smith--he was quite the reverse. His indignation could not be
restrained, and his profane characterization of the cowardly business
seemed to give the atmosphere a sulphurous taint all the way to Grand
Ecore. We learned subsequently that although our army had achieved a
great victory at Pleasant Hill, yet Banks found, upon further
investigation, that his New Orleans army had become so crippled by its
defeat at Sabine Cross Roads that
he was persuaded it was in no condition to aid in pursuing the enemy,
and he therefore determined to retire to a defensive position and
reorganize it. Smith protested. He offered to conduct the pursuit with
the Sixteenth Corps alone. He could not consent to the disgrace of
retreating from a victorious field; but Banks ordered the retreat, and
Smith's ebullition of wrath thereat seemed to prematurely illumine the
horizon as we marched to the rear on that early, frosty April morning. ["The
Red River Expedition," by Brevet Brigadier-General L. F. Hubbard,
Colonel Fifth Minnesota Infantry, U.S. Volunteers, as published in Glimpses of the Nation's Struggle]
Hubbard had re-enlisted as a veteran in early 1864 and therefore
received a much appreciated furlough between June 17 and August 17.
When Hubbard rejoined the 2nd Brigade at Abbeville, Mississippi, on
August 17, it consisted of the 47th Illinois Infantry
(Lieutenant Colonel Samuel B. Baker), the 5th Minnesota, the
8th Wisconsin Infantry, and the 2nd Iowa Artillery
Battery. On Thanksgiving
Day 1864, Hubbard and the 5th Minnesota boarded steamboats to join
General George Thomas in Nashville. On December 15-16, Hubbard and his
men played a key role in the Battle of Nashville. At Nashville the 2nd
Brigade consisted of the
5th and 9th
Minnesota (Marsh), the
11th Missouri (Bowyer), and the 8th Wisconsin (Britton), and the 2nd
Iowa Light Artillery
(Reed).
At 4:00 am on Thursday,
December
15th the Union army was awake. A dense fog
hung over the field during the early morning hours, completely
concealing
the movements of the Federal troops from the eyes of the Confederates.
Nashville was laid out with
several main roads stretching out from
Nashville like spokes. Hubbard's 2nd brigade
positioned themselves "near and to the left of the Charlotte pike," a
road
stretching to the southwest from Nashville, in order to attack the
Confederate
army on their left. At about 8:30 am
the
2nd Brigade began marching down Charlotte Pike. After about a mile
General
McArthur instructed Hubbard to direct his men to leave the road to the
left
and proceed cross-country toward Hardin Pike (the next spoke to the
east)
and the 3rd Brigade. This maneuver was slowed when some of Hubbard's
men
encountered, engaged, and pushed back a small Confederate line. With
the
thawing earth, fog and mud also impeded their progress. When the 2nd
Brigade
reached the 3rd Brigade, Hubbard positioned the 5th Minnesota
Regiment
to the immediate left of the 9th Minnesota. Next in line were the
Missouri
and Wisconsin infantry regiments, which connected to the 3rd Brigade.
The
Iowa Artillery were held in reserve.
The Union line pressed forward
steadily until about noon with minor
Confederate encounters. As it moved, the line angled toward the east in
order to approach the left flank of the main Confederate line. The 2nd
Brigade crossed a hollow and creek to the crest of a hill and to
within about 100 rods (550 yards) of a line of several small, detached
forts (called "redoubts") which the Confederates had built along their
left flank near Hillsborough Pike. The first redoubt was manned by a
detachment of infantry with 4 pieces of artillery. The second armed
redoubt was positioned about 400 yards to the
rear of the first.
When the Confederate guns of both
redoubts opened fire on Hubbard's 2nd
Brigade, the Iowa artillery returned fire, enabling one of the Missouri
companies to drive the Confederate gunners from the first of their
stations. Hubbard re-formed his brigade in two lines, the Minnesota
regiments joining forces in the first line (the 5th Regiment on the
left of the 9th Regiment), and the Missouri and Wisconsin men following
in a second line. In his battle report, Hubbard described the attack:
"Simultaneously with the line upon
my right I advanced at a double-quick, and crossing a deep ravine,
moved
in a manner to turn the right flank of the position. The enemy made but
a
feeble effort to check the assault; his infantry gave way in disorder,
and
his artillery fell into our possession. Captain Notestine's
skirmishers,
of the Eleventh Missouri, were the first to enter the work, and
assisted
in turning the captured guns upon the retreating enemy."
Lieutenant Colonel William Gere
commanding the 5th Minnesota
described the attack: "The
order to forward was soon given, and our line moved steadily on through
the brush and fallen timber in our front under a heavy fire from the
enemy, closely followed by the second
line; and as we drew near the rebel line of battle volley after volley
was
poured into their wavering ranks, which soon gave way, and as they fled
our forces pursued them, killing and wounding many, and capturing large
numbers of prisoners." As night fell, the
Confederates
retreated to a new shorter defense line a couple miles further back,
and Hubbard's 2nd Brigade occupied the position
which
had been held by the Confederates a day earlier.
The next morning, Friday, December
16th, Smith's Union troops were
facing south in the vicinity of Granny White Pike. The 2nd Brigade
lined up just west of Granny White Pike. At 8:00 am, the line advanced
nearly
a mile, under heavy fire, to within about a hundred rods (550 yards) of
the
entrenched Confederate soldiers. Hubbard's soldiers dug in, waiting
under sharp shooter fire for much of the day.
Further
east at the Confederate right, the Union Army attacked, but the men in
gray
held their ground. A cold rain began to fall around noon.
