Theodore Fischer (1821-1894)
FISCHER, ERNST, MENEKE
Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 1/30/2010 at 10:06:20
Bellevue Herald-Leader, Sesquicentennial History Edition, 1983
Friends Served Through Civil War Together
Fischer Served His Country In Two Major Wars
Theodore Fischer, Sr., is one of the few men in Jackson County to have served in two major wars during his lifetime. As a young man he saw action in the Southwest with a Missouri company during the Mexican War, and when Jackson County fell short of enlistments during the Civil War, Fischer was drafted to serve in the Second Iowa Infantry and again saw battle action with General William Tecumsah Sherman’s army as it marched through the South.
Theodore Fischer was one of the early pioneers of Tete des Morts Township. He was born in Wesphalia, Germany, January 1, 1821, and died June 15, 1894, at the age of 73.
He came to America in 1841, landing in New Orleans. Fischer went upriver to St. Louis, and worked for a time on steamboats on the Mississippi. In 1843 he went to Galena and from there to Mineral Point, where he worked at dirt washing in the lead mines. Afterwards he made several trips to New Orleans suffering privation and hardship during the trips.
When the Mexican War broke out, Fischer enlisted in Captain Waldeman’s Company B, Missouri Light Artillery, and was mustered out of the regular Army on June 21, 1846. With an ox team he rode 900 miles from St. Louis to Sante Fe where he distinguished himself during campaigns including: Palo Alto, Buena Vista, Cerro Gordo, Cherubusco, Chapultepec, San Pascual Tobasco and Vera Cruz.
Following the war he was honorably discharged and received a medal and condemnation from his commanding officers. Fischer returned to St. Louis where he married. His young wife died giving birth to a baby girl. Fischer later married Caroline Meneke, also from St. Louis. They came to Jackson County in 1849 to exercise a land warrant he had received from the federal government for service in the Mexican War. He took up land in Tete des Morts where he farmed until 1864.
His township was short of volunteers in the Civil War and he left a wife and nine children at home on the farm. Fischer served without being seriously wounded during the last months of the war as Union troops severed southern supply lines and disrupted interior transportation links in the drive to the sea and the destruction of the Confederacy. Following the war, Fischer returned to his farm where he lived until retiring. Friends in peace and war, Theodore Fischer and Ludwig Ernst, marched together and fought side-by-side in the South. On Fischer's death, Ernst is said to have walked from Bellevue to St. Donatus in the rain to attend his friend's funeral. Fischer is buried in St. Donatus Catholic Cemetery.
Theodore Fischer Gravestone
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