08/30/2025
There are 98 unmarked graves of Civil War veterans at Calvary Cemetery, according to years of work by two Milwaukee historians.
The researchers are Tom Ludka, longtime graves registration officer of our Camp, and Marge Berres of the Woman’s Relief Corps.
The Camp's current newsletter runs each of the 98 names, as a profound way of saluting them. They have been lost to history for as long as 162 years – the deaths range from 1863 to three in the 1930s. Two of them died in 1901, the year that Camp was founded, and another a couple months later.
The sites of some of these unmarked graves are definitely known, but others are not known at all; only that they are somewhere at Calvary, according to various record books. Others are being somewhere in a family plot.
For example, John B. Klier of the 9th Wisconsin Infantry died in 1884. His death certificate says he was buried at Calvary, but nothing further is known. His wife died later, and is buried with her parents there.
In another example, Thomas Thompson of the 15th Massachusetts Infantry died in 1906 at the Milwaukee Soldiers Home, where the record says he is buried at its cemetery, now Wood National Cemetery. But Thompson is not in the VA database, and the cemetery record book says he was buried at Calvary, Ludka and Berres say.
Ludka and Berres, building on years of work by many other local historians, genealogists, etc., have identified an overall total of 401 Civil War vets at Calvary. Their work always is being updated here and there.
They have a compiled a massive spreadsheet with more info about each of the lost. Here is their list of unmarked graves, in various categories (for easier reading, the list is divided into groups of five).
LOCATION IDENTIFIED
Bauer, Joseph, 17th Wis. Inf., died 1881
Callahan, Peter D., 18th Wis. Inf., 1881
Cantwell, Michael, 3rd Wis. Cav., 1915
Centner, George, 14th Ill. Cav., 1909
Dailey, Michael, 20th Wis. Inf., 1927
Dunn, John T., 24th Wis. Inf., 1884
Endres, Stephan, 9th Wis. Inf., 1891
Fitzpatrick, Peter, 18th Wis. Inf., 1879
Gavin, Michael, 13th Wis. Inf., 1871
Goggin, John J.,16th, 35th Wis. Inf., 1931
Granacher, John, 16th Wis. Inf., 1899
Hegner, Ferdinand, 22 Wis. Inf., 1894
Hoolahan, Michael, 1st Wis. Heavy Art., 1901
Justen, Simon, 18th Wis. Inf., 1890
Keenan, Patrick, 28th Wis. Inf., 1923
Marnell, Luke, 6th Wis. Inf., 1897
McGarry, James, Navy, 1910
Moran, Thomas, 1st, 21st and 3rd Wis. Inf., 1883
Oonk, William G., 14th Wis. Inf., 1930
Peacock, Charles, Navy, 1886
Pennefeather, John E., 13th U.S. Inf., 1895
Peppard, James, 18th Wis. Inf., 1903
Pillion, Thomas, 30th Ill. Inf., 1899
Poser, Frederick Jr., 45th Wis. Inf., 1883
Rakutz, Herman, 35th Wis. Inf., 1899
Rau, Norbert, 9th Wis., 23rd VRC, 1892
Rolfs, Henry, 2nd Wis. Light Art., 1st Wis. Heavy Art., 1900
Rooney, Richard, 17th Wis. Inf., 1880
Rottler, Wendelin, 1st, 21st and 3rd Wis. Inf., 1913
Ryan, John W., 8th Wis. Inf., 1865
Steinkellner, Peter, 34th Wis. Inf., 1882
