Co. A, 27th Wisconsin: Men of Kewaunee County

War fever and the excitement following the firing on Fort Sumter, prompted 90- day enlistments, though the eager men could hardly be trained, equipped and armed in so short a time. Northerners, as well as their Southern counterparts, felt they'd surely whip the other side in those three months. What is often forgotten is that the Militia Act of 1795 was still in effect thus limiting federalization of state militias to 90 days. When President Abraham Lincoln, by executive order, called for three-year volunteer in May 1861, there were those who felt he was in violation of the Constitution which granted Congress exclusive authority to raise and support and army and to provide and maintain a navy.

Two months later, on July 22, Lincoln signed a bill calling for the enlistment of another 500,000 men for up to three years. The Battle of Bull Run on July 21 was the first major battle of the war. It forced both the North and South to acknowledge that the war would be bloodier and longer than anticipated.

During early July 1862,Wisconsin Governor Edward Salmon called for volunteers to  fill regiments in the field and to raise five additional regiments. Those filling the regiments received a $3 premium, $25 of a $100 bounty before leaving the state, and one month's pay in advance. Volunteers for new regiments received a $2 premium, rather than the $3, even though their enlistments would be for 3 years. Money was a problem, however, as gold was in short supply and there was little faith in currency. There was neither a bounty nor a choice in company or regiment if one was drafted. It was in this way that Co. A, 27th Wisconsin, the only all Kewaunee County military to serve in the Great War, was organized.

Kewaunee County's first draft was set to raise 304 men on August 11, 1862. Forty-nine enlisted. Active recruiting began and within 20 days there were 109 men, however the quota was still short. Kewaunee merchant Charles A. Cunningham went to Madison where he was authorized to raise a volunteer company. Cunningham was the son of a Boston ship owner who had gone to China on one of his father's tea ships. He had served as chair of the Kewaunee County Board in 1860. He had unique experiences and was well known.

Cunningham raised men by running a newspaper ad in the Enterprize* urging men not to wait for the draft by saying volunteering was a way to increase income. He was reported to be taking enlistments on the porch of the Steamboat House where he told the men he would go with them as their captain. Cunningham was commissioned on August 19, 1862. When  Co. A went to Milwaukee, the company stood at 118 men. The original group mustered in on August 15, 1862 and mustered out at Brownsville, Texas, on August 29, 1865. Joseph Peplinsky was one who joined the men a week later.

Before Co. A  left for Milwaukee, Aaron Cory, Joseph Boutin and Milton McKinnon were chosen as corporals.  In most regiments, the men elected their company officers. Governors selected the field officers such as colonels, lieutenant colonels and majors while the president appointed the brigadier and major generals who were confirmed by the Senate. Few field officers or company officers had any training.

On March 13, 1863 the 27th - with Co. A -  left Milwaukee for Columbus, Kentucky. Thomas Grover died of disease the following week week. Two months later, the men were attached to the District of Columbus, a part of the Department of the Tennessee. By August, the 27th was a part of Kimball's Division attached to the Division of Eastern Arkansas. Joseph Trudell died of disease on August 18th. It was only a few weeks before the swamps of Arkansas caused disease and death among the men of Co. A.

Robert Dalziel died of disease on October 2. Four days before Barney Nadeau and John Winterbottom were discharged due to disease on October 26, Timothy Priest died.

Others died of disease after leaving Arkansas but whether or not their illnesses had their start in the Arkansas swamps is any one's guess. David Lonegren died of disease. Conrad Plinke lasted until October 1864. Charles Baldwin was discharged with a disability on January 1, 1865. August Boedecker enlisted in Co. A on February 20, 1864 only to die of disease four months later on June 17. Albia Hawkins enlisted a week after Boedecker and died on July 30. Nathaniel Wickham died in early May.

Safra Villet was the first of the men to be killed in the Camden action on April 3, 1864 and Lawrence Dickenhort was killed on the 30th. Frank Trudell died of wounds in April 1865, just three months before his brother Alexander was transferred from Co. A. John Borland's wounds prompted his discharge on July 12.

Milton and Isaac McKinnon, Reuben Cory, John McNally, John Arendt, Duffy Boutin, Joseph Boutin, Gottfried Bohne, John Dishmaker, Valentine Hoffman, Jacob Thayer, Peter Stoffels. Adolph Duval, John Gonyon and Ignatius Scammon were some of those who enlisted on August 15, 1862. They mustered out and left Brownsville for home on August 29, 1865.

Captain Cunningham also mustered out that day but he never returned to the area. W.S. Finley, who eventually served as draft commissioner, purchased Cunningham's interest in the lumber and mercantile business known as Taylor and Cunningham in May 1863.

When Finley was appointed Kewaunee postmaster on August 31, 1861, the post office was moved to his store. Although the year does not appear in the postmark, it must have been between March 1862 and March 1864, reflecting Finley's tenure. Finley's signature is the cancel with a concentric circle stamp in addition to the circular date stamp.

 

*The Enterprize became the Enterprise in 1865. Names are spelled as they appear in military records. The postcard appears in Here Comes the Mail: Post Offices of Kewaunee County, C. 2008, and is in the author's collection.