April 2020 Newsletter
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
All of us are soldiers in the war against the pandemic. Victory will be ours, but until then: Stay home. Be very careful in C.K. PIER BADGER CAMP # 1 public. Help Series 2020 CAMP ORDERS April 2020 your neigh- bors and pray THREE-TIME RECIPIENT OF THE MARSHALL HOPE NEWSLETTER OF THE YEAR AWARD for America. Pandemic cancels Memorial Day The coron- avirus pandemic has forced the can- cellation of the Camp’s traditional Memorial Day ob- servance at Calvary Cemetery. Gov. Tony Evers has extended stay-at-home orders to May 26, the day after Memorial Day. And under federal In a safe way to do our job amid the coronavirus crisis, the guidelines, gather- Camp met via the Zoom videoconference platform for its April ings for several 8 meeting. CC Brian Craig, upper left, presided. Screenshot by weeks have been Kent Peterson. limited to no more than 10 people, and Evers agreed with federal policies that “This required me to immediately when certain criteria for measuring a re-contact all those people and organiza- sustained decline in the illness have been tions and inform them that our cere- met, that could rise to 50. The Memorial monies in Calvary Cemetery this year Day event often draws 400 to 500, so the could not go forward,” Collins says. handwriting was on the wall. He added: “We all took an oath Chaplain Dean Collins, a Roman when we joined the Sons that included Catholic deacon who sets things up for the words, ‘to be obedient to the law of both the Camp and the Milwaukee Arch- the land’. Hence, we had no choice but diocese, made the cancellation on April 16, hours after Evers took his action. Continued on page 2 The next Camp meeting will be Wednesday, May 13, very likely on Zoom. We C.K. PIER BADGER CAMP #1 SUVCW hope that some from the roster will join the regulars in this session, which is easy to do. Brother Jeff Lesar will have the patriotic presentation. Pandemic forces changes in event plans cemetery, the very Continued from page 1 definition of ex- treme social dis- to obey the law and tancing. cancel our Memori- al Day obser- The pandemic vances.” also is very likely to sink our The Camp planned centen- has honored nial of the E.B. Memorial Day at Wolcott statue in Calvary since at Lake Park on least 1927, and in Sunday, June 14. the current large The original dedi- form since the mid- cation was June 1990s. 12, 1920, and one Jeffrey of the speakers Haines, auxiliary This familiar scene will not happen this year – Chaplain Dean Collins was Jerome A. bishop of the Mil- leading the Memorial Day speeches and President Lincoln (Nic Bur) Watrous, gover- waukee Archdio- ready to give his address. We have held this large event at Calvary nor of the Wis- cese, was scheduled Cemetery since the 1990s. Photo is from 2018. consin Veterans to concelebrate the Home who was memorial Mass, and the Camp ceremony was to im- adjutant of the 6th Wisconsin Infantry and sergeant mediately follow, with the keynote speaker being Dan major of Co. E. Buttery, the new chief executive officer of the Mil- Watrous’ descendant, Ron Washburn of Isle waukee County War Memorial Center. Buttery is a of Palms, S.C., is a member of our Camp, joining in veteran of the Iraq War with the Wisconsin National 2008. One way or another, Washburn was to read or Guard. reflect on his relative’s remarks that day. Cushing’s Battery, the American Legion Police The ceremony also was to feature some of Post #415 and Abraham Lincoln (Nic Bur) again were Wolcott’s own words, written as Wisconsin surgeon to have played their roles. general. He was responsible for hiring and training The Camp still plans to place flags on graves the surgeons for Wisconsin regiments. of veterans at some point before Memorial Day. We generally have one person walking each section of the Continued on page 4 Remembering Col. Pier: Hurrah!!! Off we finally go These monthly articles about our Camp namesake are written by PCinC Steve Michaels. This item first was published in the April 2000 Camp orders. Pvt. C.K. Pier and the 1st Wisconsin Infantry had been in Milwaukee’s Camp Scott for almost a month. Everything was being put in readiness so that the men could leave upon very short notice. Feelings of anxiety were mixed with those of patriotism and enthusiasm for defending the Union. Then, on May 29, 1861, Pier reported, “…as we were marching in battalion drill, Col. (John C.) Starkweather chanced to be just behind our company, when a boy stepped up and handed him a sealed envelope, he opened, read, and swinging with his cap he shouted, ‘Boys, we won’t be here 48 hours.’ Simultaneously, our boys pulled off their caps and ‘Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!’ rung wildly out from one end of the regiment to the other – when he drew us up in line of battle, read to us the telegram, which was to hold the 1st Regiment ready to march within two hours.’ However, 11 days passed before the 1st Wisconsin left Camp Scott for the front. Col. John C. The journey to Maryland would be one continuous ovation. Starkweather From Fond du Lac Saturday Reporter, June 1, 1861, Trewloc letter #4, dated May 29, 1861; History of Fond du Lac County, Wis., Western Historical Co., Chicago 1880 C.K. Pier Badger Camp #1, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Camp Orders April 2020 Page 2 Irish Civil War vets invaded canada by Keith Rahn Countless numbers of Irish had settled in the New World since the 18th century. Many came to escape political oppression and famine. During the potato famine of the 1840s, about half the Irish population perished or emigrated. Most of the emigrants came to the Unit- ed States. It is estimated that around 200,000 Irishmen fought in the Civil War. The Irish proved their gallantry on many occasions, often serving in uniquely Irish units in both the Union and Confederate armies. The Confederate sur- render and the following peace left large num- bers of armed, organized and battle-hardened Irishmen. The Fenian brotherhood was an Irish The charge of the Fenians (left, wearing green uniforms) under nationalist organization formed in the United Colonel John O'Neill at the Battle of Ridgeway, near Niagara, States in 1858 by Irish Immigrants. It was the Ontario, on June 2, 1866. In reality, the Fenians had their own precursor to the Clan na Gael, the American green flags but wore a very mixed bag of Union and Confederate counterpart to the Irish Republican Brother- uniforms or civilian garb, with strips of green as arm or hat bands hood. to distinguish themselves. In 1866, Irish nationalists from both the Union and Confederate sides invaded Canada to bring pressure on the United Kingdom to withdraw from Ireland. These are known as the Fenian raids. In April, about 700 Fenians under John O’Mahony invaded New Brunswick, Canada, and attempted to cap- ture Campobello island, but withdrew when they encoun- tered a British warship. On June 1, a force of about 1,000 men under Union veteran Col. John O’Neill crossed the Niagara River from New York into Ontario. The gunboat USS Michigan was disabled by sympathizers, allowing the “Irish Republican Army” around 14 hours of uncontested crossing. O’Neill’s force was a motley assembly made up John O'Mahony, left, a former colonel of the 69th chiefly of Civil War veterans. Units had names such as the Regiment of New York State Militia, led the first raid 7th Buffalo, the 13th Tennessee, 17th Kentucky and the into British North America, in April 1866. John Louisiana Tigers. They wore a mix of Union and Confeder- O’Neill, right, was a sergeant in the 1st California ate uniforms garnished with green scarves and other pieces Cavalry until December 1862, when he was commis- of clothing. sioned as an officer in the 5th Indiana Cavalry. He later transferred to the 17th U.S. Colored Infantry as At the battle of Ridgeway, Ontario, Union and Con- a captain. federate veterans defeated the inexperienced Canadian militia. This victory was short-lived, however, as the Fenian force was surrounded at the battle of Fort Erie, and was forced back into the US, surrendering to a Navy party from the USS Michigan. Smaller raids were made into the 1870s, until it became clear that Canada could defend its borders. More material about the Fenian raids can be found via Google and in the 2019 book “When the Irish In- vaded Canada: The Incredible True Story of the Civil War Veterans Who Fought for Ireland's Freedom,” by Christopher Klein. Four copies of the book are in Milwaukee County libraries. Preserving the Memory of the Grand Army of the Republic in Milwaukee since 1901 Page 3 Virus pandemic 2 more vets getting stones Continued from page 2 The Camp and Auxiliary have quickly moved to sponsor Wolcott died in June 1880 and tombstones for newly reported unmarked graves at Forest Home his name was put on the E.B. Wolcott Cemetery. GAR Post #1, organized in January 10 of GRO Tom Ludka said another researcher is compiling that year. It lasted until 1942. lists of graves by regiment, which he and Marge Berres com- If we cannot hold this ceremony, pared to those gathered under their longtime effort and to ceme- our honors to Wolcott will receive prime tery records.