Ozaukee County's
War History
by Daniel E. McGinley

as extracted from THE PORT WASHINGTON STAR
August 22, 1896



The Ozaukee Rifles
Chapter 9

A week or two after the Lake Providence canal had been opened the water in the Mississippi began to fall and the threatened inundation of the town and camps did not occur. On March 29th, after a long continued rain, the river rose to such a height that it burst through the levee into the town and camps shortly after midnight, and threatened to sweep away everything in sight. The troops hastily carried their belongings to dry places on the levee, and setting determinedly to work they after a hard fight filled the crevasse and stopped the flow of water.

On the 8th of April A.G. Thomas, Adjutant General of the U.S. Army visited Lake Providence, and that afternoon he and Generals McPherson and McArthur addressed the division in regard to the organization of colored troops. In a few days thereafter the work of enlisting the able-bodied male darkies, and organizing them into companies and regiments began, and was continued until there were no more colored recruits to be had at that place.

During the month of April the weather was so warm and pleasant that by the 20th the boys were taking daily baths in the river. About the 25th all of the white troops left Lake Providence with the exception of the First Kansas mounted infantry, and the Sixteenth, and went down the river to assist Gen. Grant in his efforts to reach the rear of Vicksburg. The troops remaining at Lake Providence spent their time doing camp duties, picket duty, guarding the premises of loyal (?) planters, and skirmishing with the enemy, bodies of whom, mostly guerrillas continued to prowl about that vicinity and to harass our foraging parties and the guards at the plantations. On May 8th a scouting party from the First Kansas was attacked by a large force of rebels some distance from camp, and companies A, G and I, of the Sixteenth, were ordered out to the assistance of the Kansas boys. Boarding a small steamer, the ìOdd Fellow,î our boys were soon at the scene of conflict, but the rebels had fled. Bivouacing on the field that night the Union force moved forward to bayou Macon the next morning, where the rebels were found in force on the farther side of the bayou. After considerable skirmishing and hard work, our boys built a bridge across the bayou and on the morning of the 10th crossed over and after a sharp fight, drove the rebels from the field on the run, the mounted Kansas boys continuing the chase for many miles. The loss of the Sixteenth in this affair was one (of Co. I) wounded.

The hot weather of May had its natural effect upon the refuse and stagnant water that the flood which had poured through the canal in the early spring had left in the vicinity of Lake Providence, and resulted in bad odors and a disease laden air that were wafted by every breeze into the camps of our troops, and soon spread sickness at an alarming rate. By the first of June the mosquitoes were so numerous and warlike that the boys could not sleep at night, and this, together with the bad drinking water, and the fact that the boys were displeased because they were kept so long at this place and wished to be with their comrades in front of Vicksburg, the booming of whose guns could be daily heard, put the boys in poor condition to fight or ward off disease. On the contrary these conditions helped to foster and spread diseases of several kinds, until when the hot days of June had nearly passed, there were very few well men in the Union camps at Lake Providence. Under the torrid rays of the July sun the situation became desperate and the death rate became appalling. At times there were scarcely men enough on their feet and able to walk to bury the dead, and brave boys stood guard and did picket duty while burning with fever.

Among a number of recruits who had joined the Sixteenth during the previous winter were the following from Ozaukee Co.: In Co. E, James McDonald, Elisha Wadsworth, and David Austin, of Saukville; Nich. Bernardy and Peter Freiman, of Fredonia; John B. Schneidisch and Henry Hottna, of Port Washington; and Chas. Chambers, of Belgium. In Co. G, Frank C. Cooley and Israel Gatfield, of Fredonia. These men, together with nearly all of the surviving members of the Ozaukee Rifles, were among the sick that memorable July at Lake Providence, and although many of them were very sick from the start they all fought bravely with death. The large frame and strong constitution of brave, good-hearted James O'Hare, were not big enough nor strong enough to master the disease that ate into his vitals, and he was the first to surrender, dying on the 13th of July. That afternoon his comrades dressed the body in its blue uniform and bore it sadly to the grave, the usual firing squad escorting the remains with reversed arms. The burial ground was the side of the levee, where the body was lowered into its ìwindowless palace of rest,î over which the customary volleys were fired, and another hero had passed from the stage. But he did not rest there alone. A number of his old comrades of the Sixteenth had been laid there before him, and a large number followed him to a resting place on the levee. Geo. D. Cooper, the last of the three heroes of that name from the town of Grafton, was the next one of the Rifles to lay down his life for the flag, and he was tenderly laid in a grave on the levee on the 25th.

