I had a chat the other day with longtime member Dave Clark. Dave is one of our longest continuously active members, having originally been signed up by Noel Gillespie around 1950. Dave grew up in Lodi, and, in his early years, had a childhood neighbor with the surname of Jessmore. About 100 years old at the time, Mr. Jessmore told Dave that while he was in the military, his unit came up to Lodi by horse and wagon from Camp Randall, bivouacked on the range and trained with rifles. The conversation stuck in Dave's memory because, at the time, he didn't understand the meaning of the word, "bivouac."

Could this be true? A military unit actually fired on the range at the time of the Civil War? So I checked Historical Society Records for the Jessmore surname. Sure enough, a John Jessmore from West Point, Wisconsin served in Company C of the 42x Regiment. I am told that West Point had its own post office and was located a few miles west of Lodi on CTH J.

A further check of this roster (website: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/roster/results.asp?image id=2694) indicates that virtually all the names on it are from the Lodi/West Point/ Dekorra/ Dane/ Merrimack area. The company commander, Capt. George Humphrey, was from Lodi, while First Lieutenant. Robert Steele was from Dane. Perhaps the company commander decided to bivouac and train in the area to give the troops a chance to visit their relatives. Or perhaps they assembled and bivouacked on the property before they traveled to Camp Randall.

Dave also tells me that he used to cast bullets for Ted Church in later years, when Ted was unable or not inclined to cast bullets anymore. In conversations with Dave about securing adequate supplies of lead, Ted mentioned that he used to pick up 1000's of old lead bullets at the range for re-casting, particularly after periods of heavy rain. These bullets were the large caliber mini-balls, the type of bullet fired from percussion rifles of earlier times, not the jacketed bullets in use at that time by high power rifle shooters. While this is not conclusive, as evidenced by the abundance of large lead bullets after our present black powder rifle matches, it does indicate that at some earlier time, a lot of these rifles had been fired on the range.

In summary, the evidence is that a Civil War Veteran actually told one of our members as a child that his military unit bivouacked and fired rifles on the range property. This veteran's Civil War service is confirmed by Historical Society Records. There is also the oral indication that a large number of period rifles had been fired on the range at some earlier time. I find this evidence to be compelling.

To be conclusive, it is desirable to have written confirmation in the form of a letter, diary, or voucher, etc. dated at the time. It would also be interesting to know whether any of the Lodi companies in the 2°a, 7' or 23'd Regiments similarly bivouacked and fired on the property. There are lots of records available for research at the Historical Society.

by Al Klais