Decoration Day
Ft. Meade Ceremony. Circa, 1897 *
Yankton Ceremony. Circa, 1890s *
It started, almost spontaneously, before the end of the Civil War and had no real designated day. It was a woman’s ritual, perhaps a grieving process, to decorate the fresh graves of their beloved who had fallen in battle. No one really knows where it started, but the tradition spread through the North and the South.
After the Civil War, the Grand Army of the Republic was established as a Union Veterans’ organization. By 1868 the organization embraced the idea of decorating veterans’ graves and declared May 30 Decoration Day for that honoring. Though not an official holiday, by the end of the 19th century ceremonies were being held throughout the nation. Some states passed proclamations designating the holiday. South Dakota was one of them.
In the census of 1885, 5,875 Union Civil War veterans lived in South Dakota’s portion of Dakota Territory. Many of them formed strong Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) chapters in their hometowns. Highly politically influential, the chapters were instrumental in ensuring that Decoration Day was observed.
GAR Encampment, Sisseton. Circa,1900s *
GAR Members, Dell Rapids. Photo from the Siouxland Museum. Circa, 1900s
GAR Members, Pierre. Circa, 1900s *
My ancestral uncle, John D. Welch, was the first adjutant of the Parkston Chapter. He is standing front row, fourth from the right. Circa, late 1800s.
Photos sourced from "Find a Grave".
Groton
Belle Fouche
Beresford
Stephen Jackson, Custer. Circa, Civil War
Roberts County
Fort Pierre
Highmore
Charles Nokes, Platte. Circa, Civil War
The Commander in Chief of the GAR, John Logan, right after the Civil War, declared that Decoration Day was for the purpose of “strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of those comrades of the last rebellion whose bodies now lie in every churchyard and cemetery in in the land.”
1,300 civil war veterans were listed in the Roster of Deceased Comrades from the South Dakota GAR Journals published in 1937. Their graves are strewn across the state.
Battle of Shiloh from the National Archives.
Orville Whaling, Company C, 15th Iowa Infantry, (1861-1853) Battle Engagements: 6.
On April 1st, 1862 Whaling’s regiment boarded the steamer, Minnehaha, and arrived on April 6th as the Battle of Shiloh was starting. As they disembarked, they were handed their first ammunition, forty rounds, and then an additional sixty as they marched toward the battlefield. The Battle of Shiloh was a bloody Civil War engagement resulting in a Union victory, though at a high cost in casualties for both sides.
Matthew Bender, Company K, 14th Wisconsin Infantry, (1864-1865) Battle Engagements: 50.
From E.B Quiner’s Military History of Wisconsin: “14th Regimental Statistics; total enlisted 2,182. Loss by death, 287. Missing, 13. Deserted, 97. Wounded, many.” Matthew Bender was one of the wounded. A crippling shot left his left hand useless, he received disability compensation after the war, according to Hutchinson County Records.
11th Michigan Infantry. Photo from Michigan Historical Society. Circa, Civil War
George S. Baum, Company E, 11th Michigan Infantry, (1861-1864) Battle Engagements: 101.
From the History of the Michigan Volunteers: “In September, 1863 the 11th made a toilsome march over the Tennessee Mountains and reached the battlefield of Chickmauga in time to participate in two days of the fiercest fighting in the war. In May, 1864 under General Wm. Sherman charged its way into the siege of Atlanta, Georgia. Many were killed."
In a small cemetery overlooking the James River in Hutchinson County, there are twelve. The Milltown Cemetery Association, in existence since 1884, has honored those civil war veterans beginning with the early Decoration Day ceremonies. Each name is called as the veterans’ “Honor Roll” is read. Behind each name is a civil war story.
The Attack on Johnsonville, Tennessee, from the National Archives.
Charles Cooper, Company A, 43rd Wisconsin Infantry, (1864-1865) Battle Engagements: 25
The regiment left the state for Nashville, Tennessee, on October 10, 1864, and remained in Tennessee for the rest of the war. It guarded railroads and supplies, repulsed an attack on Johnsonville, and guarded the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad.
The Siege of the Spanish Fort, Alabama, from Dan Master's Civil War Chronicles
Horatio Brink, Company A, 35th Wisconsin Infantry, (1864-1866) Battle Engagements: 80.
Horatio was 43 years old when he enlisted. He participated in the campaign against Mobile and its defenses, the siege of Spanish Fort, and the capture of Fort Blakely, Alabama. The regiment mustered out on March 15, 1866. It lost 276 men during service. Two enlisted men were killed. Three officers and 271 enlisted men died from disease.
In 1868 the three brothers moved to Dakota Territory. I can imagine the stories they shared on long prairie nights. All are buried in the Milltown Cemetery.
The Andrew Shearer family. Photo from Donna Stainbrook. Circa, 1900s
The Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina. Sketch by William Ward.
The Civil War touched many families, some more than others. The Shearer family, originally from Illinois, sent three of their sons.
Andrew, Company D, 93rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry, (1862-1865); Daniel, Company K, 20th Illinois Infantry, (1864-865); and Wilson, Company K, 46th Illinois Infantry (1864).
Andrew, because of his length of enlistment, participated in many key battles and campaigns, including the Chattanooga Campaign, the Battle of Allatoona, and the Battle of Bentonville. He was wounded in action at Bentonville. Daniel with the 20th Infantry was also engaged in that same battle. Whether the brothers even saw one another, no one knows.
Though there is no gravestone, Thomas is in the records of the Milltown Cemetery Association. The location of Harrison’s grave is unknown.
In 1883, they came together to settle in Hutchinson County. Thomas became the post master of Westford. His father became a sad example of government inefficiency.
Fort Rice. Photo, North Dakota Historical Society.
