Ter Maats and the Civil War

Last summer one of my book groups read Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War (great book!) and in preparation for the discussion I looked up the notes I had on Ter Maat civil war ancestors. That started me on quite a roots journey, one that hasn't ended yet. I thought it would be a good idea to share the information I have collected so far, so that my nieces, nephews and others can follow along with the ghosts of their ancestors. With the Civil War sesquicentennial underway, every day there are many exhibits, films, books and other opportunities for learning more about this era and I've found knowing how Ter Maats were affected by the war has increased my interest in participating. So here's what I know:

My great-great grandfather, Christiaan Ter Maat was born in 1828 just outside of Aalten in the Netherlands and at age 25 (1854) came to the United States, settling in Holland township outside Sheboygan, Wisconsin. (The pictures on the sidebar of this blog were taken there.) Christiaan had several brothers --too many to share the family land with in the Netherlands, no doubt-- and most of his siblings also came to the States, though not all at the same time. Anthony came two years after Christiaan at age 19. I'm not sure of young Jan Hendrik's immigration date, but if he came with Anthony, he would have been only 15 at the time.

Both Anthony and Jan Hendrik Ter Maat, just five years after immigration, enlisted in the Union Army, 27th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment and were assigned to Company F on August 21, 1862. The brothers would have been 25 and 21 years of age at the time.  It's not difficult to deduce the psychology here-- two young men, probably working as farm hands for older brothers, yearning for an independent adventure and fortified by having each other to lean on for the journey.

I am still curious as to how they were recruited and how much they understood of the issues they were prepared to fight for. Not all young immigrants were eager to enlist. In neighboring Ozaukee County, army recruitment efforts precipitated a draft riot. Many of Wisconsin's German immigrants left Europe to escape military service and were not happy to find themselves in the midst of a war here.  From what I have read about Dutch immigrants during this period, they tended to sympathize with the Democrats and were only gradually won over to the Republicans and the Union cause over the course of the civil war.  Some insight as to how the Dutch immigrant community responded to the war is available from a 1988 Civil War-themed issue  of Origins (pdf), the magazine of the Calvin College archives.

Anthony and Jan Hendrik might have learned about the politics of their new country via the first Dutch language newspaper in North America, De Sheboygan Nieuwsbode, at least until it stopped publication in 1861.  It is available online and fun to look at, even not knowing Dutch. According to an article in a recent issue of Origins, the publisher of this newspaper wavered in his loyalty to the Democrats, even dabbling in a Republican run for office, so perhaps the paper's editorial viewpoint reflected both sides of the debate. Another source credits Peter Daane of Oostburg (in Holland township) as influential in recruiting soldiers to the Union cause.  Indeed, brothers Adrian and Peter Daane, Jr., enlisted at the same time as Anthony and Jan Hendrik, also joining Company F. Peter also managed to bring along some of his in-laws. Peter mustered in with the rank of sergeant and rose in the ranks to 1st lieutenant while Adrian was eventually promoted to sergeant.  Learn more about Peter Daane here.

The 27th regiment mustered in at Camp Sigel in Milwaukee on March 7, 1863 and the regiment left for garrison duty in Columbus, Kentucky on March 16.  The unit stayed there until May 30 at which point they moved to Young's Point, Louisiana in preparation for an assault on Vicksburg, Mississippi. Anthony was gravely ill at that point and never made that move, as he died of disease in Columbus, Kentucky on June 4, 1863. Imagine poor Jan Hendrik, having to leave his older brother on his deathbed!

Library of Congress
Civil War Sheet Music Collection

Jan Hendrik participated in the siege of Vicksburg and the capture of Little Rock, Arkansas. Those battle anniversaries will be coming up this summer, so if you wonder, like I do, what Jan might have experienced, keep a lookout for references to those events. Just the other day, a fascinating article about Vicksburg appeared on the New York Times civil war blog. Vicksburg was important because,

...it was the only point on the Mississippi where the Confederates still had railroad heads on both river banks. President Lincoln recognized Vicksburg’s strategic significance when the war first began. During one strategy meeting, he swept his hand over a large map and declared, “See what a lot of land these fellows hold, of which Vicksburg is the key. The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket.”

The Canal to Nowhere goes on to describe Ulysses S. Grant's rather daft-sounding plan to reroute the Mississippi to his strategic advantage by building a series of canals. Sounds like a job for some Dutch immigrants! Too bad Anthony and Jan arrived on the scene just after the plan was abandoned.

As to the daily life of a Union soldier, there is a regimental history consisting mostly of news clippings, letters and diary entries. I have only glanced at this so far, and may share more from it later. Many letters written by Wisconsin's civil war soldiers have been carefully conserved. Some have been collected in This Wicked Rebellion: Wisconsin Civil War Soldiers Write Home, a book I'm planning to get to soon. You can also learn more about them on this WPR program and our very own UWRF has a civil war blog offering up regular letters and articles focused on the war experiences of the St. Croix Valley's soliders. WUWM is also running a multimedia Civil War Series which includes more letters and a discussion of Wisconsin's role at Vicksburg. I also discovered another descendant of a Company F soldier doing similar research. I look forward to exploring these resources more in the future.

Casualties in the 27th regiment paralleled those of the war as a whole with disease the leading cause of death. The unit lost 259 men in a little more than two years. Twenty-two enlisted men were killed in combat, and five officers and 232 enlisted men died from disease. Young Jan died of disease in Memphis, Tennessee on October 3, 1863.

Anthony-- or Anton's-- name appears in archives relating to civil war widow's pensions. I believe his wife's name was Dina, and he had a son, Henry, born in 1857 who received survivor's benefits.

Jan Hendrik left no survivors but I don't think he was without legacy. Elder brother Christiaan's wife, Hendrika Wieberdink Ter Maat gave birth to their only son (my great grandfather) on January 29, 1865. This was just two days before the U.S. Congress approved the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery, the legislative struggle so wonderfully depicted in the movie Lincoln. Christiaan and Hendrika chose to name their baby boy Jan Hendrik. Now, Christiaan also had brothers named Jan Willem and Hendrik, plus a father named Jannes and obviously the choice would have been a nod to the child's mother. But the timing of the birth, when the war must still have weighed heavily on their minds and when the loss of Christiaan's brothers was still so recent, I think points to this choice as an homage to his fallen brother. (You can see a picture of Christiaan and his son, Jan Hendrik here.)

No stories about civil war ancestors were passed down to my father's generation. Dad only came across knowledge of these uncles in his casual genealogical research and didn't puzzle out the details the way I have here. What I find fascinating is that, though I never thought of him as having any special enthusiasm for Civil War history beyond what your average American Lit prof might have, as is made clear in Drew Gilpin Faust's excellent This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (see also the the Ric Burns film, Death and The Civil War), one of his favorite poets, Emily Dickinson, and his intellectual obsession, Herman Melville, were greatly preoccupied with the search for meaning out of the massive carnage of the war. I may have to take closer look at his old lecture notes to see what connections he might have made. That he was so drawn to these writers, feels like the ghosts of Anthony and Jan Hendrik were speaking to him.