The History of Company A, Second Illinois Cavalry

by Samuel H. Fletcher; D. H. Fletcher

General C. C. Walcott, of Columbus, Ohio, who was present at the battle, is reported to have said that he "considered Major Hotaling as one of the bravest officers in the field and that our forces owed their success before Atlanta, more to him than to any other one man; that he had wondered why he did not receive promotion immediately afterwards."

The Major's modest reply to this suggestion was characteristic. The substance of it was that in the position he then occupied, having as he did, the full confidence of General Logan and the control of fifteen thousand men, he thought that he could be of more service to his country than he could possibly have been by any promotion he might hope to have gotten.

At the close of the war, Major Hotaling returned to his home in Rochelle, Illinois, and in 1869 was appointed Post Master of that place.

Some of his later experiences were the outgrowth of early California history. For some years during the pioneer days of that State, Henry Meigs, of San Francisco, was the leading banker upon the western coast. His mining, lumbering and other interests grew so rapidly and required such a large capital that he suddenly found himself unable to meet his engagements. With bankruptcy before him, he collected as much gold as possible, bought a bark and put to sea with his treasure. The vessel was becalmed in a fog in the Golden Gate. Meigs' flight and the absence of the bark were discovered the same evening and a steamer was sent in pursuit. It passed so closely to the becalmed bark that its lights were seen and conversation upon it heard upon the fugitive ship. Nobody on board the bark, unless it may have been the captain, knew the identity of Meigs or that they were being pursued. Before morning a breeze enabled them to clear the harbor and they sailed for Otahitee. From there they touched at various islands in the Pacific but apparently without any definite destination in view.

Nicholas Hotaling, a brother of the Major, who was the Second officer of the vessel, attracted the attention of Meigs, who seemed to take a warm interest in him. Hotaling was disposed to reciprocate the feeling but became suspicious, owing to the apparently aimless wandering of the vessel. His room was next to that of Meigs. One night he heard a sound in Meigs' room like the chinking of coin. Looking through a slight crack in the partition, he saw Meigs upon the floor before an open chest filled with gold coin and bullion, which convinced him that something was wrong. After a cruise of several months, the ship entered the harbor of Valparaiso, and Meigs was put on shore with his box. He offered fine inducements to Hotaling to stay with him, but the latter refused and neither saw the other for many years.

With the money at his disposal (which, as afterwards learned, amounted to five hundred thousand dollars), coupled with his great business sagacity, Meigs was soon at the head of large projects, all of which were successful—the chief one being the Trans-Andean Railway. His first thought, after his great success, was to retrieve his good name which had stood as a synonym of honor in California before his default; and to make recompense to those who had been ruined or injured by his act. He had retained a list of the names of his creditors with the amount due to each, and in due time paid every debt in full, together with interest. Many indictments were pending against him in California, but when he made restitution, a special act of the Legislature was passed cancelling them all.

Upon hearing of Meigs' fame, Hotaling wrote to him. Meigs had not forgotten his old friend. He immediately replied, offering him a liberal inducement to go to Chili. The offer was accepted and was soon followed by another to Major Hotaling of a position in Central America in connection with a railroad project then undergoing development in that country. Leaving the Post Office in charge of his wife, Major Hotaling went to Central America in the fall of 1871. The climate proved to be too trying and in a few months he was compelled to resign and returned home.

In 1874 Major Hotaling was induced to visit the gold fields of South America; but again the climate and other things equally trying, compelled him to return.

In 1883 he went to Huron, South Dakota, and finding the climate especially beneficial, resigned his position as Post Master, and in the spring of 1884 moved with his family to that place where he died on October 13th, 1886. His remains were interred in Lawnridge Cemetery, Rochelle, Illinois.

Major Hotaling was one of six brothers who served during the war; three of whom, Nicholas, Charles and Dighton, were in his company; the others, Oscar and Steuben, were in Eastern regiments.