A homemade memorial stone hewn from a silo block found its resting place Monday in a mix of Civil War-era pageantry and present-day admiration.
Civil War reenactors from Company E, 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment of Oshkosh participated in a grave dedication ceremony honoring Pvt. Joseph Kramer at St. Charles Cemetery in Lena. The ceremony culminated with the unveiling of the grave stone by four of Kramer’s granddaughters, Manny Kobes, Charity Kroeger, Audrey Piper and Theresa Severa.
“What can you say? It was just so beautiful,” Kroeger said after the service.
“For us, it’s just marvelous,” said Piper, of Oconto Falls, the youngest of 14 children in the family.
She said her grandfather passed away before she was born, and her father didn’t talk much about her grandfather’s time in the military. However, there was one link to the past Piper remembered her father sharing — the songs of the Civil War soldiers.
“He would sit by the old wood stove when I would be doing dishes … and he’d always sing those old songs to me. It was really neat,” she said.
She said it was a great honor for her family to have this tribute for her grandfather.
Monday’s events were put in motion over a year ago, when individuals working with a historical preservation program in Marinette County unearthed the silo-block stone at Riverside Cemetery in Peshtigo. It’s believed the marker was created by Kramer and his two sons and was placed in Riverside in 1900 when the cemetery opened.
Bev Douchette, of Marinette, was instrumental in bringing together Kramer’s family and the reenactors of the 2nd Regiment. She has worked to preserve headstones in Marinette County cemeteries for 10 years.
“We had found a number of veteran headstones were really in poor disrepair, some buried,” she said. “Really, out of a matter of decency and respect to the veteran, we turned our attention to them, in between doing some historical preservation.”
When she discovered the military stone in Peshtigo, she began searching for descendants of Kramer and initially contacted a great-great-grandson, which led to conversations with Kramer’s granddaughters. From the family, she learned Kramer was interred in St. Charles Cemetery, Lena, in 1913, but no family members knew about the stone at the Peshtigo cemetery.
“The uniqueness of that is the stone just simply found its way home,” Douchette said. “Each step of the way, we never hit a roadblock, with all the odds — really many odds against us — for finding where this belonged, it’s now where it belongs today.
“We met a wonderful family that cared and is full of love and graced us in getting this back for Grandpa.”
The family was gathered under a canopy in front of the gravesite of Kramer, surrounded by an audience of about 200 people. The group included the Lena High School band, which performed a few patriotic selections, and members of Doney-DeGrave American Legion Post No. 342, which presented a Memorial Day service earlier in the afternoon.
Reenactor Charles Bagneski, captain of the 2nd Regiment, said he participates in cemetery dedication ceremonies “to keep the memory of the Civil War veterans alive.”
“I’ve done this in the past, but we never had actual family present,” said Bagneski, referring to the four granddaughters. “That was truly special.”
He recited General Orders No. 11, a document issued from Washington, D.C., on May 5, 1868. It designated a day for “strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the gravesites of comrades who defended their country.”
He emphasized the significance and sacrifice of those who served, not just in the Civil War, but in every conflict before and since that time.
“There can be no doubt of the honor we pay to the patriotic dead, especially this day, to Joseph Kramer,” he said.
Carla J. Blood, a reenactor dressed in black in what is called widow’s weeds, portrayed a Civil War-era widow and laid a bouquet of flowers at the gravesite.
“It’s the history of it,” she said of her involvement with the 2nd Regiment. “It’s being able to teach about the Civil War.”
Reenactor Don Shawhan served as chaplain, leading a prayer and ending the ceremony with a benediction. The colors were presented, including a surprising sight of a Civil War-era American flag that was missing row-upon-row of white stars so obvious on today’s flag.
Jerry Severa, a great-grandson of Kramer’s, portrayed Abraham Lincoln and recited “The Gettysburg Address.”
The symbols of a soldier, including a cartridge box, cap box, foraging cap, haversack and backpack, were set by three rifles propped up at the gravesite, and the reenactors loaded their muskets and fired three times, as a salute to the fallen.
A soldier stood as a sentinel at the gravesite, to guard with sacred vigilance as a tribute to the fallen.
