Kewaunee County Men: Co. E, 14th Wisconsin and Vicksburg

Control of the Mississippi River was vital to the federal government from the very beginnings of the Civil War. Control ensured transportation of men and supplies. Control also meant isolating sections of the Confederacy, which had fortifications along the river to make sure it didn't happen. One such fortification was at Vicksburg, a city high on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Bayous and swamps offered more protection. If the Civil War had started 15 years later, outcomes might have been different. During the 1870s the course of the river changed somewhat, moving away from the city.

That Vicksburg would fall was unlikely in the eyes of its residents whose food supply was eventually so reduced that many ate rats. It would later be written that residents missed dogs and mules. It wasn't hard to imagine what happened to them. President Abraham Lincoln felt a victory at Vicksburg would end the war, and General U.S. Grant expected to open the river.

For most of five months, in one battle after another - at places such as Port Gibson, Jackson, Champion Hill and Big Black River Bridge - Grant was squeezing General John Pemberton's Confederate army at Vicksburg. The first two attacks on Vicksburg itself were repelled and the loss of men was staggering. Finally Grant laid siege, trenching into the hills around and under the city. Pemberton's soldiers could hear, and even feel, Grant's men under them, but it was hard to know exactly where they were. On July 4, 1863, Pemberton surrendered the city. That followed General Robert E. Lee's defeat at Gettysburg a day or two earlier.

Co. E., 14th Wisconsin saw plenty of action in the campaign. Sergeant Major John M. Read of Kewaunee appears to have been the county's highest ranking officer.  Also ranking was Commissary Sergeant Hanford Smith, who had received the promotion following the Battle of Shiloh.

Banners waved and handkerchiefs fluttered as the Kewaunee County boys of Co. E boarded the Comet  on October 12, 1861. In the group was William I. Henry who rose in the ranks. Oliver Rouse was chosen sergeant and Julius  Wintermeyer as corporal by the men before they left that day. Matt Perry, who fifed The Girl I Left Behind Me as the Ahnapee band led the send-off for the men, continued playing as the 14th's musician.

By war's end, Read was serving as Adjutant, but to whom is unclear. Read served as an officer in Kewaunee's G.A.R. Post which was later renamed in his honor as John M. Read Post. Wintermeyer was recruited in Ahnapee by Manitowoc's Lt. Waldo who was killed at Shiloh. Rouse was known to be in Kewaunee County as early as 1859 when he witnessed Benoni Boutin's Naturalization. Rouse became an officer for a company of colored troops, something of a distinction at the time. He returned to farming after the war.

Smith, known to friends as Hamp, had originally come to Wolf River from New York to take charge of Abraham Hall's store, later purchasing an interest in it. When Hamp took the news about the firing on Fort Sumter to Hall's Mill that April day, he surely could not have foreseen that by mid-October he would be one of the 36 Ahnapee and Kewaunee men to join the Manitowoc and Kewaunee Rifles, later known as Co. E.

As many others, Smith carried with him a gilt-edged pocket bible that was printed in 1853. When he mustered out on August 5, 1865, he did not have his bible. Feeling it was either lost or stolen during the Battle of Nashville, Smith knew he would never see it again. But something strange happened. Nearly 50 years later Hamp's bible and other things were given to a Kentucky woman following the death of her uncle. Hamp's name was on the flyleaf and when a newspaper article appeared in 1913, his relatives saw it. The bible made its way back to Smith, who was by then living in Nebraska.

Perry was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1836 and arrived at Wolf River in the 1850s, going almost immediately to what would become Forestville. He enlisted for a three month stint right after Fort Sumter and then reenlisted and served till the end of the war when he participated in the Grand Review at Washington, D.C. Perry, who was with Grant at Vicksburg, was with Sherman in the march-to-the-sea.