Surges, John Peter, 45th Wis., 1902
Treblee, Frederick C., 12th U.S. Inf., 1889
Wagner, Adelbert, 51st Wis. Inf., 1884
Wagner, Casper, 3rd Wis. Inf., 1886
Webber, John 9th Wis. Inf., 1922
Zahn, George J., 22nd Wis. Inf., 1872
LOCATION CANNT BE IDENTIFIED
Conneallie, Peter C., 24th Wis. Inf., died 1863
Cosgrove, John M. 1st Wis. Inf., no date of death
Dalton, John H., 37th Wis. Inf., 1893
Fischer, Herman John, 35th Wis. Inf., 1866
Gilmore, Andrew J., 6th, 28th Wis. Inf., 1863
Goermueller, Casper, 6th Wis. Inf., 1897
Hamm, Peter, 6th Wis. Inf., 1891
Klier, John B. 9th Wis. Inf., 1884
Kopple, John, 16th Pa. Inf., 1896
Lanning, Patrick C., 15th Mass. Inf., 1876
Larkin, William A., 24th Wis. Inf., 2nd Wis. Cav., no date of death
Nugent, James, 19th, 35th Wis. Inf., 1872
Offenbacher, John, 9th Wis. Inf., 1895
O’Neil, Patrick, 1st Wis. Heavy Art., 1874
Peacock, Francis A., 24th Wis. Inf., 1863
Shaahan, James, 8th Pa. Cav., 1913
Shields, Phillip J., 6th Wis. Inf., 1864
Shug, Phillip, 2nd Wis. Light Art., 1876
Shurr, Ferdinand, 24th Wis. Inf., 1889
Tosey, David, 34th Wis. Inf., listed in Milwaukee Sentinel article in 1869
Wende, John, 9th Wis. Inf., 1905
LOCATION IDENTIFIED, but there is no map to identify grave
Allen, Herman, 24th Wis. Inf., died 1874
Alt, Charles, 4th Wis. Cav., 1909
Dannecker, Nicholas, 9th Wis. Inf., 1898
Freund, Valentine, 6th Wis. Inf., 1915
Mackey, John M., 24th Wis. Inf., 1898
Mulvany, Philip, 14th Ill. Cav., 1913
Phillips, Patrick, 9th Wis. Light Art., 1882
Purtell, James, 73rd Ohio Inf., 1892
Regan, John, 10th U.S. Inf., 1905
Schanuel, Conrad, 9th Wi. Inf., 1868
Scheuren, Peter Joseph, 9th Wis. Inf., 1895
Trummer, Fridolin, 82nd Ill. Inf., 1878
Werner, William, 1st, 26th Wis. Inf., 1873
Map or plot noted in book, but no names entered in plot book; therefore exact grave is unknown
Borchardt, Joseph, 1st Wis. Heavy Art., died 1897
Conaty, Arthur, 24th Wis. Inf., 1884
Corcoran, Philip, 12th Mass. Inf., 1904
Dower, Michael, 17th Wis. Inf., 1905
Fahey, John, 1st Wis. Heavy Art., died around 1870s
Fanning, Bernard, 14th Wis. Inf., 1893
Feeley, Michael, 38th N.Y. Inf., 1871
Ferriter, Patrick, 24th Wis. Inf., 1895
Hart, Cornelius, 24th, 13th Wis. Inf., 1867
Hasenfuss, Jacob, Navy, 1930
Henz, Wendell, 13th Wis. Inf., 1866
Kennedy, William, 24th Wis. Inf., 1883
Lavin, Patrick, Navy, 1901
Lawrence, Joseph, 24th Wis. Inf., 1863
McLaughlin, Michael, 24th Wis. Inf., 1916
McMahon, Peter, no unit determined, 1885
McShane, William, 24th, 13th Wis. Inf., 1910
Moesch, Frederick, 9th Wis. Inf., 1896
Murphy, Edward, 27th Wis. Inf., 1890
Powers, John, 37th Ill. Inf., 1881
Quinn, Edmund, 23rd Wis. Inf., 1903
Thompson, Thomas, 15th Mass. Inf., 1906
Van Hosmal, Eugene, 34th Wis. Inf., 1863
Van Mulder, William, 34th Wis. Inf., 1863
Walsh, John, 24th Wis. Inf., 1928
Weigle, Leonard, 2nd Wis. Inf., 1st Wis. Heavy Art., 1863
NO MAP and not in plot book, but location is known
Zerving, Casper, 11th, 17th Wis. Inf., died 1906
