Kapler, Othmar 1840 - 1911 21st IA Inf., Civil War

KAPLER, STEHLE, BACHEL

Posted By: Carl Ingwaldson (email)
Date: 12/18/2014 at 00:30:06

Othmar Kapler's biography is based on his military records that I've purchased from the National Archives and from my own knowledge of the regiment. Interested researchers may contact me for more information about Othmar Kapler, or other soldier's of the 21st Iowa Infantry. 

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copyright Carl Ingwalson 2014

Born November 15, 1840, Binsdorf, Germany
Enlisted August 12, 1862, Grand Meadow, Clayton county, Iowa
Unit 21st Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry
Mustered Out July 15, 1865, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Died September 1, 1911, Spillville, Iowa

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Vinzenz Kapler and Bernhardina Stehle were married in Binsdorf, Germany, on April 1, 1839. They had ten children including Othmar who was born on November 15, 1840. In about 1852 they emigrated - first to West Virginia, then to Illinois, and eventually to Iowa.

On August 12, 1862, in Grand Meadow Township, Othmar was enrolled by Strawberry Point resident William D. Crooke in what would be Company B of the 21st Regiment of Iowa’s Volunteer Infantry. The Company was mustered in at Dubuque on August 18, 1862, with a complement of ninety-nine men. Training was at Camp Franklin where men, mostly farmers with no military experience, were expected to drill, perform fatigue duty, and get used to taking orders. Company officers, however, were unhappy with the uniform coats that were, said one author, “too short by several inches.” The site was also “so near the men’s homes, that their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, wives, sweethearts, and friends, were too often present to allow either drill or discipline to any great extent” As a result, little if any drill was practiced before the regiment left for the South.

Othmar had grey eyes, fair hair and a light complexion and, at 5' 11½, was one of the tallest in a regiment where the average height was closer to 5' 7". On September 16th they boarded the Henry Clay (described by a Dubuque newspaper as a “miserable cramped up old tub”) and two barges lashed to its sides and started downstream. They spent one night at St. Louis’ Benton Barracks before boarding rail cars that took them to Rolla. From there they walked to Salem, Houston, Hartville and back to Houston, and that’s where they were when word was received that a Confederate column was advancing on Springfield. Othmar was one of 250 volunteers (ten from each company) who rushed to its relief but, before getting there, met the enemy at Hartville where they fought a one-day battle suffering three killed, one mortally wounded, and thirteen wounded less seriously.

They spent several more months in the Ozarks of southern Missouri, but were then ordered to join a massive army being formed by General Grant to capture the Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg, a city that President Lincoln said was “the key” to winning the war. They organized at Milliken’s Bend, walked south along the west side of the Mississippi, and on April 30th crossed to the landing at Bruinsburg. From there, the 21st Iowa was the point regiment as the army moved inland in total darkness and drew first fire about midnight. After a short, restless night, they fought the Battle of Port Gibson on May 1st. They were present but held in reserve during the Battle of Champion’s Hill on May 16th, but were at the front on the 17th when, with the 23d Iowa, they led an assault on entrenched Confederates at the Big Black River. The enemy was routed, but seven in the regiment were killed, eighteen were fatally wounded, and thirty-eight others had wounds that ranged from slight to serious. .

The regiment then took its position on the siege line at the rear of Vicksburg and participated in a massive assault on May 22, 1863. Again, casualties were heavy with twenty-three killed and fifty wounded, twelve of whom would soon die from their wounds. Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, 1863 and the next day the regiment joined General Sherman in an expedition to and siege of Jackson. By July 20th they were back in Vicksburg and, for the first time in months, were allowed to rest, but not all were well. Among them was John Grutchek, an Austrian who, like Othmar, had been living in Grand Meadow Township

John was suffering from chronic diarrhea, an ailment that caused the death of at least sixty-five men while still on the muster rolls. He was granted a thirty-day furlough to return home to recuperate, but was so weak that he could no longer walk. Othmar secured a team of horses, took John to a hospital boat, and, helped carry his friend on board. John’s recovery took longer than expected, but he rejoined the regiment several months later and was restored to duty without penalty.

Meanwhile, Othmar had maintained his own health well and continued on active duty with the regiment during many months on the Gulf Coast of Texas, subsequent service in Louisiana and Arkansas, and during the campaign in the spring of 1865 to capture the city of Mobile, Alabama. By then he had been promoted from Private to 4th Corporal and, on July 15, 1865 he was with the regiment when was mustered out at Baton Rouge. On July 24th, at Clinton, they were discharged, received their final pay, and headed for their homes.

Five months later, on December 28, 1865, Othmar and Barbara Bachel married in Festina, Iowa, at St. Mary’s Church, 2348 County Road B32. Othmar said they lived in Conover (no longer in existence) from 1865 to 1866 before moving to Spillville, but their first two children - George R. born November 7, 1866 and Caroline P. born June 9, 1868 - were born in Calmar. Other children were Rosalia born March 11, 1870, Ludvica born January 9, 1872, Mary Anna born September 14, 1874, Regina born January 31, 1878, Frank O. born August 26, 1881, and Gertrude E. born May 1, 1888.

They were living in Spillville on September 11, 1880, when thirty-nine year old Othmar signed an application seeking a government pension. He had, he said, contracted rheumatism during the Vicksburg Campaign and had sustained a severe rupture during service in Texas. With support from others who knew him, a pension was eventually granted. Othmar also signed affidavits supporting pension applications of several men with whom he had served. One of them was John Grutchek. Othmar remembered that John had been a robust and hardy person before the war, but had suffered greatly during the forced march to Hartville and had been too weak to walk to the hospital boat at Vicksburg.

Othmar’s mother, Bernhardina (Stehle) Kapler died on September 13, 1882 and was buried south of Spillville in the St. Clement Cemetery, 1705 County Road W14, Fort Atkinson.

Othmar and Barbara continued their life in Spillville. In November 1892, “while in the employ of the U.S. Government while carrying the mail from Conover to Spillville,” Othmar was getting out of his buggy when he slipped and fell “striking my elbow of right arm on the frozen ground and breaking the cap of same.” Ten years later, in January 1902, while walking on an icy sidewalk in Spillville he again slipped and fell, this time “breaking my hip of left leg very severely.”

Othmar’s father, Vinzenz “Vincent” Kapler, had left Spillville after his wife’s death and, on March 9, 1896, he died in Postville. He was buried with his wife in St. Clement Cemetery.

Othmar died on September 1, 1911 and was buried in St. Wenceslaus Cemetery, 207 Church Street, Spillville. Barbara applied for and was granted a widow’s pension, a pension she received until her death on April 27, 1924 at age seventy-seven. She was buried with Othmar in St. Wenceslaus Cemetery.

Gravestone photo
 

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