Wisnoski, ThomasWith a long void in the last half of the nineteenth century, it is hard to connect Thomas Wisnoski, Wisnowsky, Wisnonski, Wisniowski, or whatever it was, who came from Gumbonnen, Prussia, in the 1850s, to any of the families of the same name then and now. It is just as difficult to find where Thomas Wisnoski was a coachman before he enlisted at Philadelphia on December 2, 1857, as a private in Company H of the First Artillery and after he was discharged from the U.S. Army at Fort Griffin, Texas, on July 24, 1868. The original name was probably Wisniowski.
As is evident, he served in the Union Army throughout the Civil War, first in the artillery until December 2, 1862, when he was discharged at Falmouth, Virginia. He probably lingered for a short time in Washington, D.C., in October 1863 he joined Captain C. Woerner's Third Light Battery of New Jersey in the nation's capital with the rank of corporal.
He was wounded in the right leg during the second battle of Ream's Station in the siege of Petersburg, Virginia, on August 25, 1864. He went to Trenton, New Jersey, when he was discharged on June 19, 1865. One imagines that it was difficult for him to find a job, or he had an insatiable desire to wear a military uniform, because he traveled to Philadelphia and at 36 years of age he joined Company J of the Sixth U.S. Cavalry.
On July 31, 1867, instead of fighting Confederates, Lt. Col. Samuel Sturgis and four companies of the Sixth Cavalry arrived on a windswept hill in Texas, where they built Fort Griffin to protect settlers from Indian attacks, and Corporal Wisnoski remained there until July 24, 1868. At the same time, business houses of all kinds rose in a settlement near Fort Griffin and was given the same name. Soldiers and buffalo hunters, lawmen and outlaws, and notorious women grew as fast as saloons, restaurants, and dance halls sprang up to meet their needs. The soldiers ran not only Indians but many lawbreakers out of the place.
After his discharge, little is known of Wisnoski's life. In 1869, when he applied for a pension, he lived in New Braunfels, the county seat of Comal County, 30 miles northeast of San Antonio, which had a population of 2,261 persons in 1870. Wisnoski was not listed in the 1870 census. Hopefully, one day someone will find the name in these files and tell us more about him.
From: Edward Pinkowski (2009)