Ozaukee County's
War History
by Daniel E. McGinley

as extracted from THE PORT WASHINGTON STAR
October 16, 1897



Personal Sketches
Chapter 1

CAPT. JOHN N. KIEFER

Captain John N. Kiefer, of Company H, Twenty-fourth Wisconsin Infantry, was born in "Borg," Luxemburg, Germany, November 3, 1837. When nearly ten years of age, he came to America and Wisconsin with his parents, arriving in Port Washington on the 10th of September, 1847. About five days later, they moved to the town of Belgium, Ozaukee county, and settled in the wilderness, where his father began to clear and improve a farm. The town was very thinly populated at that time, there being not more than a dozen families in it, and they all late arrivals. There was, of course, no school in the town, and the subject of this sketch received only such training as his parents found time to give him, until he was fourteen years of age, when he was apprenticed in the Gilson Foundry, Port Washington, where he learned the molder's trade. On the 27th of June, 1854, he entered the employ of Barnum Blake in his general store, and remained in that position three years. July 1, 1857, he accepted a position as clerk in the store of N. S. turner in the Arcade Block, where he worked until he enlisted. All this while he was diligently picking up such scraps of knowledge as came within his reach, and being a bright boy, he soon acquired a fair knowledge of the common branches of learning.

His father, having died, John was left, as the oldest of the family of four children, the main support of his widowed mother, whose heart was nearly broken when she heard of his enlistment. But she said to him: "My dear boy, if it is your duty, go!" and go he did. On the 13th of August, 1862, he enrolled his name on the list of recruits from Port Washington that became a part of Company H, of the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin regiment. When the squad embarked on the steamer Sea Bird, his mother was one of the saddest of the many sorrowing friends whom they left weeping on the pier that day, and not till the steamer with its precious freight had disappeared from view did she turn her steps to the humble home, where the ́vacant chairî by the fireside was ever a reminder of the absent one, during the three eventful years which followed.

When Company H was organized, John N. Kiefer's name appeared on its rolls at the tail end of the list of non-commissioned officers, he being the 8th corporal. Thus he began his services at the very foot of the ladder, but with his abilities, he could not be kept there long. When in November, 1862, Sergt. J. B. Warling left the company to join the band, Corporal Kiefer was promoted 5th Sergeant. As first Sergeant, he commanded the company from June 15, 1864, to May 20, 1865, none of the commissioned officers being with it. On the latter date, he was commissioned first Lieutenant, and on June 2, 1865, he received a Captain's commission, but the regiment being mustered out a few days later, he was not mustered as captain. He thus was given the honor but not the pay.

On March 10, 1864, Comrade Kiefer received a furlough, and leaving the regiment at Loudon, Tenn., hastened home to visit his mother and sisters, his only brother having been drafted during his absence. His mother was overjoyed and consoled by the visit, and from that time on, had a firm faith in his final safe return. During the whole time of his service in the army, he never neglected to write to his mother at least once a week, thus keeping her posted as to his whereabouts and health, and cheering and encouraging her. No better proof of his being a gentleman and a manly man, than was the filial love exhibited by him at this time.

Comrade Kiefer, during the whole term of his service, never saw the inside of a hospital as a patient, and with the one exception of having a touch of the scurvy, never missed a day's duty. He never missed a battle or skirmish in which the regiment was engaged, and never fell out or straggled on a march. If there were but ten men in the company when it stacked arms after a long and trying march, he was sure to be one of the ten. He never missed a drill or roll call, except when excused or on duty; and preferred to be on the skirmish line rather than in the line of battle. He would volunteer to go on the skirmish line whenever there was an opportunity; and he passed through the numerous battles and skirmishes in which he was engaged without receiving so much as a scratch.

Coming home with the survivors of his company in June, 1865, Capt. Kiefer was married to Miss Walburga Grsta, at St. Mary's church in Milwaukee, July 12, 1865. On the first day of the following September, he again entered Norman S. Turner's employ as a clerk in his store and post office. On 1st of January, 1866, he took charge of a store and pier owned at Amsterdam, Sheboygan county, by Barnum Blake of Port Washington, and managed them one year, when he was recalled to Port Washington by Mr. Blake, and installed as book keeper on Blake's pier, in which position he remained until April, 1871. He then went into the mercantile business with his late comrade-in-arms, Edward R. Blake. In September, 1875, he sold his interest in the business to his partner and retired from he firm.

