Every November 11th, Americans observe Veterans Day, a time to recognize the men and women who have served our country in uniform. Here in the Northwoods, we have generations of veterans to remember, including some whose service took place long before the communities we call home even existed.
When we think about the Civil War, northern Wisconsin probably isn't the first place that comes to mind. In fact, many of our Northwoods communities hadn't even been established when the war ended in 1865. Rhinelander wouldn't be founded for nearly two decades as the railroad and lumber industry transformed the surrounding forests into a growing community.
Yet, walk through some of our old Northwoods cemeteries today and you'll find a direct connection to the Civil War.
Scattered among the graves are men who fought in it, veterans who eventually followed the lumber industry, railroads and opportunities northward, becoming part of the communities being built in Northern, Wisconsin.
In Rhinelander, one of those men was John Perry Campbell. Born in New York in 1835, Campbell lived in Stevens Point before the war working in the logging industry floating logs down the Wisconsin River. In August of 1864, at age 29, he enlisted as a private in the 5th Wisconsin Infantry.
By then, the 5th Wisconsin was a battle hardened regiment, having fought at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and other major engagements. Campbell joined during the final year of the war, serving through the Shenandoah Valley Campaign and the fighting around Petersburg, Virginia. Along the way, he rose from private to first sergeant, the highest enlisted position in his company.
In April of 1865, Campbell and his regiment pursued Robert E. Lee's retreating army toward Appomattox. During a forced march near Farmville, Virginia, Campbell severely injured his left leg crossing a trench, an injury that would bother him for the rest of his life. His regiment continued through the fighting around Sailor's Creek, just days before Lee's surrender, although the 5th Wisconsin wasn't present for that historic event.
Campbell survived the war, spent some time in Dakota Territory, and sometime after 1885 made his way to Rhinelander. There, the former river rat and Civil War first sergeant found work as a log scaler, measuring and grading timber during the great Northwoods logging boom. He also joined Rhinelander's John A. Logan Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans who shared memories of the war.
Campbell died on New Year's Day in 1906 and was buried in Rhinelander's Forest Home Cemetery. More than a century later, his previously unmarked grave was rediscovered, and in 2014 a military headstone was placed there, accompanied by a Memorial Day ceremony honoring his service.
But Campbell was far from alone. Research has identified approximately 19 Civil War veterans buried at Forest Home Cemetery, with several more in Rhinelander's Catholic cemetery. They had served in regiments from Wisconsin, New York, Ohio and Michigan, eventually finding their way to a community that hadn't even existed when they went off to war.
And Rhinelander isn’t unique in this story. Civil War veterans also settled in Merrill and Tomahawk, while early Minocqua history remembers veterans L. H. Little and H. G. TenEyck. In Eagle River, Edward "Al" Croker, who enlisted in an Illinois cavalry regiment in 1862, lived until 1936, becoming Vilas County's last surviving Civil War veteran.
The Civil War may seem like distant history, but the men who fought it helped build the Northwoods communities we know today. This Veterans Day, as we honor those who served, remember that some of those men still rest beneath the weathered stones of our local cemeteries. Their stories connect the forests of northern Wisconsin to battlefields far away, reminding us that the dots of history are often much closer to home than we realize.
List of Civil War Veterans known to be buried at Forest Home Cemetery in Rhinelander, WI:
1. Cpl. Henry W Bennett, Co. E, 36 th Wisconsin
2. Pvt. Benjamin Buck, Co. I, 19 th Wisconsin
3. Private Calvin Chaffee, Co. G 30 th Wisconsin
4. Pvt. Charles Decanter, 10 th New York Heavy Artillery
5. 1 st Lt. Henry W. Hitchcock, Co. C, 45 th Ohio
6. Sgt. Leonard Horr, Co. I, 20 th New York Cavalry
7. Pvt. Andrew Iverson, Co. A, 42 nd Wisconsin
8. Pvt. Fredinand Jury, Co. F, 20 th New York
9. Sgt. Pvt. Bishop David Kirk, Co. F, 14 th Ohio
10. Sgt. Thomas Gilson McLaughlin, Co. B, 37 th Wisconsin
11. Pvt. John F. Miles, Co. F, 18 th Wisconsin
12. 1 st Lt. Benjamin S Miller, Quartermaster Officer, 41 st Wisconsin
13. Pvt. George A. Nelson, Co. H, 22 nd Wisconsin
14. Pvt. Arthur Peck, Co. D, 1 st Wisconsin
15. Pvt. Steven W. Rice Steven, Co. I, 29 th Wisconsin
16. Pvt. William Henry Russell, Co. A, 8 th Wisconsin
17. Pvt. Samuel S Sweet, Co. G, 19 th Michigan
18. Pvt. James F Tubbs, Co. I, 10 th Michigan Calvary
19. 1 st Sgt. John Perry Campbell, 5 th Wisconsin
Sources: Dave Melancon - Research Works on John Perry Campbell and Northwood’s
Civil War Gravesites 2026, Rhinelander New North Newspaper articles 1898-1906.
