Object of the Month – March 2010




Neenah captain’s Civil War diaries

“The great war for the preservation of the Union deeply stirred the heart of our community,” says G.A. Cunningham in his 1878 History of Neenah.
Three companies of troops were raised in Neenah for the war effort. The second company to be formed in Neenah – during the summer of 1861 – was Company K of the 11th Regiment, Wis. Volunteer Infantry.

The company departed Neenah on Oct. 17, 1861, for Camp Randall in Madison. After a month of training, the troops set out by train and boat for Missouri. The company spent the entire war along the Mississippi River, from Missouri to Louisiana. The Neenah company suffered many casualties at the siege of Vicksburg, but did not participate in other well-known battles.

The company’s captain was Hiram J. Lewis. The Society’s archives contain four volumes of Lewis’ diaries, detailing the day-to-day activities of his regiment. After the war, Neenah’s chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic was named the Hiram J. Lewis Post.

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