Finally those in authority came to their senses, when they saw how fast the men were dying, and all that were able to help themselves were furloughed and sent north to their homes, while those that could be moved on cots were sent down to Vicksburg, which was then in Grant's possession. Many of the sick thus sent to Vicksburg were too far gone to be saved by the better air, water and nursing at that place, and died longing for peace and home. Of the Rifles, John R. Burge died at that place on the 11th, John Beard on the 13th, and Stephen Golather on the 21st of August. Of the recruits above named, David Austin died at Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, Mo., July 12th; Israel Gatfield died at Lake Providence July 19th; Nich. Bernardy died at the same place July 26th; Henry Hottna died there August 5th; and Peter Frieman died at Vicksburg Aug. 6th. In giving the list of the members of the Rifles who died from disease in 1862, I unintentionally omitted the name of Jacob Smith, of Fredonia, who is recorded as dying in hospital at Cincinnati, Ohio, July 18, 1862. It may be remarked right here that Stephen Golather, mentioned above, was the last member of the Rifles to die of disease in the service, although it was nearly two years after his death when the last members of the company were mustered out of the service.

At length orders came to evacuate the post at Lake Providence, and on the 6th day of August the little squad that remained of the Sixteenth, mostly composed of men and boys sick enough to be in bed, marched on board of a boat at the levee; what was left of the Kansas regiment embarked also, and leaving their dead in their little cemetery on the levee, the boats bearing the two regiments steamed down to Vicksburg.

During high water in the Mississippi a year or two after the war, the insatiable current of the great river ate away not only the levee, but the ground upon which the town and camps stood in 1863; and the bones of the blue-clad heroes that had been laid to rest in the levee that year are now scattered among the sand-bars of that great stream, and therefore cannot be found in the national cemetery at Vicksburg. But wherever they rest those young heroes left names that will not soon be forgotten, memories that will long keep green.

The Sixteenth encamped on the bluff in the northern suburbs of Vicksburg until the 28th of September, when it marched to Redbone Church, a small chapel on the crossroads twelve miles south of Vicksburg, five or six east of the Mississippi, and three or four north of the Big Black river. Here the writer found the regiment when he joined it some two weeks later, and here it remained until Feb. 5, 1864. At Redbone Church were also stationed an Ohio battery of light artillery and the Second Wisconsin regiment of cavalry. The whole force was under the command of Major Thos. Reynolds, of the Sixteenth, the ranking officer present and its duty was to watch the different fords of the Big Black river in its front. The cavalry and artillery were encamped near the church, on a high timber-covered hill, and Sixteenth was encamped a quarter of a mile east of them in a beautiful grove of beech and sycamore trees. Good water was obtained from a spring a mile away and was drawn daily to the camps by teams.

The tents then in use for the non-commissioned officers and privates was the ìwedge tent,î so-called on account of its wedge shape, and each tent accommodated four men. The commissioned officers were quartered in the regular ìwall tent,î such as was used by generals. As the water was good, the camp clean and well drained, the air pure, the duties light, and the rations plenty and of the best, the members of the Sixteenth regained their former health and spirits very fast, and in a few weeks had nearly recovered from the effects of that terrible siege of disease at Lake Providence.

Of the 1066 men who had left Wisconsin in the ranks of the Sixteenth in March, 1862, and of the recruits who had since joined the regiment in the field, but 150 men were able to answer roll call when the regiment reached Redbone Church in September, 1863! Comment is unnecessary. Some 270 of the regiment were absent - sick in hospital or on sick furloughs, - and the regiment had hardly got settled in the camp at Redbone when these absentees began to return, and continued to return during the fall and winter, swelling the ranks by Christmas to a battalion of nearly 400 men.