Netherwood had been appointed village postmaster by President Grant after being wounded in the Civil War on May 16, 1863, at Champion's Hill, Va. He was hit by an artillery shell with peculiar shrapnel -- a mix of iron, wood, and tin -- that left him entirely paralyzed but wide awake.

"I was frantic," he recalled. "I could not even move an eyelid." His comrades were digging his grave when Netherwood managed to wiggle a finger and avoid being buried alive.

After he recovered, he returned to Oregon where, despite constant pain, he became a community leader. In 1880, he persuaded young Robert M. La Follette to run in his first election.

Then in 1927 came that knock on the door. It was a traveler from North Carolina, and when the two began reminiscing about the war, they discovered they had both fought at Champion's Hill in 1863. When Netherwood described the strange artillery shell that nearly killed him, the visitor recalled how his Confederate unit had torn apart a locomotive to improvise ammunition.

"I made those shells and fired every shot at Champion's Hill," he confessed. Netherwood blurted, "What! Then you fired the shot that caused me 64 years of suffering!" The stranger could only apologize, and the two parted friends. "We all realize," Netherwood later concluded, "that the war was a great tragedy -- that it was, like all wars, a great mistake."

-- Wisconsin Historical Society
www.wisconsinhistory.org

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