Few people residing in Fond du Lac today have knowledge of the fact that at a comparatively early day of the city's history, there was a military company here known as the Fond du Lac National Guard of which D.E. Wood was Captain, D.E. Hoskins, First Lieutenant, J.W. Partridge, Second Lieutenant, E.H. Jones, Orderly.

It was organized in 1857 and with its beautiful uniforms and soldierly movements, was the pride of the young city.

An incident of state historical interest was the loss and recovery of some of the company's arms.

T.S. Weeks was the company Armorer, and as such, kept and cared for the guns.

One morning while the excitement was on in connection with the arrest of the negro Clover under the provisions of the fugitive slave law and rushing him from Milwaukee to Ripon for concealment, these company arms suddenly disappeared and immediately the question for investigation was, who took them and where were they? The feeling was high over the rescue of Clover from the custody of the U.S. Marshal and the determination to hide and protect him shown by Booth, Rycraft and the anti-slave element at Milwaukee, and LaGrange, Daniels, Pickett and their friends at Ripon. The U.S. Marshal and deputies, the latter including F.D. McCarty, then sheriff of this county, and John S. Homer of Ripon, were in lively pursuit, and it was feared by many that there might be trouble. The morning that Tom Weeks discovered the guns were gone, followed a night of considerable excitement at Ripon, and the evening of that day occurred the memorable gate-pin scene, a standing joke in the region for many years. The joke was perpetrated in this way: Clover was supposed to be and in reality was concealed on the premises of Armine Pickett, five miles northeast of Ripon, and McCarty, Homer and two other men, whose names are lost to history, proceeded in that direction. In front of the Pickett home was a gate of heavy proportions, and to hold it in place when not in use, a pin was used in a hole bored in the gate-post. Arriving at the scene in the dusk of the evening, the officers were met by Mr. Pickett, who led the way through the gate, but just as he passed through, he seized the gate-pin, and in a very determined manner threatened to shoot if they did not get out of there. And they got at a lively rate for they imagined the gate-pin to be a revolver and knew Pickett to be a man of determination. It seems Judge Homer was slow to run and was led away by an animal yoke around his neck.

But as to the guns - Lieut. Hoskins by careful and persistent detective work, found that Colwert Pier, young and full of political enthusiasm, led the boys who took away the guns, and explaining the penalty to them, the guns next morning were found in their usual place and the scene closed.