Bvt. Capt. Thomas McCaul, (USA)

Thomas McCaul was one of the representative citizens of Tomah, and identified with the growth and development of that city ever since he took up residence in 1867. He was born in the city of New York in January, 1838, his parents being William and Jane (Bentley) McCaul, the former of whom was of Scotch-Irish descent. Thomas lost his mother when he was a small lad and his father afterward remarried and in 1855 moved to Fox Lake, Wisconsin. Thomas was the only surviving child.

Thomas enlisted in Company G, 1st Regiment U.S. Sharpshooters on September 18th, 1861 in Fox Lake Wisconsin. Wounded at the Battle of Second Bull Run, aka Manassas or Groveton. He was promoted to Brevet Captain on June 27th, 1862, according to the Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers. This was an unofficial rank until he recieved a commission from the government, which he never recieved. He was discharged from the Sharpshooters on February 22, 1863 due to disability caused by his wounds.

Upon the bursting of the war cloud which had long hovered over the country, on the 18th of April, 1861, he enlisted with Company A, 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, but at Madison he met with an accident and was not permitted to muster with the regiment and therefore returned home. Immediately after the first Battle of Bull Run he again determined to enter the service, and this time enlisted in Company G, 1st Regiment, United States Sharpshooters (Volunteers).

While serving with the Regimental Commissary in June of 1862, McCaul accompanied the body of Corp. Gideon F. Jones back to Fox Lake Wisconsin, Jones succumbing to fever June 12th at the Hospital on Gaines Hill. McCaul was travelling without leave. He had actually stolen his friends body and was willing to be punished in order to make sure that Jones' body got home safely. Jones was buried in Fox Lake, and a fine headstone was erected by the citizens of East Randolph which illustrated his service in the Sharpshooters. (see findagrave memorial 60580155).

McCaul returned from his trip to Wisconsin (which had gone unnoticed) On June 26th, 1862, dressed in a straw hat, shirt sleeves, and course mixed trousers, which had allowed him to escape the Provost Guard. He brought gifts in the form of a box of cigars and a bottle of "Bininger." Although employed in the commissary department, McCaul was given a 19-pound double-barreled rifle from a sick man and went into the fight at Mechanicsville later that day.

At the 2nd Battle of Bull Run, McCaul recieved a gunshot wound in the right hip, and a shell wound in his right shoulder. The former proved serious and resulted in his being brought home by his father, where he remained until October, 1862. For gallant and meritorious conduct at the Battle of Mechanicsville (June 26, 1862), McCaul was recommended by Col Hiram Berdan and all of the officers of the Regiment as highly worthy of promotion to command, and this recommendation was made by virtue of the request of Governor Solomon to the Colonels of the different regiments of the state. In the meantime, on June 27th, 1862 he was made Brevet Captain (not commissioned). This rank meant nothing until he was commissioned. 2nd Lieutenant Marble was made Captain on July 4th after Capt. Drew's death on June 30th. This request for commissioning of the Governor was made while McClellan's army was at Harrison's Landing at the close of the Penninsular Campaign. In October of 1863, Thomas was sufficiently recovered to enable him to return to duty, and he went to Madison to recieve the command for which he had been so highly recommended and to which he was so justly entitled, but the governor refused to give him a command, his excuse being that because Thomas had been wounded and unable to take a command when his services were needed. McCaul then went to Washington, D.C. to be examined for the command of a colored regiment, but upon arrival found that the examination was so severe, that notwithstanding his former soldierly conduct, he decided not to try to pass the examination. He was well informed on the manual and in the duties that pertained to the Quartermaster Department, but it appeared to him that little short of a classical education was necessary, which was something he did not have.

From that time until the close of the war he remained working in the Quartermaster Department, then accompanied that department to the plains, remaining at and in the vicinity of Fort Laramie until the spring of 1866, when he left the service and returned to his home at Fox Lake. The following year he moved with his father and step-mother and opened a clothing establishment, a calling his father had previously followed at Fox Lake, and they successfully conducted their affairs until his father's death in the spring of 1878. Thomas then took over his father's business and continued alone for several years, until he closed out his stock of goods and then engaged in contracting and building many of the finest buildings in Tomah, which are now monuments to his skill. He also conducted an insurance business that represented many of the principal companies of the country.

He was married in 1866 at Watkin's Glen, NY to Ms. Agnes H. Williams, a native of New York. They had a son and daughter, Jennie, who wed Fred L. Dockstader, and William R., who attended UW-Madison. They lost an infant daughter, as well.

He was a democrat in politics, but voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He was a charter member of Henry W. Cressy Post No. 42 of the Grand Army of the Republic.