Dedication Ceremony

8 August 2009

Pictures taken by Amy Damveld ©2009

Civil War veterans honored in ceremony

Seventy-four soldiers, many of whom had a role in starting Shawano, were honored in Woodlawn Cemetery Saturday.

The rededication of 74 graves of Civil War veterans was the culmination of a year’s worth of study that began with the desire to ensure all the Civil War veterans’ graves were accounted for and properly marked.

During the research, they found 13 had military stones, 51 had personal headstones and 10 were buried in unmarked graves.

Through the Embracing Our Heritage program, sponsors were found to place a Grand Army of the Republic flag holder at each grave.

“Now all Civil War soldiers in Woodlawn Cemetery will be accounted for and remembered forever. These soldiers are the forefathers of the city of Shawano,” said Norm Habeck in his opening remarks, noting many were farmers, while others ran stores or held office. “These veterans made Shawano what it is today.”

The Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War Old Abe Camp 8 directed the ceremony, which was modeled after funeral services that had been done for soldiers during the war.

Several relatives and community members who helped with the research or sponsored a G.A.R. flag holder talked about a few of the 74 soldiers.

Cathe Ziereis, a genealogist who helped with the research on the veterans, read a poem about Civil War soldiers buried “under the sod and the dew, awaiting the judgment day.”

Danny Damveld read information about John H. Loan, who was born in Ireland and served with the 16th New York Infantry Company B. He was in 33 battles or skirmishes. He was left for dead one day on a battlefield, but found and eventually became part of the special guard duty sent to Virginia to return the body of John Wilkes Booth to Washington.

Mohican veterans Roger Miller and JoAnn Schedler talked about brothers Stephen and Simeon Gardner, their ancestors, who served with the 32nd Wisconsin Infantry Company I Aug. 15, 1962 and were discharged Feb. 12, 1865. Simeon’s gravesite was one of several which received a new marble gravestone as part of the “Embracing Our Heritage” project.

“It’s a tribute to all Civil War veterans and all veterans we say thank you,” Miller said.

Schedler said another 42 Stockbridge-Munsee as well as many Menominee Civil War veterans are buried in other parts of Shawano County.

Ginny Reinke, one of several speakers dressed in period garb, talked about Julius and Lucius Murray, a father and son who served. Julius was born in Ohio and came to this area to build housing on the reservation for government. Julius enlisted and was part of Company E of the 6th Regiment of the Wisconsin Volunteers.

“He wrote to his wife that he was a baggage master and was earning $22 a month,” Reinke said.

He was discharged in 1863 after getting dysentery, but reenlisted in 1864 with Company K of the 37th Infantry. After being wounded, he was mustered out of service in 1865.

Julius family was one of the first five families to inhabit this area, Reinke said. He also was the first register of deeds, clerk of circuit court, clerk of the town of Richmond and a justice of the peace.

Lucius “Looty” was born in 1843 and was a mail carrier. Lucius showed up at Camp Randall when his father was there and joined Company E with him.

He left the service, but rejoined the quarter master’s service and was assassinated Dec. 22, 1965. His body was never returned here, only his clothes, which are buried on Pioneer Hill in the cemetery.

Mary Podzilni and her cousins Kay Schweers Hammer and Sue Ashenbrenner Wallrich were there to honor their great-grandfather John Martin Schweers. Podzilni read from Ila Moede’s story “Pioneer Petticoats” about Marguerite Schweers Nabor, who formed the first Protestant church in the town and leading the transformation of Woodlawn from a rugged cemetery into the park-like grounds.

Irma Timmons read a poem she wrote titled “Our Bob,” about Robert W. Jackson, who served 13 months before he was taken prisoner for 17 months in Andersonville. After the service, he was a bookkeeper for Upham and Russell and served in the state assembly.

After the tributes Kim Heltemes, commander of Old Abe Camp 8, continued the program.

“Remember that it is our duty as representatives of the Grand Army of the Republic to honor the memory of these men who stood shoulder to shoulder on the bloody field of battle,” Heltemes said.

Members of the company placed wreaths, a flag and a rose on the grave of Simeon Gardner, which was chosen to represent all 74, after which came a prayer and a three-shot volley and salute.

Schedler and Miller were given ashes from a retired flag and the grommets to bury at Simeon Gardner’s grave.

“As these flags were raised with honor over the cities, villages and homes of our country, now they shall rest with honor at a final resting place of these veterans,” Heltemes said. “This was the dear, old flag they saved from dishonor, a most fitting tribute, a pledge that we, the living, shall never forget the cost of a free and undivided republic.”

In ending the service, Heltemes said:

“Taps were sounded, lights are out and the soldier sleeps.”

Amy Damveld, who led the project, thanked those who helped.

“I really loved working on it and I loved meeting a lot of the relatives,” Damveld said.