Ozaukee County's
War History
by Daniel E. McGinley

as extracted from THE PORT WASHINGTON STAR
May 30, 1896



Chapter III

The draft riot, the first in the country, although bringing disgrace upon the participants and upon the fair name of the county, was a blessing in disguise, for the promptness with which the incipient rebellion was crushed and the draft finished under the iron hand of the military power of the government, opened the eyes of thousands of the deluded people, completely demoralized their leaders, and had a very salutary effect. Thereafter there was no talk of resisting the orders of Uncle Sam, of whom they ever after had a wholesome dread; if not respect; and they were more guarded in giving voice to disloyal opinions, and in their abuse of their loyal neighbors. It was about this time that the appropriate name of "Copperheads" was given to the Northern men who, in an underhand, sneaking way, did their best to assist the rebels and to dismember the Union.


Immediately after the rioters were disposed of, the draft was completed; and one cold November day over 700 drafted men reported at Port Washington and were sent on the steamer "Sea Bird" to Milwaukee, where they were quartered in Camp Washbourne. These men were drafted for a term of nine months, but very few of them served that time. Probably 80 or 100 of them enlisted for three years and joined Wisconsin regiments then at the front, while 150 were assigned to the 34th Wisconsin, a regiment made up entirely of drafted men. A few furnished substitutes and the remainder of the 700 deserted, very few of whom were ever arrested. The 34th was sent to Columbus, Ky., where it performed garrison duty, and at the end of its term of service was mustered out. The 28th regiment remained at Port Washington until the drafted men had been sent to Milwaukee, and everything had been quieted down, when it returned to its camp near Milwaukee, and on December 20th left the state for the front.

In the first week of September, 1862, occurred the great Indian scare, but as that part of the county's war record was given in a paper published in THE STAR in 1895, I will pass it by.

The year 1863 was ushered in by President Lincoln's famous Emancipation Proclamation, a document which was not given a warm reception in Ozaukee county, but which will live in history for centuries to come. In May came the disaster to the Union army at Chancelorsville, Va., but on the National's natal day came the glorious victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, which set the whole North rejoicing. Recruiting in Ozaukee County came to a standstill after these victories, as in fact it did throughout the state, people thinking that the war was nearly ended, and for a few weeks no volunteers would be accepted except for the regular army. But in September came the terrible battle of Chicamauga, a Union defeat which told the North plainer than words that the war had not ended. In this battle, and in the battle of Mission Ridge, the Ozaukee boys in the 24th Wisconsin and other regiments fought heroically.

More calls came for troops, and the 35th Wisconsin infantry was organized. On its rolls, distributed though several companies, we find the names of 53 boys from Ozaukee, many of whom had served terms in the army earlier in the war. When in March, 1864, Gen. Grant assumed command of all the armies of the Union, and Gen. Sherman succeeded him in the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, great efforts were made to refill the broken ranks for a final struggle, and Ozaukee sent volunteers and drafted men to the front by the score, many being assigned to new regiments, the 36th, 37th and 38th Wisconsin, and many others were sent to the old regiments. The three regiments last named were soon rushed into heavy fighting in Virginia, and a number of our Ozaukee boys were killed and wounded before they had been many weeks from home.

Between 40 and 50 of our Ozaukee boys joined the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery and when the hundred-day regiments, the 39th, 40th and 41st Wisconsin, were organized, a goodly number of Ozaukeeans were in their ranks. The 44th and 45th Wisconsin regiments numbered nearly fifty recruits from Ozaukee on their rolls.

But in the meantime calls for more men came so thick and fast that in order to avoid being drafted many of our citizens fled for parts unknown, a number sojourning in Canada until the end of hostilities. Those who remained at home adopted various ways and means to fill the quotas. In some towns a direct tax was levied on all taxable property to offer bounties large enough to get the required number of men, but as this method was a great injustice to taxpayers already in the service, or who had sent all their sons to the front, it was defeated in some towns. Clubs were organized, each member paying a large membership fee, and when any one was drafted from the club, a sufficient amount would be taken from its treasury to buy a substitute. But the members of some clubs were drafted in such rapid succession that the treasury was soon empty, and the members had to face the music or disappear from the view of their neighbors. A great many of our citizens traveled considerably in those days, making pleasure (?) trips to the backwoods, or to Canada, or to Europe, and in the last year of the war the female sex largely predominated in Ozaukee.

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