John M. Plackner

Name: John M. Plackner Company: E
Birth Date: about 1825 Place: Bavaria (Germany)	Mustered In Date: September 3, 1864 Rank: Private Age: 39
Death Date: December 6, 1904 Place: Carver County, Minnesota Burial: St. John's United Church of Christ Cemetery, Benton Township, Carver County, Minnesota	Mustered Out Date: September 6, 1865 Rank: Private Age: about 40 Residence following military service: Benton Township, Norwood, Carver County, Minnesota Vocation following military service: Farmer

John M. Plackner Biography and Civil War Narrative

John Michael Plackner (also spelled "Bleckner" or "Blackner") was born March 25, 1825, in Germany. When he was 39 years old he enlisted in Company E of the 5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was one of the new recruits that joined the 5th Minnesota in September 1864. He and the other new recruits may have joined the veterans of the 5th Minnesota in time to march through the state of Missouri in pursuit of Confederate General Price in October 1864. They certainly had joined the regiment by the end of November when they boarded riverboats in St. Louis which transported them to Nashville, Tennessee. There they entrenched with the Union Army under the command of General Thomas who was preparing his troops for a battle with the Confederates under the command of General Hood. Following a delay lengthened by icy weather, Thomas ordered his men to move out and attack the Confederate army entrenched to the south of Nashville on December 15. After two days of fighting which culminated in a costly charge across muddy fields at about 4:00 pm on December 16, Plackner's 5th Minnesota Regiment and the Union Army broke the Confederate line and pushed them back. In the following days, Thomas's men chased the Confederates for 10 days until they crossed the Tennessee River on December 26th.

After their campaign against Hood's army, Plackner and his regiment headed west. Following duty at Eastport, Mississippi, they moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. From March 7 to April 12, 1865, they participated in a campaign against Mobile, Alabama, and its various defenses, including a siege and capture of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely.

When General Lee surrendered on April 9 and the Civil War came to a close, the 5th Minnesota served garrison duty at Montgomery, Selma, and Demopolis, Alabama. Plackner was discharged with the regiment on September 6, 1865.

The 1880 Benton Township Plat Map shows "J. M. Plackner" owning 158 acres in the northeast quarter of Section 17, a little more than a mile north of Bongards and about three miles west of Cologne. Immediate neighbors include Gerhard Bongard to the south, H. Walff and J. Willemsen (a fellow soldier in the 5th Regiment) to the east, Isidor Vilsmeier and C. Schmidt to the north, and Louis Meyer to the west. Other veterans of the 5th Minnesota living nearby included Henry Brucksen (1/2 mile north), M. Willemsen (1/4 mile southeast), and Michael Herrmann (3 1/2 miles southwest).

According to the 1880 U.S. Census, the "John Blackner" household consisted of John (a 55-year-old farmer born in Bavaria), Wilhelmina (his 44-year-old wife born in Prussia), son August (19-year-old farm worker), daughter Mary (age 17), son Fred (age 13), son John (age 11), son Wilhelm (age 8), son Charles (age 6), and daughter Minna (age 8 months, born September 1879). The children were born in Minnesota between 1861 and 1879.

In an affidavit concerning the health and pension of fellow soldier Michael Herrmann dated January 24, 1889, 63-year-old John Plackner identified himself as a farmer and listed his residence as Norwood, Carver County, Minnesota.

"John M. Plackner" (veteran of Company E of the 5th Minnesota Infantry) is buried in St. John's United Church of Christ Cemetery, Benton Township, Carver County, Minnesota. His birth and death dates are listed on his gravestone as March 25, 1825, and December 6, 1904, respectively. Death announcements and obituaries were published in the Weekly Valley Herald (December 8; page 5, column 2), the Young America Eagle (December 9, page 4, and December 23, page 1), and the Waconia Patriot (December 16, page 1). Also buried there is his wife, Wilhelmine Plackner, born July 19, 1833, and died September 2, 1883, as well as a daughter, Wilhelmina A., born September 26 (or 28), 1879, and died November 17, 1880.

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