Ozaukee County's
War History
by Daniel E. McGinley

as extracted from THE PORT WASHINGTON STAR
July 4, 1896



The Ozaukee Rifles
Chapter 2

Upon the arrival of the Ozaukee Rifles at Camp Randall it was assigned to the 16th regiment of volunteer infantry, as Company "K," and on Nov. 26, 1861, was mustered into the service of the United States "for three years or during the war." The other companies of the Sixteenth hailed from the counties of Adams, Chippewa, Dodge, Dane, Green Lake, Lafayette, Waukesha and Waushara. It was a superb regiment of robust, hardy young men from the farms, lumber regions and workshops of Wisconsin, and was destined to make a grand record and to take a place well to the front among the many heroic fighting regiments of the Union army.

For about a month after reaching the camp the Rifles were quartered in temporary board barracks, and were then given "Sibley" tents, which were conical in form, about eighteen feet in diameter at the base, and each would accommodate about eighteen men. Uniforms of Union blue were soon issued to the members of the regiment, and when about the holidays Belgian rifles, guns that kicked like mules, were issued to them, the boys began to feel that they were real soldiers. On February 28, 1862, the first cartridges were issued and the boys had some target practice, Sergt. Ed. Bradford of the Rifles proving himself to be one of the best shots in the regiment.

During and after the holidays members of the Rifles were granted short furloughs to visit their homes, which many of them did for the last time. It was while part of them were enjoying the visit at home that the first death occurred in the company. Two of its members, Christian Evenson and Nils Livson, both of whom were from the town of Grafton, imbibed too freely one day and the result was a drunken quarrel that ended in the fatal stabbing of Evenson by Livson. The wounded man lived but a few hours, and the occurrence was deeply regretted by all members of the company. Through carelessness on the part of the colonel commanding the regiment, Livson was never tried for the crime by the military authorities, but was discharged on account of some disability August 26, 1862, and upon his return to his county he was arrested, tried in the circuit court, convicted of manslaughter and served a sentence of two years in the state prison.

When the severe cold of the winter set in the boys found that the "Sibley" tents were anything but comfortable quarters. To keep the men from freezing a contrivance known as the "California Stove" was put into each tent. It consisted of a trench in the earthen floor of the tent in which the fire of wood was kept burning, and which covered with sheet iron and earth led out under the edge of the tent to an upright stovepipe that carried off the smoke. While this "stove" kept the men from freezing it helped to give them severe colds, which often resulted in pneumonia or some kindred disease. When the fire was hot it thawed the frozen ground floor of the tent, turning it into mud and raising a steam that filled the tent, enveloped the occupants, and soon turned to a heavy white frost that clung to everybody and everything in the tent. The atmosphere of the tent was thus kept in a very damp, unhealthy condition. Straw was spread over the damp floor and with a covering of but a single blanket to each, the boys steamed and froze by turns while they tried to sleep. Many a fine fellow here contracted a disease that later resulted in his death and in a short time there was a great deal of sickness and numerous deaths in the regiment.

Among the members of the Rifles were Thomas Wildman and his two stalwart sons, Thomas E. and Samuel H., all natives of the Emerald Isle and later farmers near Port Washington, intelligent, patriotic men who were held in high esteem by their comrades. The youngest, Samuel H., who had just reached his majority, was the first member of the company to succumb to the rigors of the winter and the effects of the nightly vapor baths, dying January 15, 1862; and was followed a few days later by the father. The early deaths of these two patriots in the service of their adopted country were sincerely lamented by their surviving comrades.

Two more members of the Rifles died during the month of March, Edmund Gee of Port Washington, on the 2nd, and Isaac G. Kendall of Port Ulao on the 19th. Gee was a married man and gave his occupation as trapper. Kendall was a young single fisherman.

About the time the regiment received its arms a vote was taken to see how many were willing to leave the state for the front without drawing any pay before they started. As a very large percentage of the men were married and had families depending more or less upon their earnings for support, the question of leaving without receiving any money to send home was a very serious one, but with commendable patriotism the regiment voted, by an overwhelming majority, in favor of going to the front immediately and without pay if necessary. They were not called upon to go until nearly the middle of March, but it would have been much better for them and would have saved many valuable lives, had they spent the winter in the South and not have been kept suffering in Camp Randall all winter, only to be hurried to a warmer climate just as the warm season was approaching.

All through that long, cold winter the regiment had had its daily drills, parades, guard mountings, etc., and when it left the state it was a well-drilled body of men. Their good drill and discipline stood by them to their advantage when in April they met the enemy in that terrible struggle on the field of Shiloh. Besides the Sixteenth there were in Camp Randall that winter the Twelfth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth regiments of infantry. Why all of those men were kept freezing and contracting disease that winter in Camp Randall, when most of them might have been at the seat of war, doing duty in a warmer climate, is a puzzle to the student of history, but there were many inexplicable doings in those eventful days. Whatever was the reason, or whoever was to blame, it was a mistake that cost the lives of many noble men and the health of scores of others.

At length marching orders came and having been paid and equipped the Sixteenth left the state over 1000 strong. The principal regimental officers were Colonel Benjamin Allen, Lieut. Col. Cassius Fairchild, the eldest of the now famous Fairchild family of Madison, Major Thomas Reynolds and Adjutant Geo. M. Sabin. Three or four of the Rifles were left sick in the hospital at Camp Randall, one of whom, Isaac G. Kendall, as already stated died a few days later. While boarding the train at Madison Sergt. John Gough of the Rifles, slipped on the icy car steps and injured one of his knees so badly that he was obliged to use crutches until the battle of Shiloh, and the injured limb continues to trouble him up to this day.

Amid the cheers and tearful goodbys of the crowds of friends that had come to see it off, the train bearing the Sixteenth steamed out of the station, and after an uneventful run reached Chicago that evening. Changing cars the regiment continued its journey and reached what is now East St. Louis on the morning of the 14th. On the 15th, it boarded the steamer "Planet," and crossing the river took on freight at the St. Louis docks until noon on the 16th, when it steamed down the Mississippi leaving some of the boys sick in the St. Louis hospitals, among whom were Pat. Carroll and Ole Oleson of the Rifles, who never rejoined the regiment, they being discharged on account of disabilities April 1, 1862.

The regiment had been ordered to report to Gen. Grant at Savannah, Tenn., and stopping but a few hours in Cairo, Ill, on the 17th, it started up the Ohio reaching Paducah, Ky., on the 18th, where it lay all day. Continuing the journey that night it turned up the Tennessee river, convoyed by the gunboat "Lexington" and on the morning of the 19th reached Ft. Henry, where the boys landed and saw some of the real effects of war for the first time. Some of the boys picked up mementos of the fight to send home, one of them sending a piece of an exploded canon. A few months later they did not think such relics of much value. Again boarding the steamer the regiment kept on up the narrow winding stream and reaching Savannah on the 20th found that Grant's army had moved up to Pittsburg Landing, where the Sixteenth landed on the 21st and pitched its tents a short distance from the river. On the 24th the regiment was assigned to the First brigade, Sixth division, Gen. Prentiss commanding, and moved out to the camp of the division one mile from the river, where the regiment had daily drills and dress parades in a cotton field. On Sunday, March 30, the division moved its camp to a position over three miles from the landing, where it opened the great battle on the following Sunday morning. The great change in climate and water had a bad effect upon many of the boys, and the sick list was soon a very large one.