Ozaukee County's
War History
by Daniel E. McGinley

as extracted from THE PORT WASHINGTON STAR
January 2, 1897



Heroes of '61
Chapter 1

The Waubeka Squad

In and around the village of Waubeka, in the town of Fredonia there lived in the summer of 1861 a number of hardy, athletic young men, whose patriotic blood boiled with indignation when our flag was fired upon at Fort Sumter; and when the news of the Union repulse at Bull Run reached their ears, many of them were ready to offer their services to their country. About a dozen of them got their heads together and planned to enlist in some company of light artillery, but before they had decided what company to join September came, and with it Capt. G. C. Williams seeking recruits for the Ozaukee Rifles.

The members of the "Waubeka Squad," as it was afterwards called, were Ed. D. Bradford, Peter Beckus, Chas. W. Brott, Chas. Gatfield, Geo. W. Hedding, Augustus Hyde, Rich. Kershaw, Ed. M. O'Neil, Jacob Smith, Orlando Valentine, Sam Orcutt and Ben. F. Walker. At first some of them were averse to enlisting in the Rifles, or in any other infantry company, but finally Bradford, Hedding, Kershaw and Walker went down to Port Washington and enlisted in the Rifles on Sept. 21st, and in a short time all the other members of the squad followed the example, and enlisted in the Rifles for "three years or during the war."

Edward D. Bradford, the leader of the Waubeka Squad, was a natural leader of men. Standing over six feet in his stockings, powerfully built, well formed, honest, intelligent, fearless and of a genial, commanding presence, nature had well fitted him for a leader or commander. Born in New Brunswick in 1828, of good, hardy Puritan stock, he grew to manhood, married, and in 1853 immigrated to Wisconsin with his family, and settling in Waubeka worked at different kinds of hard labor, finally becoming a sawyer in the saw mill at that place. The outbreak of the war found him in possession of a humble home, and the father of four children, two boys and two girls. Accustomed from childhood to the use of firearms, he became very skillful with the rifle, and was considered a "crack" shot.

An American by birth and education, Ed. Bradford was naturally patriotic, and when President Lincoln called for 300,000 three-years volunteers he believed it was his duty to go, and his name was among the first on the rolls of the Ozaukee Rifles. When the company came to elect officers, Port Washington and Port Ulao men secured the commissioned officers, but Bradford was elected second sergeant. When, after joining its regiment in Camp Randall, near Madison, the company was armed with the long Belgian rifles, which kicked so vigorously that some of the boys were afraid of them, Sergt. Bradford attracted attention by scoring a bulls-eye the first time.

At the battle of Shiloh, Sergt. Bradford was at his post, and remained at it, encouraging and steadying the men, until a bullet pierced his shoulder and he was forced to leave the field. But there is no doubt that while he was in the fight, more than one rebel went down before his cool, unerring aim. Recovering from his wound he was back with the company in a short time took part in the siege of Corinth, the battle of Iuka, and in the different duties the regiment was called upon to perform.

When the rebel army attacked the Union position at Corinth the Ozaukee Rifles formed a part of the skirmish line that met and fought the enemy some miles out of town, on the first day of the battle. Here the Rifles were given the arduous and dangerous task of fighting a retreating fight - continuing to reply to the enemy's fire while they slowly retreated in good order, and thus gradually drew the enemy nearer the town and within range of big siege guns in the fortifications. Sergeant Bradford as usual was at the front, and fought with his customary gallantry, his trusty rifle sending many messengers of death into the rebel ranks, but finally the fatal minie struck him and he fell. "With his face to the field, and his feet to the foe."

After the battle his body was given a soldier's burial by his sorrowing comrades, by whom he had been highly regarded and was sincerely mourned. Thus died the heroic Edward D. Bradford, the esteemed citizen and model soldier, in the prime of his manhood, fighting as only a true patriot can fight, for the preservation of his country and the emancipation of the oppressed.

The picture accompanying this sketch was copied from a tintype, which was taken in Camp Randall, and shows Sergeant Bradford in his first suit of blue exhibiting his big Belgian rifle. His widow remained true to her heroic dead, and lived in Waubeka until her death in 1893, bearing his name and revering his memory.

