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Th«TIMCS-HEPORTER -ID THUM , APA 17, tMOOVCM9VW PHUAOf l*M»A, OHIO *Philawomandad was Zoar runawayBy DORIS KEENER T-R Staff WriterFew people alive today can claim the distinction of being daughters of Civil War veteransMrs Clara Wills of New Philadelphia is one of those few Her father. John A, Zeeb of Zoar, was 18 when, contrary to Society of Separatist principles, he ran away from the village of Zoar in August 1862 to join the Union armyMrs Wills recalls being told that an aunt, the late Mrs. Sarah Ruckstahl, 10 years John’s senior, followed him when she learned of his plans to join a German regiment being formed and to “fight mit Sigel (Franz Sigel, the German officer who had superseded Gen John C Fremont )She caught up with him at Zoarville, three miles from home, where John was waiting for a train to take him to Canton to enlist, but her attempts to dissuade him were unsuccessfulLt Col Seraphim Meyer of Canton had been given authority to raise a German infantry regiment in northern Ohio His headquarters were at Canton and five of the companies in the regiment were formed thereAssigned to Co 1 along with at least 10 other young men from Zoar, Zeeb was sent to the Cleveland area where the regiment was encampedOTHER ZOARITES In the company were John Brunny, 20, Anton Burkhardt, 20. John Geissler. 21, Godfrey (Gottfried) Kappel, 20, Leo Kern, 20, John Kuecherer, 19. Christian Reiker. 20. Sgt Frank Strobel, 22, CpI. Daniel Unsold (Unselt), 22, and Eugene Wright, 20. (Two other Zoar men, Simon Breil and Samuel Knoeffle. reportedly joined the army but their names do not appear on the Co I roster )Kappel died June 13. 1863. at Brooke Station, Va , of “nerve fever and Kern and Reiker were captured July 1 at Gettysburg Kern was not mustered out until July 22, 1865, while Reiker, who had returned to his company Oct 6. 1864 after being exchanged. Zeeb and the other seven were mustered out July 10, 1865.Half of Co I had been enlisted by Charles Mueller at Camp Meigs in Dover from among his German acquaintances in Tuscarawas County At first captain of the company, he later was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the regiment Wounded at Gettysburg, Mueller resigned from the army in October 1863 and after the war was named consul to AmsterdamFrom Cleveland, the 107th went by train to Covington. Ky , to guard Cincinnati against a threatened attack by Gen Braxton Bragg, who had invaded KentuckyThree weeks later the regiment was loaded onto another train and rushed to the defense of Washington, D C , following the invasion of Maryland by Confederate Gen Robert E LeeReiker wrote his sister from Camp Ward. Va . near Washington, on Nov 13 that all the Zoar men in the camp were healthy but that some needed gloves and underpants, while others needed shirts, mittens and stockings.Late November found the regiment southbound, part of the rear guard of the Army of the Potomac Held up by mud and cold, it arrived too late to join the Union’s unsuccessful assault on Confederate positions south of Fredericksburg.THE 107TH WAS, however, among the four Ohio egiments (with the 25th, 55th and 75th) which, on Ylay 2. 1863, were “the hapless victims of one of thenost audacious and perfectly executed strokes of the entire war — Stonewall Jackson's famous flanking march across the entire front of the Union Army — at Chancellorsville.The battle is described in Harper s Pictorial History of the Civil War as follows“Not a picket (guard) was thrown out into the woods in front, nor even up the road. . .The Union right was like a militia regiment at the close of a holiday muster rather than an army in presence of an enemy“With a yell and a volley the Confederates dashed out of the woods into the open space occupied by this unsuspecting division. The regiments upon whom the onset first fell scattered without firing a shot, and rushed in wild confusion upon those behind them; these in turn gave way before the wild rush of their own comradesSome of the regiments made a stand to stem the torrent; but it was in vain, and the whole corps was soon streaming down the road, and through the woods toward ChancellorsvilUJACOB SMITH, A private in Co D. who late in life wrote a book on the regiment’s activities, blames the rout entirely on Gen 0.0 Howard, who had replaced Gen. Sigel as corps commander Howard. Smith wrote, disregarded repeated warnings —■ including a note from Gen Joe Hooker — to prepare for an attack on the right flank It was Hooker who became the victim of the unfortunate engagement, being replaced as commander of the Army of the Potomac shortly afterwards.The 107th lost 245 officers and men. some of whomwere taken prisoner. Co I casualties, as compiled byZeeb for the 1908 Tuscarawas County historical atlas, included Jacob Nickles and Gottlieb Affolter, wounded, and Adam Regula, captured,Affolter was shot through the right lung and also wounded in the right hipSubsequent events are described in the Affolter family history in the 1908 county historical atlas as follows:ON AUG. 10, the 111 remaining in the regimentsailed south to participate in the siege of Charleston, remaining in that area until February 1864 when it became part of a force of 10,000 sent to invade Florida, landing at Jacksonville.From Folly Island, near Charleston, Brunny wrote to a Frank Struebel that he wished he could have been in Zoar the preceding fall to help construct the cider mill Struebel had written him about44He was left for dead on a part of the field that fell to the enemy who sent the more lightly wounded southward but stretched Gottlieb in a row with the fatally wounded who were gathered up under a flag of truce on May 17 and taken to Gamble Hospital at Washington City, where he recovered and joined the regiment three months later ”The regiment spent the winter of 1862 63 at Brooke Station, Va , and from there Reiker reported to his sister May 30. 