Wednesday, January 29, 2014
I wrote this article for "The County Times" newspaper.
Every flag in the
community was at half-mast on June 15, 1901, when the largest funeral ever seen
in Kewaunee County was attended by 3,000 mourners. People, including the governor, came from all
over Wisconsin, to say good-bye to “Old Steb”.
Who was this man and why did all those people come to honor him?
De Wayne Stebbins was a
unique character and a pioneer citizen of Wisconsin and Kewaunee County. It was said that he believed hypocrisy, sham,
and flattery were cardinal sins. He
lived his life in an exemplary way that earned him the respect demonstrated at
his funeral.
Stebbins was descended from a long line of Puritans, his ancestor Rowland Stebbins having come to America in 1634. De Wayne was born in Clinton, New York, and came with his family to territorial Wisconsin in 1835 as an infant.
At 16, he received an
appointment to the United States Naval Academy, graduated, and served for a
time in the Navy. Around 1856, he came
to Wolf River, now Algoma, at barely 21 years old. Soon after, he took an adventure to mine for
gold in California, traveling by way of the Isthmus of Panama. Gold mining didn’t pan out for him and he
returned to Wolf River, or Ah-ne-pee.
He, himself, is credited with renaming the village Ah-ne-pee, which later
became Ahnapee, and then Algoma.
The War Between the
States broke out and Stebbins expected to be called up as a naval officer, but
when the call didn’t come, he enlisted.
On the night before he departed with Company K, the 21st
Wisconsin Infantry, on September 5, 1862, he married the young widow Frances
Elliott Newel, the daughter of early pioneer settler George W. Elliott.
When Stebbins reached
Louisville, Kentucky, the order came to transfer him to the Navy as an officer in
Porter's western flotilla. He served on
the Clara Dolson, steamer Mound City, steam ship Carondelet of the Mississippi squadron, Portsmouth,
and was second in command under Farragut on the double-turreted
monitor Kickapoo. Among the notable events of his Civil War
experience was the time he most likely saved the life of General
Ulysses S. Grant.
On a dark, foggy night in April, 1863, the Mound City ran the gauntlet past the batteries at Vickburg. Proceeding on the river, they participated in several attacks. After running the batteries, Stebbins helped to transfer General Grant's army across the river. De Wayne Stebbins shared a personal account of that night and his experience with General Grant, who later became our 18th president, Ulysses S. Grant. The story of the siege of Vicksburg was later written in a May 26, 1955 article in the Algoma "Record-Herald" newspaper. It read:
On a dark, foggy night in April, 1863, the Mound City ran the gauntlet past the batteries at Vickburg. Proceeding on the river, they participated in several attacks. After running the batteries, Stebbins helped to transfer General Grant's army across the river. De Wayne Stebbins shared a personal account of that night and his experience with General Grant, who later became our 18th president, Ulysses S. Grant. The story of the siege of Vicksburg was later written in a May 26, 1955 article in the Algoma "Record-Herald" newspaper. It read:
"In the dark and mist from the
river, a lookout challenged two approaching figures. Stebbins,
the deck officer, ordered his men to prepare to fire on the boat in
the belief that Confederate spies might be floating downstream in a canoe or on
a log. While Stebbins delayed his command to make certain he did not kill
his own men, a voice came from the darkness: 'General Grant
desires to see Admiral Porter.' A moment later the Union hero
stepped aboard, saved from the fate of General Stonewall Jackson, Confederate
leader who was accidentally slain by his own men. Had circumstances been
reversed there is no telling how American history would have been altered, so
vital were each of these men to success of his own cause."
On that foggy night, De Wayne Stebbins’
direct orders to his men to prepare but hold their fire upon Grant's
unidentified vessel is attributed to saving the general's life.
After the war, De
Wayne Stebbins came home to Ah-ne-pee and became a real estate dealer, a
government harbor inspector, a banker, publisher of the Ahnapee Record newspaper from 1884-1897, a legislator and a
Wisconsin state senator. He served
continuously on the Kewaunee County Board for 27 years.
When he arrived in
Madison as a senator, he chaired the Committee on Charitable Institutions. His Wisconsin legislative colleagues called
him “PaPa Stebbins” because, although he was described as “stern”, he served
both in a mentor role and friend with a “heart of warmest texture”. It was said that De Wayne Stebbins could
always be depended on to stand with measures beneficial to the people. At home, he was master of the Masonic lodge
for a dozen years and belonged to the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) and
several other local organizations.
His death was a shock
and came unexpectedly. He and his wife
had returned just two days before from a trip to San Francisco where he
represented the state to present a gift for the battleship Wisconsin. Late in the evening on June 12, 1901, he
experienced severe chest pains and died around midnight with his wife--his
partner of nearly 40 years--beside him.
De Wayne Stebbins was
buried at the Evergreen Cemetery in Algoma near many of his extended family and
beloved friends and constituents. At the
funeral for the man whom everyone said had a simple straightforward style and
modesty that earned him recognition, Governor LaFollette summed up Stebbins'
contribution best. He said De Wayne
Stebbins “won his place in Wisconsin history because he thought and thought
right”.