The 27th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment began organizing in August 1862 but recruiting problems delayed its entry into federal service until March 1863. Predominantly from the Lake Michigan shore counties of the state, the regiment was mainly composed of German immigrants. The 27th Wisconsin played a supporting role in the Siege of Vicksburg and participated in the capture of Little Rock, Arkansas during the year. The regiment served in the Little Rock garrison and saw its first serious combat in the Camden Expedition of 1864, during which it fought in the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry. The regiment was among the Union forces in the Mobile campaign in early 1865, and was involved in the Battle of Spanish Fort. Ending the war in the occupation of Texas, the regiment was mustered out in August before returning to Wisconsin.
Organization
The regiment was one of seven new Wisconsin regiments formed under Lincoln's 300,000-man militia draft call of August 5, 1862. The plan offered advance pay and enlistment bounties to encourage volunteering, but included a draft of the state militia if volunteer quotas were not met. By the time these incentives expired on August 22, only seven companies of the regiment had been organized mostly in Sheboygan and Manitowoc Counties. These companies were ordered to Camp Sigel at Milwaukee on September 17. The War Department authorized the recruitment of the remaining three companies, while the previously organized companies spent the winter in the city. During this period the regiment was guarded the imprisoned Ozaukee draft rioters. German immigrants formed more than half of the regiment but it also included Irishmen and the Norwegian Company H. With the last three companies organized, the regiment was mustered into federal service on March 7, 1863 under the command of Sheboygan lawyer and German Forty-Eighter Colonel Conrad Krez, and left Wisconsin for Columbus, Kentucky on March 16. John J. Brown was lieutenant colonel and Ten Eyck G. Olmsted major. The regiment had a strength of 865 officers and men upon muster. However, when the regiment passed through Chicago en route to Columbus, the Chicago Tribune reported that 52 men of the regiment were absent without leave, including thirty bounty jumpers – draft substitutes who promptly deserted after being mustered in.
Vicksburg
The 27th Wisconsin served on garrison duty at Columbus until May 30, when it was sent to aid in the Siege of Vicksburg via Memphis. The 27th Wisconsin arrived at the mouth of the Yazoo River on June 4 and went upriver to Satartia, Mississippi. The regiment remained there for two days while Confederate artillery dueled with escorting gunboats. At Satartia, companies A, B, and C were sent out as skirmishers while the rest of the regiment remained in reserve, but they was not actively engaged. The 27th Wisconsin marched 30 miles downriver to Haines' Bluff on June 6. The exhausted Wisconites arrived the next day with many suffering from heatstroke. During the march, Captain Erastus W. Stannard of Company B was mortally wounded by the accidental discharge of a musket. The regiment was brigaded with the 25th Wisconsin and 40th Iowa in Montgomery's Brigade of Kimball's Third Division of XVI Corps. The regiment moved four miles to Snyder's Bluff on June 11, forming part of the outer siege lines. Until the Confederate surrender on July 4, the regiment performed picket duty and built fortifications and trenches there.
Arkansas
Following the surrender of Vicksburg, the regiment moved to Helena, Arkansas. Transferred to Frederick Steele's Army of Arkansas on August 13, the regiment went with the army up the White River to DeValls Bluff for the Little Rock campaign. Marching to Little Rock, the regiment participated in the capture of the state capital. At Little Rock, the regiment was involved in garrison and picket duty with occasional forays into the region surrounding the city.