1863, that Kappel had “nerve fever taken after the last battle.” And while no John Kumerly is listed in the company roster, Reiker reports he had been either captured or killed Reiker said the regiment had lost 180 men. many of them officers killed or taken prisonerTWO MONTHS LATER, at Gettysburg, the 107thgot its revenge for Chancellorsville, helping to hold Cemetery Hill and capturing the flag of the famous “Louisiana Tigers, who reached the crest of the hill and were in the midst of the Union guns before being driven back.Brunny said he was traveling with a 20 man army band whose members wished they could go back to their regiment where they wouldn’t “have to please every monkey with shoulder straps.”The family history states that Affolter was captured by the Confederates Jan 5, 1865, near Vellucia, Fla , and “taken to the infamous Andersonville Prison The roster of Ohio soldiers in the Civil War indicates he was captured Feb. 4, 1865. at Enterprise, Fla , exchanged and mustered out June 13.Both accounts probably are wrong. The 107th left Jacksonville, Fla , on the gunboat Sonoma Dec. 8, 1864, for Hilton Head, S C , and on Feb 5, 1865.camped near a Baptist church along the “Combahee Ferry road” en route to Charleston.The regiment had been helping to secure South Carolina roads and railroads for Gen. Shermansarmy, which was advancing from the west It participated in an expedition to destroy the Charlestonand Savannah Railroad Jan. 14 16. 1865. and helped establish a secure depot for supplies at Pocotalico Station.Jacob Smith described the assault in his book as follows44'They dashed forward with furious determination against a withering fire from our Infantry and Artillery, and although they lost more than four fifths of their men in killed and wounded, some of them rushed over the fence and up to the cannon and called out to the Artillery men to ‘surrender.’ but they were beaten off by the gunners with gun rammers, clubs, stones and whatever they could lay their hands upon that could be used as a means of defense44On this occasion the boys captured the colors of the Eighth Louisiana Tigers, their color bearer being killed in the attempt to hoist the Rebel flag over the battery ’’The regiment recorded over 400 loses in the first two days of the battle at Gettysburg Zeeb identified the wounded and captured of Co I, in addition to Mueller, Kern and Reiker, as follows:According to the Zeeb’s regimental certificate, the 107th participated in the occupation of Charleston March 10 and in an engagement at Sumterville March 23 It then was involved in an expedition in April under Gen. Robert Potter into central and eastern South Carolina, where it participated in “mopping up operations.In May the regiment was taken by steamer to Charleston where its members helped collect rebel artillery and ammunition and store it in the government arsenal. After being mustered out July 10 at Charleston, they were paid off and discharged July25 at ClevelandJohn A Zeeb was a regular participant ii military parades throughout his lifetime Thi picture of him in his Civil War uniform was takeiin May 1925At least two of the members of Co. I were accepted back into the Society of Separatists. Anton Burkhart and Leo Kern are among members listed when the society disbanded in 1898.July 1 — Jacob Thum. Samuel Schwab. Arnold Streum, Albert Reufli and Casper Schild, wounded; and Hiram Ymgling. capturedJuly 2 — Samuel Luenberger. Philip P May Frederick Trachsel and Samuel Braum, wounded; and Jonas Murphy, captured.ZEEB LATER WENT West, hoping to strike it rich in the gold fields. While Mrs. Wills is not sure exactly where he went or for how long, she knows that by *1880 he was back in this area working for the railroad *That year he married Mary Knisely, a great-great granddaughter of John Knisely, the founder of New Philadelphia, and Mrs. Wills believes they “went to housekeeping at Bayard, just east of MinervaThe youngest of the couple s three daughters. Wills was born Jan. 16, 1891 - when her father wa« By that time Zeeb had gone into the grocery busi in New Philadelphia with Will Wise He oper stores in several locations in succeeding y* including one at 132 N Broadway where Jack anlt; Inc now is located. He retired from a store at 15 High av , the present location of Baird’s AntiquesOver the years Zeeb attended many reunions o regiment, including one in 1913 at Gettysburg He a “regular in Memorial Day parades, wearing Union army uniform and marching with other vete belonging to the Andrew Crawford Post of the Gi Army of the Republic. He died in 1926 at age 82Mrs Wills, now 89, resides in a home only a blocks from the courthouse for which her great gi great-grandfather set aside the land!«■. - v -*r .Members of the 107th Regiment pose for a reunion picture at a monument in the National Park at Gettysburg, which marks the position of the 107th while engaged in the battle.Mrs Clara Z^eh A/ills of New Philadelphia treasures her father’s regimental certificate (R) and medals he collected at Grand Army of the Republic encampments and regimental reunions. Hisphotograph is in he frame at the left.John A. Zeeb (R) and Ralph Emerson stand in the doorway of a grocery store Zeeb operated at 132 N. Broadway in New Philadelphia, where the Jack and Jill Inc. store now is located. The picture was taken in the 1890’s.
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Dover Times Reporter
Dover, Ohio, US
Thu, Apr 17, 1980
Page 40
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OH, USA 23 Sep 2018
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