Red River Campaign. Library of Congress Etching.
Thomas Heth, Company A, 14th Wisconsin Infantry, (1864-1985), Battle Engagements: 7 and his father, Harrison Heth, Company A, 50th Wisconsin Infantry, (1864-1866) enrolled during the same period in 1864. Thomas, age 19, was a private; his father, age 45 became a well respected drum major.
Thomas went south to fight in numerous expeditions including the infamous Red River Campaign. The campaign, a major but ultimately unsuccessful Union offensive in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the Civil War, took place from March 10 to May 22, 1864.
Harrison went north, his regiment was ordered to Fort Rice, Dakota Territory. The fort was established to guard northern plains transportation through Indian Territory.
Rardin home in Milltown, many years later.
They are buried side by side in the Milltown Cemetery.
Jethro and Lucy, far right at their home in Milltown. Photo from Donna Stainbrook. Circa,1900s
Their love story started in the mid-1800s and lasted for over sixty years.
As husband and wife they were not only life partners, but both Civil War veterans. In 1862, Columbus Jethro Rardin enlisted in Company C, 33rd Iowa Infantry and was attached to the Dept. of Missouri. His regiment was sent to St. Louis. His wife, Lucy (Bartlett) Rardin chose not to be left behind. As a trained nurse, she joined the staff of the Hickory Street Hospital in that same city. Both served until 1863.
In 1880, they moved to Milltown. Jethro became a pastor of the United Brethren Church.
Battle of Cornith, Mississippi Engraving from the Library of Congress.
Martin Mattas, Company D, 2nd U.S. Reserve Corps, Missouri Infantry, (1861-1862) was my grandfather from the Mattas-Mize heritage.
Born in Pilsne, West Bohemia he immigrated to Missouri to escape the authoritarian rule of the Austrian Empire. Parts of St. Louis at the time was called “Little Bohemia." Because he and others in the community understood what being a “subject” was like, he deplored slavery. Martin joined the Union Army at the age of 45. He guarded the railroad at Cornith and participated in the battle there.
Letter to A.G. Manchester. Circa, 1863
Battle of Lexington. Engraving from the Library of Congress.
Corporal A.G. Manchester, Company D, 1st Calvary, Illinois, (1862-1863), was a maternal grandfather from the Adkins heritage. His regiment fought gallantly in the Battle of Lexington, Missouri. Badly outnumbered by the pro-confederate Missouri Guard, A.G.’s superior officer, Colonel Mulligan surrendered. The officers were put on parole taking an oath not to take up arms until they were exchanged for confederate prisoners held by the Union. The Governor failed to effect the exchange. A.G. remained in limbo until the entire regiment was disbanded in 1863.
I have three ancestral grandfathers that fought in the Civil War.
To follow that tradition, my sisters Gloria Leonard and Diane Graber and I went in search of our Civil War veteran grandfathers’ burial places. We found two of them, A.G. Manchester and Henry Leach in Wisconsin. We could not find Martin Mattas.
Though none of my ancestral grandfathers are buried at Milltown, many of their descendants are, including my mother Margaret Adkins, Aunt Grace Mattas, Great Aunt Martha Adkins and Grandmother Amelia Mize. All were proud members of the Woman’s Relief Corps, a Grand Army of the Republic Auxiliary and were adamant about honoring veterans on Decoration Day.
Sergeant Henry B. Leach, Company F, 4th Maine Volunteer Infantry, (1861-1864), was another grandfather from the Adkins Heritage. Henry fought in 12 bloody battles, was wounded in action during the second battle of Bull Run, was taken prisoner at Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg, spent months in the confederate’s Libby Prison, was release through a Masonic exchange, then fought until the end of the war. He received the “Kaerny Cross” for valor.
Henry B. Leach in Civil War Unifrom. Circa, 1890s
TO THE OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS OF THE NINTH IOWA CAVALRY:
Gentlemen:
We are about to separate. Our work is done. The flag of the Republic waves triumphantly over all her ancient domain. In the great struggle which has passed, you have done well, and you leave the service carrying with you a noble tribute of approbation from the Major General commanding the district, one of the greatest soldiers of the country. The hardships and dangers you have undergone have been great, and many of our comrades have sunk by the wayside. The discipline has been severe, but it was necessary to make soldiers of you. In the new position you are to assume, preserve your soldiers' name untainted, and should the President of the United States again order the long roll beaten. I trust we shall all be ready to fall in.
May prosperity and happiness attend you all. Comrades, I bid you farewell.
M. M. TRUMBULL, Colonel
Ninth Iowa Cavalry Volunteers and
Brevet Brigadier General U. S. V.
His commanding officer bid the regiment farewell at the end of the war.
A little way from the Milltown Cemetery is Dakota City Cemetery. It is the burial place of my ancestral uncle from the Mize Heritage, John. D. Welch, Company D, 9th Iowa Calvary, (1863-1866). He was the bugler of the regiment and led them into battles.
* Photos from the South Dakota Historical Society Archives. Special thanks to Kenny Marquardt and Bill Hoffman.
Old Soldiers Monument, Ft. Pierre. South Dakota
In 1971, Decoration Day became Memorial Day. It was declared a national holiday, placed on the last Monday in May, and became part of the Memorial Day weekend. It is now mostly now known as the “official” start of summer. But take a moment, please, to remember those brave Civil War veterans from long ago.
I know they do at the Milltown Cemetery, I’ll be there again this year, along with many of the Adkins, Mattas, and Mize Clan. I will lay a special flower for Mr. Brassy. The location of his grave is unknown, his Civil War service is unknown, his first name is unknown, his family is unknown. It is only written in the old Milltown Cemetery records that he is buried there and that he was a Civil War veteran. His name will be called along with the others, the flower will be laid in his honor.