William Braden Schall

Company B, 11th Illinois Cavalry

Great-grandfather of D. Brad Schall, PC-in-C; Great-grandfather of Brad Schall and William Griggs Schall; Great-great-grandfather of Donald Braden Schall III;Great-great-great-grandfather of Christopher Braden Schall

William Braden Schall was the third generation of Schalls in America. He was born February 15, 1834 in New Derry, Pennsylvania. His grandfather homesteaded the area in 1802 and the house that he built still stands today.

Four of the Schall boys fought in the Civil War, with William’s three brothers all enlisting in 1861 when President Lincoln called for 90-day volunteers. His brother Andrew Jackson Schall was killed at the Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia. In 1867, his brother George G. Schall succumbed to wounds he had received in three battles. Their oldest brother, Absolom Schall, became Commander of the G.A.R. Post in Lawrence, Kansas and survived until 1899.

William Braden Schall moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio, thence to Kentucky, Illinois, and Iowa, before finally settling in Sumner County, Kansas in 1873, receiving a land grant signed by President Ulysses S. Grant. In 1897, he sold his farm in Sumner County and moved to Hutchinson in Reno County, Kansas, where he spent the remainder of his life.

He married Sophia Dunmire, whose brother served in the same company during the Civil War and was killed at Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1863. Together, William Braden and Sophia (Dunmire) Schall had eight children, and were very active in later Civil War organzations. He was a member of the Joseph Hooker Post No. 17 of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), while Sophia was active in the Joseph Hooker Women’s Relief Corp, both at Hutchinson, Kansas. They attended many Encampments of the Allied Orders in the Midwest until their deaths in the 1920s.

11th Illinois Volunteer Calvary

The 11th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry was organized at Peoria, Illinois by Robert Ingersoll and mustered into service on December 20, 1861. The regiment trained at Benton Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri, and saw its first action in the 3rd Division at Shiloh, Tennessee under Gen. Lew Wallace. The unit participated in the following engagements: Corinth, Booneville, Coldwater Station, Davis Bridge, Hatchie River, Grant’s Central Mississippi Campaign, Lexington, Salem Cemetery, Parker’s Cross Roads, Red Mound, Holly Springs, Bolivar, Granada, Toone Station, Vicksburg, Black River Campaign, Yazoo City, Morris Ford, Bogue, Chitto Creek, Robinson’s Mills, Natchez, Champion’s Hill, Meridian, Pearl River, Gaines Landing, Grierson’s Raid on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, and Franklin Creek. The regiment mustered out of service on September 30, 1865, having participated in 63 skirmishes and battles.

GAR History

William Braden Schall was a life-long member of Joseph Hooker Post No. 17 in Hutchinson, Kansas and his burial was handled by the GAR and the First Methodist Church. The Schall family burial plots are adjacent to the GAR plot in East Side Cemetery.