Born November 10, 1842, at ______________, Racine County, State of
Wisconsin
Parents were ___________________ (1___-18__) and ___________________
(1___-18__)
Married October 23, 1865, to Miss Susan Moirland at
_____________________________
Died on ___________, 1___, of _________________ at
_____________________________
Buried at
__________________________________________________________________
John J. Lansworth was enlisted in Company C of the 15th Wisconsin by Captain Frederick R. Berg on October 11, 1861. Company C was the regimental Color Company, but its members called themselves the "Norway Bear Hunters." John was mustered into Federal service at the rank of Corporal for a 3 year term of service on December 2, 1861, at Camp Randall, near the City of Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin. At the time he was 20 years old and not married. His residence was listed as the Town of Norway, Racine County, Wisconsin. He was a Farmer by occupation.
On January 14, 1862, the men of the 15th Wisconsin were issued Belgian rifled muskets. On March 2, 1862, after 3 months at Camp Randall learning to be a soldier, Corporal Lansworth left there with his company and regiment to join the war. From then until September, 1863, he was recorded as "Present" with his company. Company C was detailed to duty at the Mississippi River settlement of Bird's Point, State of Missouri, from mid-March until right after the fall of Island No. 10 on April 8, 1862. Company C then helped to occupy Island No. 10 for the remainder of April, May, and into early June, 1862.
On June 11, 1862, Corporal Landsworth left Island No. 10 along with 8 of the regiment's 10 companies. The next few months were spent on campaign through the states of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. In August and September Corporal Landsworth would have participated in the grueling 400 mile retreat with U.S. General Don Carlos Buell up to the City of Louisville, State of Kentucky, with the last 2 weeks being on half rations and short of water.
Corporal Lansworth would have then been present at the October 8, 1862, fighting at the Town of Perryville, Boyle County, Kentucky, which is also called the Battle of Chaplin Hills. While this was the 15th's first big battle, it emerged without any fatalities. On December 26, 1862, he would have participated in the 15th's desperate charge upon a Confederate artillery battery at Knob Gap, Tennessee, just south of the City of Nashville. There the 15th captured a brass cannon. He would have also fought at the long, cold, wet, and bloody Battle of Stone River, Tennessee, also called the Battle of Murfreesboro, on December 30-31, 1862. It is there that the 15th first suffered serious battle casualties, and was cited for bravery.
The 15th camped in the Murfreesboro area for the next 6 months, except for 2 weeks in February when it was sent to the Town of Franklin, Williamson County, Tennessee. On April 1, 1963, Corporal Lansworth was appointed as a Sergeant in Company C. Starting June 23, 1863, the regiment took part in U.S. General Rosecrans' Tullahoma campaign. On July 3, 1863, the 15th went into camp at the Town of Winchester, Franklin County, Tennessee, for 6 weeks.
On August 17, 1863, the 15th left Winchester to participate in U.S. General Rosecran's Chickamauga campaign. Sergeant Landsworth is believed to have been present at the daring early morning crossing of the Tennessee River on August 28th, which the 15th led. He was present at the September 19-20, 1863, Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia -- the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War. There on the afternoon of the first day of the battle he was "wounded in the ankle with a Minnie ball" during the vicious fighting around Viniard's Farm. Some 63% of the 15th's soldiers who were at Chickamauga were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. Only the timely arrival of the 2 nearly full companies that had been doing guard duty at Island No. 10 kept the 15th from being consolidated into another regiment.
From the time of his wounding until December, 1863, Sergeant Landsworth was listed as "Absent" from the regiment recovering in the town of Chattanooga, Tennessee. During most of that time the Confederate army was laying siege to Chattanooga. This resulted in severe shortages of medicine, food, and firewood which, together with cold, wet weather, caused much suffering, sickness, and death. The siege was finally broken on November 25, 1863, by the Union Army's victorious charge up Mission Ridge, which the 15th took part in.
Starting right after Mission Ridge the 15th was engaged in almost non-stop marching and counter-marching all over Eastern Tennessee throughout the winter of 1863/1864. By many original accounts, this was the worst period of the regiment's 3 year term of service. Poor rations, inadequate clothing and shelter, and unseasonably cold weather made these months nearly unbearable. On February 1, 1864, the 15th's Brigade Commander transferred Sergeant Lansworth and a number of other 15th soldiers to the 68th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment. On April 1, 1864, the War Department transferred them all back to the 15th.
Starting in May, 1864, Sergeant Lansworth and the 15th participated in U.S. General William T. Sherman's famous campaign to capture the City of Atlanta, Georgia. The campaign was marked by almost daily marching and/or combat for 4 months. The 15th took part in the fighting at Rocky Face Ridge, Georgia, in early May, at the bloody Battle of Resaca, Georgia, on May 14-15, and at the disastrous Battle of Pickett's Mill (often called Dallas or New Hope Church), Georgia, on May 27, 1864. There the 15th suffered fearful casualties, including 29 soldiers captured (many of whom later died in the infamous Andersonville Prison Camp).
The 15th also fought at Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, on June 23, before Atlanta on July 22, at Jonesboro, Georgia, on September 1, and at Lovejoy Station, Georgia, on September 4, 1864. After a rest following the capture of Atlanta in early September, the 15th was briefly assigned to Provost (police) duty in Chattanooga in early October. This was followed by several months spent guarding a railroad bridge at Whitesides, Tennessee, near Chattanooga. Some of the 15th's soldiers felt their time there was the easiest duty of their entire war service.
Sergeant Lansworth was honorably mustered out of Federal service along with most of the other surviving members of Company C on December 31, 1864, at Chattanooga, Tennessee, upon the expiration their 3 year terms of service. At muster out the Army noted that Lansworth was due $100 in bounty money. Company C was then formally disbanded, and the men paid off, sent back to Wisconsin, and released to their homes.
John Lansworth arrived home in Racine County on January 7, 1865, almost exactly 3 months before the war ended. For a short time he resumed farming there, but soon moved to Dane County, Wisconsin, where the woman he married later that year was living. Together they would eventually have 6 children: Ida J., born ________ __, 18__; Lizzie B., born ________ __, 18__; Annie L., born ________ __, 18__; Louella A., born ________ __, 18__; Mabel A., born ________ __, 18__; and Cora Alma, born ________ __, 18__.
In 1872 John Lansworth moved his family to a 160 acre farm in Section 14 of Mayville Township, near the Village of Dorchester in Clark County, Wisconsin. He is recorded as having been a member of the Baptist Church and the Sons of Temperance Lodge. From 1879-1880 he served as the elected Town Treasurer.
Sources: History of Northern Wisconsin by A. T. Andreas (Chicago, Illinois, 1881); Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillage [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers] by Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1895); Civil War Compiled Military Service Records by Office of Adjutant General of the United States (Washington, DC); and, Regimental Descriptive Rolls, Volume 20 Office of the Adjutant General State of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin, 1885).
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