- BARTLETT H. BALDWIN, Yard-Master of the Chicago and Northwestern
Railway Company,
- at Janesville, has been in the employ of the Company since
1865, and has occupied his present position since 1869, a period
of twenty years. He was born in South Malden, (now Everett),
Mass., July 21, 1845, and is the son of Jonathan and Eliza (HOMER)
BALDWIN, the former a native of Massachusetts, and the latter
of North Carolina. The boyhood and youth of our subject was passed
in his native State. When the first gun was fired upon Fort Sumter,
his heart was stirred within him and he desired at once to enter
the service of his country. On account of his extreme youth his
parents would not accede to his request for permission to enlist.
He waited until the fall of 1861, when he could not longer withstand
the urgent appeals for men,and going to Chicago, Ill., he enlisted
as a private in the 69th Illinois Infantry and served three months.
He then enlisted in the 14th Illinois cavalry, and was actively
engaged with his regiment in all its marches, skirmishes and
battles until Aug.3, 1864, when he was captured by the enemy,
while engaged in the celebrated Stoneman raid. For the next seven
moths his life was spent in rebel prisons, first at Macon, Ga.,
and later at Andersonville. His experience while in the latter
prison can never be effaced from his memory. The long dreary
months passed with comrades dying all around him, and seemingly
no prospect of relief but at last the joyful news came that they
were to be paroled or exchanged. On the 26th day of February,
1865, he left Andersonville with no regrets and was sent to Annapolis,
Md., where he was paroled. Receiving a prison-of-war's furlough,
he returned to his old home in Boston, Mass. where he remained
a few weeks. Hearing of the assassination of Lincoln on the morning
of April 15, he at once started for the front. Not having fully
recovered from the effects of his confinement in Andersonville,
he was sent to a convalescent hospital where he remained until
June 20, 1865, when he was honorably discharged from the service,
on account of his regiment being extinct, it having virtually
been annihilated in the rear of Atlanta. No regiment in the service
saw more hard fighting than the gallant 14th Illinois Cavalry.
It was in all of Sherman's campaigns and was actively engaged
in the battles of Cumberland Gap and Lookout Mountain and was
with Burnside, who was besieged by Longstreet at Knoxville. On
the approach of re-enforcements, Longstreet raised the siege
and retreated. Mr. BALDWIN was also in the engagements at Abington,
Va., Bear Station, Russellville and Barnes Crossroads. The 14th
Illinois cavalry marched upwards of 10,000 miles, not counting
the distance made by detachments, and was the recipient of two
complimentary notices from Gen. Grant, one for exterminating
Gen. Thomas' Legion of Indians, and the other for gallantry shown
at the battle at Cumberland Gap.
- On receiving his discharge, Mr. BALDWIN came to Janesville,
where he entered the service of
- the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company, as a switchman
and served four years, when he was made yard-master and has served
as such till date. On the 30th day of November, 1866, at Janesville,
he married Miss Mary CAIRNS, a native of Scotland who came with
her parents, Rober and Margaret (GARDNER) CAIRNS, to America
in 1853. Two children have been born unto them - George Cairnes,
born August, 1867, now with the Chicago & Northwestern Railway
as a brakeman, between Janesville and Chicago; and Carrie Bell,
born Dec. 8, 1878, now attending school in Janesville.
- Mr. and Mrs. BALDWIN attend the Presbyterian Church. Politically,
he is a Republican. He is
- a member of Oriental Lodge, No. 22, K. of P, has passed all
the chairs and has twice represented the lodge in the Grand Lodge
of the State. Of the Royal Arcanum, he has been President, and
has served the local assembly in the Grand Lodge. A member of
the I.O.O.F., he has served as N.G. of the Subordinate Lodge,
Chief Patriarch of the Encampment and N.G. of the Daughters of
Rebecca, and was twice representative at the Grand Lodge. He
is Post Commander of W. H. Sergeant Post, No. 20, G.A.R., and
for fourteen years has been local agent for the I.O.O.F., Insurance
Company.
- A residence of nearly twenty-five years at Janesville has
surrounded Mr. BALDWIN with many
- friends who acknowledge his worth and are pleased to award
him due credit for what he is and what he has been.
-
- [Transcriber's Note: In the second paragraph the first
name of Mr. Cairnes is spelled Rober; this may or may not be
a typo of the publisher.]
-
- Taken from "The Portrait and Biographical Album of
Rock County, Wis." (c)1889, pp. 617-618.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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