John Azor Kellogg

He moved with his family to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in 1840 at about age 12. He was raised there and worked on the family farm. He began to study the law at 18. He was admitted to the bar in 1857, and elected District Attorney for Juneau County in 1860. He resigned, leaving his home in Mauston, and was commissioned First Lieutenant, Company K, 6th Wisconsin Infantry on 3 May 1861. He was promoted to Captain, Company I on 18 December.

He was with his Company in action on South Mountain and at Antietam.

He was Iron Brigade Adjutant General from January 1863 to January 1864, when he returned to the Sixth. He was captured in action in the Wilderness, VA on 5 May 1864. He was held at Danville, Macon, and Charleston. He escaped 8 October 1864 by jumping from a train enroute to Columbia, SC. He arrived safely at the Union lines on 26 October at Calhoun, GA. While a prisoner he had been promoted to Major (1 September 1864) and Lieutenant Colonel (19 October). He was appointed Colonel of the Regiment to date from 10 December 1864. He led the Brigade in its final campaigns in early 1865. He was honored by brevet to Brigadier General of Volunteers 9 April 1865, and mustered out of service on 14 July 1865.

He was US pension agent for the La Crosse district (1866-1875), then in legal practice in Wausau. He was elected State Senator in 1879.

Basic information from the Adjutant General1. Further details, his presence at Antietam, and the picture here from Kellogg's own Capture and Escape: A Narrative of Army and Prison Life (Wisconsin History Commission, 1908), available online from the Internet Archive.

03/16/1828; Bethany, PA

02/10/1883; Wausau, WI; burial in Pine Grove Cemetery, Wausau, WI