Co E, 45th WI Infantry

Edward Fitzgerald born December 20, 1841 in County Cork, and baptized in Ladysmith, Ireland. He was about 3 years old when he came to America with his parents Daniel Fitzgerald and Mary Stafford and an older sister, Catherine. 4 more children were born into the family while in Taunton, Massachusetts, before they moved to Kossuth, Wisconsin between 1850 and 1860. Edward?s father was killed in 1861 while felling a large tree, necessitating Edward to remain home and help his mother with the farm. In 1863 at Cooperstown Church, he married his childhood sweet heart, Hannah Sullivan, daughter of Timothy Sullivan and Ellenora Hickey. Witnessing friends and family lose life and limb in the Civil War that engulfed the nation, Edward could delay the inevitable no longer. On February 25, 1865, he enlisted with Company E 45th Wisconsin Infantry, training at Camp Siegel in Milwaukee, receiving $100 bounty.
The battle of Nashville was a resounding success for the Union. The over 4000 Confederate captives were housed in around Nashville and were in desperate need of guards. The 45th Regiment, garrisoned for guard duty in Nashville, remained there until mustered out July 17, 1865. Edward paid $6 to bring home his accouterments.
Only three months after returning, tragedy befell Edward when his beloved Hannah passed from this life. His loneliness ended two years later when he married Hannah's cousin, Catherine Sullivan Olcott, herself a widow of the Civil War. Together they raised a boy and girl from her 1st marriage and 5 daughters of their own.
Edward was a proud and handsome man with a light heart and spirit, and taught the children pretty songs in a Boston Irish brogue. In their declining years, Edward and Catherine moved to the Veterans Home in King, Wisconsin. Catherine passed away in 1923, and Edward, at age 87, died on a cold January day in 1929. At his funeral fellow veterans attempted to honor him with a chorus of “taps”, but alas, the bugles froze. True to his non-conformist nature, in the cemetery at King Wisconsin, alongside the small Federal gravestones of fellow members of the 45th stands a tall obelisk marked “Fitzgerald, Edward and Catherine”.

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Co D, 1st WI Infantry

Frank Braun served with the 1st Wisconsin Infantry, Company D from September 1861 until he was mustered out on 15 December 1864.
Frank emigrated from Rheinsfall, Germany and in 1860, when he was just 16, he ran away from his parents farm to Milwaukee where he joined the Union army. During his term of service, Braun was reported missing at the Battle of Chickamauga, GA where he was wounded and taken prisoner. He was admitted to Hospital 21 Libby Prison in Richmond, VA and at some point was transferred to Andersonville Prison, GA where he spent 14 months. It is said that he borrowed on his farm experience and got a job as camp butcher. In November of1864 he was able to escape on a wagon hauling corpses from the disease ridden camp.
Frank Braun died on 4 September 1933 and was known as the last surviving Civil War veteran in Manitowoc County. At the time of his death, he was so well known in the area that schools were dismissed for the day of his funeral and with horses pulling a caisson bearing his coffin through the streets of Manitowoc, Braun was buried in Evergreen Cemetery. The family still flies his 48-star coffin flag every Memorial Day in honor of his service.

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Co D, 5th MO & 9th WI Regiment Field & Staff

Born in Halberstadt, Prussia on 7 April 1826, Frederick C Salomon became a government surveyor and was a Lieutenant of artillery. He emigrated in 1849 and settled in Manito-woc where he was elected Register of Deeds. He was married in Two Rivers in 1853 to Mathilde Ebel; they had five children.
When talk of a civil war began, Fred enlisted in the three-month Company D, 5th Missouri where his older brother was a Colonel. The Governor of Wisconsin called on Fred to organize a German unit which became the 9th Wisconsin, of which he was named Colonel. In July 1862 he was appointed Brigadier General by President Lincoln and was made Commander of the Army of Kansas 1st Brigade. Frederick as-sumed command of the 1st Brigade of the Army of the Tennessee, and on 4 July 1863 led the forces at the Battle of Helena, Arkansas. Early in 1865 Frederick was Brevetted Major General and mustered out of service on 24 August 1865 at Little Rock, Arkansas.
Frederick was County Surveyor in St Charles, MO where his wife died of cholera in 1867. Two years later he married Henrietta Ebel Kuehn, widowed older sister of first wife. In February 1877 the family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah where Fred was ap-pointed Surveyor General of Utah.
Frederick Salomon died 8 March 1897 and is buried in Mt Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City.

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Co B, 35th Wisconsin Infantry

James Harvey Gustin was born on December 30, 1833 in the town of Reading, Schuyler County, New York. He came to Wisconsin with his father's family and set-tled in Waushara County in October of 1854.
James enlisted on November 21, 1863 and was enlisted into Company B 35th Wis-consin Infantry from Wautoma, WI as a Corporal. He served most of his enlistment in southern Texas and took part in engagements at Simmsport, LA & the Siege of Spanish Fort, LA. He mustered out of service on March 15, 1866 in Brownsville, Texas.
After the war James held many offices, having served his town as Chairman and Clerk for many years and also was a director in the Aurora Insurance Co. for 20 years. He was a member of Ed. Saxe Post No. 135. James suffered greatly for many years after the war and he was always patient and uncomplaining when his body was racked with pain.
James died on December 11, 1899 in Appleton, Wisconsin and was buried in East Oasis Cemetery in Waushara County.

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Company A, 3rd Wisconsin Infantry
William Boltzendohl was born in October 1832 in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany. He immigrated to the United States through Buffalo in 1852, settling in the village of Manitowoc in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.
On August 21, 1854 he married Johanna Winkelman Kohs and in 1856 purchased a farm in the Town of Kossuth. They had three children when Wenzel was drafted in Sept. 1864, Albert, Mary and Minnie. William fought with his company in battles at Atlanta, GA and at Argyle Island near Savannah in Sherman's March to the Sea, then at Averysboro, Bentonville and other locations in the Carolinas until the surrender of the Confederate forces on April 26, 1865. He was mustered out af-ter the end of the war, on June 9, 1865.
William returned home to the farm and he and Johanna had three more children: Augusta, William and Anton. Johanna died in 1879. In 1886 William sold his farm to his son Albert (my great-grandfather), and lived there with Albert's family until the early 1900s. William then went to live with his daughter Augusta in Milwaukee.
William was intensely patriotic and proud of his service in the Civil War. In October 1904 he entered Soldier's Home, where he died on July 24, 1911. He is buried in Wood National Cemetery.

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