Ralph Zentner March 8,1846 - April 2,1903

Ralph's Military Story
Ralph Zentner was in the Second Wisconsin and fought in most of the major battles in the Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania area. It may be there is no prouder record of service in the Union Army that that of the Second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. No other regiment in the entire Union Army was as active and sustained as great a percentage of killed in the saving of the Union. A letter from his grandson John Zentner of Merced CA sent to my father in 1987 states that Ralph joined The Army of the Potomac when he was 15. He fought in every major battle of the Civil War and was awarded the Iron Brigade Medal like the one shown below.

"The Iron Brigade"
. The men of the Iron Brigade first made a name for themselves simply as members of "Rufus King's Brigade". But as commanders and uniforms changed, and the conflict advanced to the war's most critical moment at Antietam, they earned some more titles. The men of the south knew them first as "That damn Black Hat Brigade" and latter to all as the "Iron Brigade" because they "stood like Iron" in the face of withering enemy fire. The truth is, the history of the Iron Brigade begins like a song of glory and victory assumed, and ends with the brigades virtual destruction on the first day of Gettysburg. The men were not of iron, but of flesh and blood and they anointed the nations fields with more of themselves than any other regiments in the Union. In the union army, a group of four regiments, and a brigade general and his staff composed a Brigade. The general in charge of a brigade was given one star and called a "Brigadier General". Rufus King's Brigade, which was to become the Iron Brigade, started with the 2nd WI, 5th WI, 6th WI and 19th IN. By the time the 7th Wisconsin showed up in Washington on October 1st, 1861 the 5th Wisconsin had already been re-assigned and the 7th admitted. As time went on, and losses were taken, more regiments may have been added to attempt to bring the brigade back up to strength. The 24th Michigan Regiment of Volunteers was added to the Iron Brigade for this reason. The sad truth is, that after losses from illness and battle, most brigades could only field half as many men as they had on paper. With new officers forming units back home and claiming new volunteers, few replacements made their way to existing regiments, and their numbers only dwindled

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From the Adams County Press, Saturday 11 April 1903,
Page 4 Column 4
Ralph ZENTNER Dies Suddenly At his home in Point Bluff, Adams Co., WI, April 2nd 1903,

Ralph ZENTNER, aged 57 years, 18 days. Deceased was born in Elm, Canton Glarus, Switzerland, on the 3rd day of March, 1846. His parents were John and Catherine ZENTNER. His parents came to this country when he was only seven years old, and settled at Black Earth, then about five miles south of the now city of Oshkosh and on the west bank of Lake Winnebago, where about a year later his mother died. Shortly after her death the husband returned to his old home in Switzerland, and soon after died, leaving his little son an orphan to the care of a maternal uncle, John ELMER. For some years Ralph had a home with this uncle, until July 1861, when at the age of 15 years he enlisted in Company K of the Second regiment of Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He served for a time as orderly for Colonel (afterward Governor) Lucius Fairchild, and was severely wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, and lay wounded on the battlefield for five days. The relief came at last, and he was taken to a hospital and placed upon an operating table preparatory to an amputation of the wounded limb. Just at this point, Surgeon Wolcott of Milwaukee, appeared on the scene, took Ralph from the table, gave him an incalculable benefit of his personal attention and saved the foot and ankle. After his recovery Ralph re-entered the military service as a member of Company G of the Sixth Wisconsin Infantry, and was subsequently transferred to ____ Battery, where he was finally honorably discharged from the military service of the United States, and returned to his former home to assume all the duties and obligations of a good citizen in civil life. In 1872 in company with C. H. SCHNEIDER, he came to Adams county and first settled at Barnum in the town of Rome, where the mills of the Weed Lumber Company were located, and which had already become a prominent lumbering point on the Wisconsin River. It was there that the trinity of good fellowship between him, J. V. GUNNING and C. H. SCHNEIDER was formed that lasted until broken by the death of Mr. ZENTNER. On July 4, 1876, Mr. ZENTNER and Miss Lizzie DAVIS of Point Bluff, were married, and for some years made their home at Barnum. Afterwards, Mr. ZENTNER purchased a farm near Point Bluff, where they have resided and had their home for many years past. The home they builded (sic) there was an ideal one--one such as only love and affection, industry, frugality and mutual devotion can build and fill with esteem and happiness, and each is made to feel that he or she is a constituent part of a cherished and cherishing whole. Deceased was a member of John Gillespie Post, G. A. R., of Kilbourn, and Quincy Lodge, F. & A. M., of Friendship. He was a frequent visitor at the Post meetings in this place, and every comrade here and every brother in the Lodge hailed his presence as a great personal pleasure, and the expression was and is universal in these orders, as with many others: "I cannot help but feel that by Zentner's death I have suffered a great personal loss." He was so genial in his ways, so zealous to please and add to the enjoyment of others, withal he was an honest, independent man, firm in his conversation and fearless in maintaining his views, but in so doing so liberal and courteous as seldom or never to give offense. The funeral was on Sunday last, and the feeling and interest was made manifest by the great crowd that attended the services. Large delegations representing the Masonic societies of Kilbourn and Friendship and the G. A. R. posts of the same places, clothed in the appropriate insignia of their respective orders were present to pay the last and sad rites in memory of their deceased brother and comrade and each performed its appropriate ceremonies. Rev. Dr. Bolton and Dr. Scott DAVIS, a brother of Mrs. ZENTNER, conducted the services. Each made an exceedingly appropriate address. The procession from the family residence to the church was fully a third of a mile in length and the capacity of the church could not hold more than a third of the people who gathered at the funeral. Besides a widow, the deceased leaves five sons--William R., John, Albert, Samuel and Francis.