In March, 1876, he entered the employ of G. H. Brickner, as book keeper and salesman in Sheboygan Falls Woolen Mills, where he worked until 1881. In October, 1883, he moved to Antigo, Wis., and engaged as clerk in a general store, and his remained there since.

Capt. Kiefer has never sought a public office, excepting once when he ran for register of deeds of Ozaukee county on a stump ticket, the late John B. Mueller being the regular Democratic nominee, and was defeated by a small majority. His grand record as a soldier was of little use to him in such a contest in Ozaukee county. Capt. Kiefer was known to have a friendly feeling for the Republican policy, and any old resident of Ozaukee county knows that that was a sufficient reason for any one's defeat in a political contest within its borders. But in the last political campaign, there was quite a revolution, and there are many in the county who seriously believe that a Republican really has a soul and can be saved.

The marriage of Capt. Kiefer and his worthy better-half has been blessed with five children, Mary S., Fred W., Ella L., Clara A., and Edward J., all born in Ozaukee county; all baptized by Rev. Henry Willmes in Port Washington, excepting Mary S., who was baptized in Belgium; and all reside in Antigo with the exception of the youngest son, who is in the jewelry business in Portage, Wis. Fred W. is the post master at Antigo.

Capt. Kiefer, although nearly sixty years of age, with hair sprinkled with the frost of time, feels almost as young as when he drilled the "awkward squad" in Camp Sigel or led his company against a tempest of shot and shell up the steep slope of Mission Ridge, or into that vortex of death at Franklin; and is proud and happy to say that he cannot recall a day of severe sickness. If the future deals with him as gently as has the past, he will have no reason to complain, and will peacefully wind up a most useful and active life in the midst of friends, and die honored by a grateful people. He has expressed one earnest wish, which may never be granted, that he may meet all the survivors of his old command once more, especially those from dear old Ozaukee.

The accompanying cut is a copy of a photo of Capt. Kiefer taken in 1865.

John George Schmidt, an unassuming citizen of Grafton, was one of the young heroes who rallied around Old Glory in the summer of 1862, while the rebels and copperheads were rejoicing over rebel successes, and served faithfully until the close of war.

Comrade Schmidt was born in Hetzas, Bavaria, in 1832, came to America and Wisconsin when twenty years of age, and engaged as clerk in a country store in Germantown, Wis. After a year or two, he went to work in a flour mill near Riceville, Washington county, where he remained until 1858, when he went to Milwaukee and worked there two years. In 1860, we find him in Champagne county, Ill., working for a farmer; in St. Louis laboring in a brewery in 1861; and back in Riceville in 1862. When McClellan received his repulse in the famous ́Peninsular Campaign,î in June, 1862, the subject of this sketch came to the conclusion that he must offer his services to his adopted country, and when in August of that year, the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin Infantry was organized from the thousands of young heroes who rallied around the old flag in answer to the President's call for 600,000 more volunteers, John George Schmidt was enrolled as a member of Company E., of that regiment.

When the gallant Twenty-fourth left the state for the seat of war, our hero marched hopefully away in its ranks determined to do his whole duty and do it well. With the regiment, he participated in the battles of Perryville and stone River and also in the famous Tullahoma campaign. He was taken very sick while the regiment was at Bridgeport, Ala., and hovered for some time between life and death. He finally became convalescent, but his recovery was so slow that the surgeons in charge recommended that he be transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps, which was done on the 10th of April, 1864. He was then sent east and served out the remainder of his term guarding prisoners at Point Lookout, Md.

After his musterout, Comrade Schmidt returned to Milwaukee, where he worked three years in the Empire Flour Mills, learning the miller's trade. In 1868, he came to the Columbia Mills, Cedarburg, where he worked seven years. He then labored several years in the Hamilton Mill, and has spent the last sixteen years in he Schroeder Roller Mills, Cedarburg, where he is head miller.

In 1870, Comrade Schmidt married Miss Anna Domsk, who has made him a good, faithful wife. They have four children, three sons and a daughter, and live in a comfortable home near "The Falls" at Grafton, where our hero is happily passing the evening of life. God-fearing and scrupulously honest, Comrade Schmidt is a kind husband and father, a faithful employe, an honored member of the G. A. R. and a respected neighbor and citizen. Long may he live to enjoy the prosperity of the land he fought to save.