Manitowoc County Civil War Roundtable
Biographies
James S. Anderson
Corporal
Co. A
5th Wisconsin Infantry
James Anderson volunteered for service [at the age of 19] on April 21, 1861. His company was assigned as Company A, Fifth Wisconsin Infantry, and he served in that organization for three years and four months. During that period he was appointed corporal and sergeant, holding the latter rank at the time of his discharge [July 27, 1864]. During the remainder of the war he served in the provost marshal's department on special duty. The Fifth Wisconsin was one of the noted regiments of the war and was known in the Sixth Corps, Army of the Potomac, as the "Fighting Fifth." Its list of engagements up to the time of expiration of the service of the original regiment comprises twenty-two general battles and sixteen heavy skirmishes, at all of which Anderson was present, being thrice wounded [once at Gaine's Mills, Virginia]. In his entire service he was absent from the regiment only forty-eight hours and then by reason of wounds.
On his return to civil life he determined to enter the legal profession and as preliminary thereto entered Lawrence University at Appleton, Wisconsin, at the fall semester of 1865 and graduated in the class of 1870 with the degree of B.S., later acquiring the M.S. degree.
excerpt from History of Manitowoc County, Louis Falge 1914
James Anderson lived in Manitowoc until his death on July 9, 1927 and is buried at Evergreen Cemetery.
In 1996 a book was published entitled "The Papers of James S. Anderson" which is a compilation of letters and diaries written by Mr. Anderson. This book, by Dennis Moore, is available in paperback directly from Bivouac Publications, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Hon. J.S. Anderson
