I found this article in the July 9, 1938 edition of the Gettysburg Star and Sentinel (published during the 75th reunion of the Blue and Gray):
I suppose it still doesn’t answer the question of whether or not the star was actually from the National flag carried at Gettysburg by the 17th Connecticut, but it still makes for an interesting story.
Also interesting? Colonel Ira Wildman was Danbury, Connecticut’s last surviving soldier from the Civil War. He had served with the 5th Michigan Volunteer Cavalry, joining that regiment in 1865 as a substitute for another man and serving one year with the 5th and 7th Michigan Volunteer Cavalry. It would seem as if young Ira Wildman was in fact quite young – listing his age as 18 when in fact he was only 15 years old. After his discharge in Utah in 1866, he appears to have enlisted in the US Army for 3 years, re-enlisting in 1870 as a cavalry trooper. If in fact it is the same Ira Wildman, he deserted his regiment, was caught and confined at Fort Douglas in Utah in 1874 before being dishonorably discharged. While Ira Wildman may not have been a colonel in the army, he was a major player in the national reconciliation between veterans North and South.
Ira Wildman made national news when he married in 1935 to a much younger woman (age 58, so not so young as others had married!), even earning a mention in the December 9th issue of Time Magazine as well as local papers across the country. This is from “The Mansfield News-Journal,” Mansfield, Ohio, on November 29, 1935:
“Blue Bird of G.A.R. a Bride — 900 see woman, 58, become wife of Veteran, 85” (Danbury, Conn.)
The “Blue Bird of the G.A.R.” Mrs. Ella C. Bond of Oshkosh, Wis., has become the bride of Col. Ira R. Wildman, the last of Danbury’s Civil War Veterans.In keeping with her sobriquet, bestowed on her by Civil War veterans because of her fondness for the color, the 58-year-old bride wore a gown of blue velvet. Her hair was covered by a blue lace handkerchief.
Nine hundred persons crowded into St. James church for the wedding which was performed by Rev. Hamilton Hyde Kellogg. At least two hundred more gathered outside of the church for a glimpse of the 85-year old Colonel and his bride, the niece of Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside of Civil War fame.
The 17th CVI was not a part of Picketts Charge…perhaps the 14th CVI? Additional research as to where her father served and his regiment, then perhaps a conclusion can be drawn.
Minnie Norton Lament almost certainly the daughter of Patrick Norton of Company D, wounded and captured at G’burg on the first day. There are accounts of the regiment’s National Colors being fairly well shot up so it is possible that the star was indeed from the 17th’s flag. The reference to Pickett’s Charge is plainly an error by whatever reporter wrote the story and very likely based on something Mrs. Lament told him…in 1938 Minnie Lament herself was 75 years old and not at all impossible that she got her facts incorrect.
I’d be inclined to believe the star was part of the 17th CVI National Color and just as likely to believe that an elderly daughter of a 17th CVI private made a mistake in her facts.
[…] Ira R. Wildman was one of the Danbury heroes of the Civil War.He was born in Danbury on March 10, 1850 and was a painter for a time before moving to join his brother in Michigan. While there he enlisted in the 5th Michigan Cavalry by giving his age as 18 even though he was only 15. He served under George Armsrtong Custer and was present at the Appomattox surrender of Lee. After the war he reenlisted and served for 10 years in the Indian wars. He was instrumental in fostering a spirit of reconciliation between the Blue & Grey soldiers at the reunions he attended. His first wife died in 1933 and at the age of 85 he remarried Ella C. Bond who was considerably younger. He died in Danbury on January 31, 1939. John O'Donnell | No comments […]
The question remains, though, who is the Ira C. Wildman listed on the returns from Fort Douglas in the early 1870s? IS he the same soldier or a different soldier? There is a story there for someone who wants to research it (and even if it is the same person, records are not always what the seem). That project, however, is for someone else to undertake.