Ozaukee County's
War History
by Daniel E. McGinley

as extracted from THE PORT WASHINGTON STAR
June 6, 1896



The Last Years of War

When on May 5th, 1864, the great armies of boys in blue in Virginia and Georgia moved forward under their immortal leaders, a large number of Ozaukee boys marched in their columns. In the army of the Potomac were the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th and 37th Wisconsin infantry regiments, and a company of Badger boys known as Co. "G," of "Berdan's Sharpshooters." Later in the campaign the 37th and 38th Wisconsin regiments joined that army. In Shermanís Georgia army were the 3rd, 10th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 21st, 22nd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 31st and 32nd regiments of Wisconsin infantry, the 1st Wisconsin cavalry and the 5th, 10th and 12th Wisconsin batteries of light artillery.

The three regiments taking part in these campaigns that had the largest number of Ozaukee boys enrolled were the 16th, 24th, and 26th, and in them the people of the county naturally took the greatest interest. All these regiments lost heavily in killed and wounded during the Atlanta campaign, May 5 to Sept. 2. The battles followed each other in such rapid succession, and the skirmishing was so steady between them, that friends at home were kept in a constant worry, fearful every day that the next would bring bad news from their boys. And every few days the lists of killed and wounded sent home bore the names of Ozaukee boys. They fell on the battle-fields of Resaca, Pleasant Hill, Kenesaw, Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta, and in the numerous skirmishes, leaving more vacant chairs at home, and adding to the already large army of cripples.

When in November, Sherman severed his communications with the North, and started, none knew whither, but on what eventually proved to be the now famous march to the sea, he took with him all the Wisconsin organizations that he had had in the Atlanta campaign with the exception of the 14th, 15th and 24th infantry and the cavalry regiment. Of course when friends at home received letters from the boys in that army saying that they were to march for some part or parts to them unknown, and when they later read in the newspapers that Sherman and his army had disappeared into the heart of rebeldom, the anxiety at home was intense. The post offices were daily besieged, and all reports relating to Shermanís army, although coming through the enemy's lines, were eagerly read. Those reports were far from assuring, for the rebels gave out that Sherman had been defeated in battle, and that his army was literally starving as it fled toward the sea coast. It was a great gratifying relief when a month later, the news was flashed over the North that Sherman had reached Savannah with his army in prime condition; and thousands of letters from the boys themselves reached northern homes in time to gladden the hearts of their friends on that memorable Christmas of 1864, in which was told the proud, glad story of how . . .

"We made a thoroughfare for Freedom and her train
Sixty miles in latitude - three hundred to the main;
Treason fled before us for resistance was in vain
While we were marching through Georgia."

In Virginia, Ozaukee boys fell in the dark recesses of the Wilderness, in the desperate struggle at Spottsylvania, amid the awful carnage at Cold Harbor, and in the trenches at Petersburg, leaving more homes desolate. When the fiery Sheridan made his famous ride from Winchester, a number of Ozaukee boys were among the heroes who rallied around him, turned a woeful defeat into a glorious victory, and sent the rebel army ìwhirling up the Shenandoah valley.î Boys from this county participated in the thickest of the fight at Franklin, Tenn., one of the most sanguinary and desperate struggles of the war and assisted Gen. Thomas in destroying Hood's army at Nashville. In the unfortunate Red River Expedition, Ozaukeeans bore heroic parts; and in the fighting around Mobile, Ala., our county was nobly represented.

But the end was near and came with more suddenness than most people expected, for the grand campaigns and heroic fighting of the Union armies during the last year had knocked nearly all of the supports from under the so-called Confederacy, and it needed but two or three well directed blows to send that temple of slavery crashing into ruins. And under the direction Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, and their lieutenants, the necessary blows were struck with precision and vim.

Herculean efforts were made to prepare strong armies for the final campaigns, volunteers and drafted men were hurried to the front, and in a short time Wisconsin raised and organized seven more infantry regiments and two batteries of artillery. Ozaukee county furnished a large number of men for the 50th, 51st and 52nd regiments besides sending scores to the old regiments at the front.

Ozaukee boys who had marched to the sea with Sherman manfully shouldered their rifles and went with that leader when he turned north from Savannah, and amid the storms and floods of midwinter made the most marvelous march of modern time through the swamps and quicksands of the Carolinas, destroying the railroads - the arteries of the Confederacy, defeating Joe Johnson at Averysboro and Bentonville, and forcing his surrender near Raleigh.

Boys from Ozaukee fought nobly with Grant and Sheridan at Five Forks, stormed Petersburg's fortifications, were in the last wild charge at Sailor's Creek, and witnessed the surrender at Appomatox.

Thus we have seen that Ozaukee's soldier boys fought in nearly all of the great battles of the war. They were with McDowell, McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, Meade and Sheridan in the east; with Grant, Sherman, Buell, Rosencrans, Banks, Curtis and Thomas in the west, and with Foote, Porter and Farragut in the navy.

On the rolls of Wisconsin companies and regiments are the names of nearly 1,000 soldiers credited to Ozaukee county. On those rolls of hundreds of names that are not credited to any county, of whom probably 150 to 200 hailed from Ozaukee. Estimating the number that enlisted from this county in organizations from other states, in the regulars and in the navy, at 300 - a fair estimate I think - we find that nearly 1500 Ozaukee boys fought for Old Glory during the Civil war. When we consider that fully one-half of the male portion of the population was opposed to the government and refused to volunteer, the showing made was a very creditable one for the loyal half.