William I. Henry was 41 years old when he enlisted as a private and was one of the Ahnapee men who marched with Sherman on the famous march to the sea. It was said the 14th did such a fine job at Shiloh "due to the grizzled old fisherman from Wolf River." It was also said Henry was a dour Scotsman who knew what had to be done and did it. Apparently Henry did not realize that his advances and retreats were silently directing his comrades in battle. His leadership was recognized. Henry was the county's most distinguished soldier, advancing to the rank of Major. Henry and his men served with distinction not only at Shiloh, but also at Corinth and Vicksburg.

The men of Co. E were in Camp Wood at Fond du Lac until leaving for Chicago in March 1862.  There they were met at the depot by Ellsworth's Zouaves and a regiment of U.S. regulars for a parade through the streets. Then they left for St. Louis and the front. George A. Hartman wrote the Enterprize telling about the parade and the 14th, which he felt was superior to anything he had seen in Chicago. He went on to say he saw such familiar faces as Andreas and Tucker Eveland, John and Michael Lovel, teacher Charles Brown, Andrew Sloggy, Julius Laviuski, Smith and others. Sloggy and Smith superintended the cooking for Co. E prompting another letter to the Enterprize saying the men had the requisites for running a hotel.

Of the original men, Sam Stone was sent home to recruit only to return and be shot at Vicksburg. He survived but was called a physical wreck. Ahnapee's Maurice VanDoozer was wounded and later shot in the head and killed while taking a chew of tobacco. Samuel Gokie survived Vicksburg and Shiloh where he was wounded. Two years later, he died in a tragic fire while in the Kewaunee jail, apparently being locked up for what was called insanity. Gokie set the fire that killed him. Another time, such a mental state was called "shell shock." William Herring and Christian Haugens were wounded at Vicksburg. Neither Herring, Haugens nor Sloggy seem to appear in county histories after mustering out in 1865. Herring was in Wolf River as early as 1856 when he appears on a poll list. As for Charles Brown, there were those who felt he showed a "white feather" while laying behind a log at Shiloh. Sandy Bay resident James Flynn became a part of Co. D, 6th Wisconsin. Then he was transferred to Porter's mortar fleet on the Mississippi and fired the only shot at the rebel ram Tennessee when it ran the Union batteries at Vicksburg. Flynn never recovered from injuries received while raising the gun.

The Civil War was not over and the men of Co. E went on to more battles. Wisconsin's mascot, the eagle called Old Abe, is perched atop the Wisconsin obelisk at Vicksburg Military Park, paying tribute to the men of the state who fought there. This inscription is found on the monument dedicated in 1911.

There were many other Kewaunee County men at Vicksburg and all of them appear on the monument. Following are only the men of Co. E, 14th Wisconsin and spellings of names are not always the most widely accepted spelling.

John Barnard, Nick Bregger, Burrell Day, Oresmus Dill, Myron Dill, Nelson Dill, Daniel Eveland, William Fagg, George Flannagen, William Flinn, Samuel Gokie, John Gurdane, Christian Haugens, William Herring, Patrick Hogan, Thomas Laulaa, Jack Lee, Robert Lee, John Looze, Charles McAllister, Michael McDonald, Anthony, McNulty, Henry Meverdan, Henry Meikel, George Monroe, Amon Moore, Joseph Moore, James Murphy, William Nelson, William Poranto, George Preston, Andrew Sloggy, Peter Stadler, Andrew Tufts, Martin Tyler, Chas Van Gott, Peter Walker, Joel Whitcomb, Jacob Williams.

Note: Elmer Ellsworth formed Ellsworth Zouaves, a nationally famous Civil War unit, modeled on French colonial troops. Ellsworth studied law with Abraham Lincon in Springfield and campaigned for him in 1860. Following the outbreak of the Civil War, Ellsworth formed the unit but didn't live to see what would happen with it. Ellsworth was shot in May 1861 in Virginia, across the river from Washington, D.C., and was brought to lie in state in the East Room of the White House.

Information comes from An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River?, www.militaryindexes.com/civilwar, Ahnapee Record and Kewaunee Enterprise. All photos were taken by the author. Kewaunee Enterprise originated as Kewaunee Enterprize.