Born circa 1826
Jarvis L. Rice was enlisted in Company C of the 15th Wisconsin by Captain Berg on February 5, 1862, for a 3 year term of service. The men of Company C called themselves the Norway Bear Hunters. Jarvis was mustered into Federal service as a Private (Menig) on February 25, 1862, at Camp Randall, near the City of Madison, Dane County, State of Wisconsin. At the time he was married and either 37 or 39 years old. His residence was listed as the Town of Waterford, Racine County, Wisconsin.
After several months at Camp Randall learning to be a soldier, Private Rice left there in early March, 1862, with his company and regiment to join the war. From then until March, 1863, he was listed as "present." As such he would have participated in the successful siege of Island No. 10 on the Mississippi River in the State of Tennessee, and the surprise raid on Union City, Tennessee, in March and April, 1862. That Summer he would have been with the 15th on the campaign though Tennessee and the States of Mississippi and Alabama. In August and September he would have participated in the gruelling 400 mile retreat with General Buell up to the City of Louisville, State of Kentucky, with the last 2 weeks being on half rations and short of water. He would have been present at the October 8, 1862, Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, which is also called the Battle of Chaplin Hills. In late December 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, at the end of December, 1862. It is there that the 15th first suffered serious battle casualties, and was cited for bravery.
Private Rice was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in Company C sometime in January or February, 1863. He was transferred to the 15th Field & Staff as the regiment's Quartermaster Sergeant in March, 1863. In August and September, 1863, he participated as such in General Rosecran's Chickamauga campaign. He was present at the September 19-20, 1863, Battle of Chickamauga in the State of Georgia -- the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War. It is believed that he was not involved in the actual fighting. Some 63% of the 15th's soldiers who were at Chickamauga were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. Starting November 22, 1863, Quartermaster Sergeant Rice was sent to Madison, Wisconsin, on recruiting service. He was noted as being present at Madison in December, 1863.
Quartermaster Sergeant Rice was recorded as present in Madison on recruiting duty through April, 1864. He was next noted as being present with the 15th Wisconsin starting in July or August, 1864. He then participated in the latter half of General Sherman's successful campaign to capture the City of Atlanta in the State of Georgia.
On December 23, 1864, Quartermaster Sergeant Rice returned from the Field & Staff to Company C as a Private. He was then mustered out of Federal service along with most of the other surviving members of Company C on December 31, 1864, at Chattanooga, Tennessee, near the end of his 3 year term of service.
Sources: Civil War Compiled Military Service Records by Office of Adjutant General of the United States (Washington, DC); Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillage [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers] by Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1895); Regimental Descriptive Rolls, Volume 20 Office of the Adjutant General State of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin, 1885); and, Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, Volume I Office of the Adjutant General State of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin, 1886).
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