Among the heroes who fell on the gory field of Shiloh was Orlando J. Valentine, who was mortally wounded during the terrific fighting on the first day. The fate of this young hero was a very pathetic one. O. J. Valentine was born in Somerset, Niagara county, N.Y., in 1838, received a good education for those days, and came to Wisconsin and Ozaukee county in 1858. He became a teacher in the public schools of the county, and after teaching a term in the Waubeka school, paid a visit to his old home in New York state. That fall - 1860 - he returned to Waubeka with a beautiful bride, was re-engaged as principal of the Waubeka school which he was teaching and living happily and contentedly, with bright prospects for the future, when armed treason threw the country into the horrors of a civil war.

Like hundreds of thousands of other young Americans, our hero believed that next to his God his country had the best claim upon his life and services. As time passed bringing about repeated successes for the rebels he became restless as a caged lion. Finally the situation became unendurable, and when his friends and neighbors began to flock to the colors of the Ozaukee Rifles he felt that the hour had come to act. Closing his school and bidding farewell to his loving bride and happy home, he marched proudly away under the Starry Banner, keeping step to the shrill wild music of war, down to Shiloh's fatal field, there "to do and to die for the eternal right."

Of medium size, and of a gentlemanly, pleasing demeanor, Corporal Valentine was a favorite with his comrades and a fine soldier. A bright, promising career was cut short when the fatal bullet struck him at Shiloh, where he battled heroically for country and his fellow man. He was borne from the field to linger on earth a few days longer, and one day late in April, 1862, the young bride received the sad message, "Orlando J. Valentine died of his wounds." Let us draw the curtain, and drop a tear to the memory of one who sacrificed so much for Freedom and her flag.

In that terrible whirlpool of death that overwhelmed so many of our brave boys on Shiloh's storied field, Edward M. O'Neil, another gallant member of the Waubeka Squad received a mortal wound. The subject of this sketch was born in New York state in 1839, came to Milwaukee with his parents when a child, and about the year 1856 came to live with his uncle, the late Edward O'Neil on the latter's farm near Waubeka. Ed grew to be a finely built, athletic young man of five feet nine and one half inches in height. The writer well remembers seeing him as he appeared on the baseball diamond, as the champion player of the Waubeka nine, in the summer of 1860. He was an all around athlete of much ability, and was a bright, genial, gentlemanly fellow - a favorite with both sexes.

Ed. O'Neil made a first class soldier and was nobly doing his whole duty in the midst of the first day's struggle at Shiloh, when a bullet pierced his thigh and he was carried from the field. After a few weeks he managed to reach his uncle's home near Waubeka, where the physicians succeeded in extracting the bullet, but he never recovered from the wound, and died from its effects just a year after receiving it. His father took the body to Milwaukee for burial, and it was escorted to the town boundary by scores of sympathetic neighbors, headed by a fife and drum corps and carrying the Starry Banner for which he died.

Another member of the Waubeka Squad received a very severe wound at Shiloh. I refer to Benj. F. Walker, a native of old England, who had immigrated to Wisconsin in the early 50ís. Walker was a rather short, stout boy of 18 years when he enlisted in 1861, and made an excellent soldier. At Shiloh he was fighting gallantly when a minie pierced him through and through, passing through one of his lungs. It was thought to be a mortal wound, but Ben soon rallied, was discharged on account of the wound, recovered from it, re-enlisted in the 35th Wisconsin and served until March 1866. He is now said to be living in Nebraska.

A stout, muscular good-natured little man of 5 ft. 5 in., was Sergt. Charlie Gatfield. He was a native of the eastern states, unmarried and 23 years of age at the time of his enlistment, and was one of six brothers who with their father were all masons by trade. Their home was at Waubeka, but they worked in different parts of the county, erecting among other buildings, the old arcade block in Port Washington. Charlie was promoted sergeant to fill the vacancy made by the death of Sergt. Bradford, but when the company was consolidated with Company "G," he, like the other sergeants of the Rifles, were reduced to the ranks. He and Sergt. Gough were finally mustered out May 1, 1864. A brother of Charlie's, Israel Gatfield, joined the company after its consolidation with Company "G," and died of disease at Lake Providence, La., July 19, 1863. Charlie Gatfield is said to be living somewhere in Iowa.

Of the other members of the Waubeka Squad, Augustus Hyde and Jacob Smith died in the service, Hyde at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., April 22, 1862, and Smith at Cincinnati, O. July 18, 1862. Richard Kershaw, a sturdy little Irishman, married a German lady soon after the war, and was fatally crushed a year or two later by a load of lumber falling upon him. George W. Hedding, an excellent soldier, and Sam. Orcutt are living in Michigan. Chas. W. Brott lives in Flintville, Wis., and Peter Beckus in a southern state.