William "Will" Nosler (1840-1914), Civil War Veteran

[A later picture of William Nosler, middle, with his sons in San Diego, about 1885.  Many thanks to RitaGLouk on Ancestry.com for improving this image from its original faded state]

What I know about my 2nd great grandfather's experience in the Civil War comes from records and his brother James Milo Nosler's diary.  Will and James Milo enlisted in the Company D, Iowa 2nd Cavalry Regiment on August 7, 1861, which I take to mean that they would act as scouts when needed. According to James Milo:

"We made some preparation for going but the war was now in full blast and believing that duty called us forth in defense of our flag and country, we enlisted on the 7th day of August, 1861, in Capt. G. C. Grover Co. and 2nd Iowacavalry.  This was the first cav. co. reunited at Des Moines; about this timefather moved from Mo., and as we had to furnish our own horses he gave me one (hehad given Will one years ago)...Toward the last of this month we recd. orders to either send our horses off or sell them to the govt. at appraised value.  Most of us preferred the latter, although we did not want to do either.
In about two weeks we recd. our pay for these in gold and also part of our wages, $11 per month."

Within a few months of training in the barracks Will and his brother got sick with measles in late December 1861, apparently one of the very common afflictions for soldiers, and both spent some time in hospitals.  Will and James Milo were in the Battle of Farmington (part of the Seige of Corinth, Mississippi), on May 9th, 1862, as well as the Battle of Iuka (Iuka, Mississippi) on September 19, 1862, and the Second Battle of Corinth (Corinth, Mississippi).  James Milo described the aftermath:

"Wm. and I take a ride of the battlefield.  We see as high as 25 dead rebels in a pile.  See Col. Johnson, Col. Roggers and Gen. Stanwick, all rebel officers that were killed.  Come pretty near getting in a scrape with some artillery men.  We are arrested by the provost guard, and sent out to bury rebels.  Go a piece and then turn and go to our quarters."

Will and James Milo soon after became separated because James Milo's continual ill health prevented him from service for much of the time.   James Milo did note that William was mistakenly arrested for desertion while on furlough in June 1863, when instead he had been taken prisoner (I am unsure of the details of his being prisoner).  I do know that Will had time to court two different women, Mary Jane "Molly" Beckett of Caldwell County, Missouri, and then Esther Loretta Rittgers, who he married May 9, 1864, in Winterset, Madison, Iowa.  I suspect that he was not part of Grierson's Raid, due to the fact that William was in Iowa when most of it occurred.

Later that year was promoted from Private to Full 2nd Corporal on November 1, 1864.  I do believe he did take part in the Battle of Franklin (Franklin, Tennessee), November 30, 1864, and the Battle of Nashville (Nashville, Tennessee) on December 15-16, 1864.

He mustered out September 19, 1865, in Selma, Alabama.




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Name: William H Nosler
Residence: Iowa
Age at Enlistment: 21
Enlistment Date: 2 Aug 1861
Rank at enlistment: Private
State Served: Iowa
Was POW?: Yes
Survived the War?: Yes
Service Record: Enlisted in Company D, Iowa 2nd Cavalry Regiment on 30 Aug 1861.Promoted to Full 2nd Corporal on 01 Nov 1864.Mustered out on 19 Sep 1865 at Selma, AL.
Birth Date: abt 1840
Sources: Roster & Record of Iowa Soldiers in the War of Rebellion
Source Information:
Historical Data Systems, comp. U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.




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