Kewaunee County and the Civil War, 3

April 12, 2011 marked the 150^th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. On that day Confederate artillery opened fire on Fort Sumter, a federal fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Thirty-four hours later, Fort Sumter surrendered.

Word of the firing upon Fort Sumter reached Kewaunee on Sunday night, April 14, 1861, two days following the event. Assemblyman W.S. Finley brought the news with the Milwaukee Sentinel and other Wisconsin newspapers on his return from his legislative work in Madison. Finley had been traveling aboard the Comet, however Captain Pabst could not get the boat around the ice on Two Rivers Point and had to return to Two Rivers. From there, Finley walked through the woods to Kewaunee, arriving with the news at 10 PM.

A few days later, on April 22, Governor Randall issued a call to colors and urged vigilance in maintaining laws. In August Randall was appointed as Minister to Rome in place of Rufus King who wanted to join the army. Little did men of Kewaunee County know that it would not be long before so many of them would be serving in General Rufus King’s command which by then was called the Iron Brigade. The proud men of the tenacious brigade suffered a higher percentage of war casualties than any other combat unit. Overall, 1 in 17 Kewaunee County men died, but more were taken by disease than by bullet.

Kewaunee was a county for less than ten years when war broke out. It was filled with immigrants from Germany, Bohemia, Belgium, and to a lesser extent, France, Norway and Ireland. Many had not yet learned English. Many had come to escape compulsory military service.

Citizens were nervous, but as Ahnapee’s Peter Schiesser told Enterprise Editor Garland, business and shipping were good, buildings were going up and there was little effect on the community. Wisconsin’s militia was first raised with recruits from larger cities, however a few days after the firing on Fort Sumter, Kewaunee’s Chauncey R. Thayer was the first of county residents to enlist. He even re-enlisted. Thayer was a cooper who became a 1^st Lieutenant and later a Captain in Co. H, 33^rd Infantry.

Attached photo: Magnus Haucke was a 19 year old Private in Co. E, 4^th Wisconsin Calvary when he posed for this tintype in 1864. The coloring was done by Harmann Studios in the early 1960’s.