Jacob Kundert (1842-1861) was born to Johann Heinrich Kundert
and Elsbeth Kundert in Rüti, Glarus, Switzerland. (Jacob was an uncle to my
great-grandmother, Amanda Kundert Boegli.) Jacob's father, Johann Heinrich, died in 1851 in Switzerland. In 1853 Elsbeth Kundert with her children and
some twenty other Kundert family members immigrated to New Glarus. Making their
way from Switzerland to Liverpool, England and landing in New York City.[i]
The 3rd Wisconsin Infantry was organized at Camp Hamilton, in Fond Du Lac and mustered into service on June 19, 1861. From Wisconsin it moved to Hagerstown, Maryland, on July 12 and then went on to Harper's Ferry, Virginia, July 18, 1861. During its service it moved through Maryland, Virginia, the Washington, D.C., area and Pennsylvania. After brief duties in New York and Alabama, it moved through Georgia, the Carolinas, and ended up in Kentucky. The unit fought at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Resaca, and in the siege of Atlanta, and participated in Sherman's March to the Sea. It was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, on July 18, 1865. The regiment lost 282 men during service. Nine officers and 158 enlisted men were killed. Two officers and 113 enlisted men died from disease.[iv]
The regiment first saw action 16 October 1861 in a skirmish at Bolivar Heights, Virginia. They were in Banks' Corps in the Valley Campaign in Spring 1862, and were in combat at Cedar Mountain in August, after which they became part of the XII Corps, Army of the Potomac.[v]
Jacob was killed on September 17, 1862 at Antietam. The unit was posted just north of the Miller Cornfield at dawn on 17 September, and was hit by Hood's Division emerging from the corn at about 7:30 am. Colonel Ruger was slightly wounded there in leading the regiment, but remained in command and on the field.
" The Third Wisconsin was in a very exposed position,' wrote Lieutenant Bryant, 'and it's lines thinned rapidly. It stood on higher ground than the Confederates, the sky behind it, in good musket range and close line -- a good target.' "
A short time later, as Hood's attack receded, " General Hooker was seen galloping up, blood dripping from his boot. He ordered the Wisconsin men to fix bayonets and pursue. There are only 60 men left! Joining them was the Twenty-Seventh Indiana, which increased the number to about 150. 'With a whoop and hurrah, our regiment and the Twenty-Seventh Indiana started down through the cornfield,' [wrote Captain] Hinkley. 'General Hooker himself leading like a captain.' "
"At charge-bayonets, the two western units advanced across the cornfield. The flags of Indiana and Wisconsin flapped wildly in the breeze. The ground was strewn with the bodies of the Confederates. Towards the woods, at the edge of the cornfield, they marched. Suddenly a staff officer galloped up and ordered the small attacking line of blue to halt and get out of the way. A division was advancing towards that position from the east. 'This was all that prevented us from assaulting a position with about a hundred and fifty men,' reported Hinkley, 'which a few minutes later Sedgwick's division, with five or six thousand, failed to carry.' "[vi]
Jacob had enlisted with the rank of private and at his death, at the age of twenty, had been promoted to corporal. His mother, Elsbeth, filed for a pension in 1882. She died in 1886.
[i] Year: 1853; Arrival: New York,
New York; Microfilm Serial: M237,
1820-1897; Microfilm Roll: Roll 125; Line: 41; List Number: 353. Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger and Crew Lists
(including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New
York, New York, 1820-1897. Microfilm
Publication M237, 675 rolls. NAI: 6256867. Records of the U.S. Customs
Service, Record Group 36. National Archives at Washington, D.C. Passenger
and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957. Microfilm Publication T715, 8892 rolls. NAI: 300346. Records of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service; National Archives at Washington, D.C.
[ii] Year: 1860; Census Place: Montrose,
Dane, Wisconsin; Roll: M653_1404; Page: 710; Family History Library
Film: 805404. Ancestry.com. 1860 United
States Federal Census [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images
reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population
schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.:
National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.
[iii] National Park Service. U.S. Civil
War Soldiers, 1861-1865 [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data:
National Park Service, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, online <http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/>,
acquired 2007.
[vi]
Ibid
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