Captain Peter J. Miserez - Biography

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This biography appears on pages 157-159 in "Soldiers' and Citizens'
Album of Biographical Record containing personal sketches of Army Men and
Citizens Prominent in loyalty to the Union"
Chicago, Illinois: Grand Army Publishing Company
Published in 1890

Captain Peter J. Miserez, Darien, Wis., member of G. A. R. Post, Abraham
Lincoln, No. 3, was born at La Joux, Canton of Berne, Switzerland, Dec.
15, 1829. His father, Joseph Miserez, was a machinist, and was descended
from a Spaniard who left his native country and located in Switzerland.
He married Genereuse, daughter of Francis Reuff, who, with four
brothers, fought in the German contingent of the army of Napoleon, and
afterwards went with his family to Switzerland. Peter was the only child
and lost his father when five months old. His mother married again and
he remained in his native land until 1849. In the spring of that year,
when he was not quite 20 years old, he sailed for America and landed at
New York. He proceeded to Ft. Wayne, Ind., where he remained a year,
working at the trade of a shoemaker, which he learned in Switzerland. In
1850 he went to Notre Dame Univeristy, and after a year of study there
went to South Bend, Ind., where he remained until 1857, when he went to
Mound City, Kansas, as correspondent of the New York Tribune, the Kansas
troubles having again come to the front. He was there about three months
when he sent to Warrensburg, Jackson Co., Mo., where he continued to
reside until the Spring of 1861, operating meanwhile as correspondent of
the Tribune and becoming prominently known as a decided Abolitionist.
The war troubles coming on, he was compelled to leave Missouri and
returned to Kansas, where he enlisted as soon as possible, May 14, 1861,
in Company F, 2d Kansas Infantry. The regiment became famous in the
Missouri warfare under General Lyon whose coolness and courage preserved
Missouri to the Union. The regiments participated in the fights at
Forsythe, Dug Springs, Wilson's Creek and Shelbina, and in all other
miscellaneous service involved in its movements during that period. Oct.
31, 1861, Captain Miserez was mustered out at Leavenworth, his term
having expired long before. In June, 1862, he again enlisted in Company
K, 12th Kansas Infantry, and was mustered in as First Lieutenant of the
company. The regiment remained at Leavenworth several months, and
Captain Miserez was detailed to the command of the Post at Kansas City,
which was established there May 1, 1863, and he remained there two
months, and was next detailed to the charge of the military prison in
the same city (under General Ewing), and was on duty there until
November, when he went with his regiment to Fort Smith, Ark., and was
there assigned to the command of General Thayer. In the spring of 1864,
the regiment was assigned to the command of General Steel and went on
the Red River expedition. Captain Miserez, who had been commissioned
Captain and was acting as Adjutant, was in the movement to Shreveport to
make connection with the expedition, and he was in the fight at Prairie
d'Ane and at Jenkin's Ferry, where he received a gunshot wound in his
right shoulder. He was then acting as First Lieutenant and was the
second junior officer on the field, all others, with the exception of
Captain James Chestnut, being either absent or disabled. After Jenkins'
Ferry, the regiment returned to Little Rock, Ark., thence to Fort Smith
and to Little Rock for muster out, remaining there until the close of
the war, the Captain being discharged June 30, 1865. His experiences in
the Army of the Frontier would fill a volume, and his duties of all
varieties were sometimes anything but agreeable even to a man who
recognizes and discharges his duty at all hazards. He had the honor of
hanging "Jim Vaughn," one of Quantrell's most dintinguished guerillas.
The regiment disbanded at Lawrence, and Captain Miserez located at
Kansas City, where he was made Marshal of the Criminal Court and of the
Court of Common Pleas, and officiated as such two years, after which he
received the appointment of local agent of the Post Office Department
and officiated in that capacity seven years. He went thence to Phillips
County, Kansas, and remained two years on a soldier's homestead claim,
and in 1884 went to Concordia, Cloud county, Kansas, where he remained
until 1889 when he removed to Darien, where the parents of Mrs. Miserez
reside. He is doing a prosperous business as a dealer in boots and
shoes. He was married in 1852 to Mary J., daughter of John B. Ronlo of
South Bend, and they had six children. Louise, the first-born, is
deceased, as is the second child who died unnamed. Emma, Mrs. Garver,
lives in San Francisco, Cal.; Mrs. Wm. Culver is a resident of Los
Angeles, Cal.; Mrs. Hattie Gingles lives at Aldrich, Neb.; Joseph Louis
is an attache of the Santa Fe railroad, stationed at El Paso, Texas.
After the death of his first wife, Captain Miserez was married to Mrs.
Margaret Frye, daughter of Barnard Huber of Darien.