At 3:00 pm the Brigade received
orders to be ready to charge the
Confederate line at any moment. At 4:15 the charge order was given, the
infantry volunteers fixed their bayonets and abandoned their
makeshift fortifications in a charge across an open, muddy cornfield,
crossing stone walls and fences as they advanced. J[ohn]. P. Owens of
the 9th Minnesota, writing for the St. Paul Press described the charge:
The
Second Brigade leads off. Colonel Hubbard, with hat in hand, waving it
over his head, leads on his trusty warriors. He knows what is coming,
but he also knows the men he leads. Across the cornfield, the soft
ground giving away until men and horses sink at every step knee-deep;
under a shower of canister, shell, and Minie-balls filling every inch
of the atmosphere and meeting them square in the face, they keep
onward. The works are gained; no faltering yet; and now goes up the
flag of the Ninth Minnesota on the works; simultaneously with it the
flag of the veteran Fifth--which has been shot down four times in this
advance and riddled with a full charge of canister--ascends; the works
are carried in front of all the brigades of the division, and Minnesota
holds the position in an unbroken line of half a mile in extent.
Hubbard reported that nearly 400 soldiers of his 2nd Brigade were
wounded or killed in the
charge. During the battle he had two horses shot from underneath him,
and he was slightly wounded in the neck. Those who completed the charge
succeeded in driving their opposers from
their entrenchments and planting their Union colors on the position
now known as Shy's Hill (in 1864 it was called Compton Hill). As they
pursued the fleeing Confederates, they secured abandoned
artillery and captured hundreds of enemy soldiers, including
Brigadier-General Jackson and many
other officers. They continued their pursuit another mile until they
reached
the foot of the Granny White Hills, where they camped for the night.
On December 17, General John McArthur, commanding the 1st Division of
Smith's 16th Corps, recommended that Colonel Lucius F. Hubbard be
appointed a Brigadier General:
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President
of the United States :
Smith's "Guerrillas" again did a noble work yesterday, not the least
portion of
which is due the First Division. I respectfully ask, as an act of
justice and honor fairly won,
that Col. W. L. McMillen, Ninety-fifth Eegiment Ohio Infantry
Volunteers, Col. L.
F. Hubbard, Fifth Regiment Minnesota Infantry Volunteers, commanding
the First
and Second brigades respectively, be appointed brigadier generals, also
Col.
S. G. Hill, Thirty-fifth Regiment Iowa Infantry Volunteers, who
commanded the
Third Brigade, and was killed while gallantly charging the enemy's
work, I
would recommend to be gazetted as brigadier general.
J.
McARTHUR,
Brigadier General, U. S. Vols.
I heartily concur in the recommendation of General McArthur and respect
fully
request the appointments may be made.
A.
J. SMITH,
Major General.
I witnessed the assault on the enemy s works conducted by the above
named officers
and unhesitatingly commend them for their gallant bearing.
GEO.
H. THOMAS,
Major General, U. S. Vols., Comdg. D. C.
Permitted
by Telegraph, J. D. Webster, Mngr.
After additional Union attacks on
other fronts, the Confederates fled
through Brentwood Pass to the south. The Union men, including the
remaining 5th Minnesota Regiment and the rest of the 2nd Brigade,
chased the Confederates for 10 days
until they crossed the Tennessee River on December 26th.
In 1865 Hubbard and the 2nd Brigade participated in the campaign
against Mobile, Alabama, and its defenses between March 7 and April 12.
After the Civil War came to a close in
1865, Lucius Hubbard was mustered out on September 6, 1865, along with
the rest of the 5th Minnesota Regiment.
Following the war, Lucius F. Hubbard returned to Red Wing, Minnesota,
and began working the grain business and, later, he focused on railroad
building. In 1876 he completed the Midland Railway from Wabasha to
Zumbrota. He also worked on the Minnesota Central from Red Wing to
Mankato and the Duluth, Red Wing and Southern Railroad.
In May 1868 Lucius F. Hubbard married Amelia Thomas (born May 1843 in
Canada) at Red Wing, Minnesota. Amelia had come to America from Canada
in 1857. Lucius and Amelia had three children, all born in Minnesota:
Charles F. (born about 1869), Julia M. (born about 1872), and Lucius V.
(born April 1873).
In 1870, Lucius and Amelia Hubbard lived in Red Wing, Goodhue County,
Minnesota, along with their 1-year-old son, Charles F., 17-year-old
Justina Thomas (probably Amelia's sister), and Domestic Servant Anna
Johnson (age 17, born in Norway). Hubbard served in the Minnesota state
senate from 1872 to 1875. At the time of the 1880 U.S. Census, L. F.
Hubbard continued to live in Red Wing, where he worked as a Wheat
dealer. Also in the household were his wife, Amelia (age 36), his son
Charles F. (age 11), his daughter Julia (age 8), and his son Lucius
(age 7). In 1881 he was nominated and elected Governor of the
Minnesota, serving from January 1882 to January 1887. In 1889 he served
on the commission which published the 2-volume Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars.
He was appointed a Brigadier General by President McKinley and served
throughout the Spanish-American War (1898) in command of the Third
Division, Seventh Army Corps.
In 1900, Lucius, Amelia, and Lucius V. lived in Red Wing, Goodhue
County, Minnesota, where Lucius worked as a Rail Road Manager. The 1910
U.S. Census shows Lucius (74) and Amelia (66) Hubbard living in St.
Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota; Amelia's occupation is listed as
"Author of Fiction."
Lucius Frederick Hubbard died February 5, 1913, at the home of his son,
Charles, in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. Amelia died 10
years later on June 1, 1923, also in Hennepin County, Minnesota.
Lucius
F. Hubbard