Civil War Memorial Day at Calvary Cemetery
Monday, May 25, will be the 100th consecutive year that the Camp and Auxiliary have commemorated Memorial Day at Calvary Cemetery in Milwaukee.
Auxiliary Bishop James T. Schuerman will celebrate an outdoor Roman Catholic Mass at 10 a.m., and the Civil War event immediately follows, at about 11 a.m. Schuerman and others will fire the cannon of Cushing’s Battery. The 1st Brigade Band will perform at each part of the event, playing on vintage Civil War instruments.
The event is held by C.K. Pier Badger Camp #1, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, and Auxiliary 4. This year is the 125th anniversary of formation of the Camp, which is part of Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War – the congressionally chartered successor to the Grand Army of the Republic, the soldiers’ own organization. Auxiliary 4 began a few years later, and both groups are leading Milwaukee patriotic institutions.
Camp records show that its earliest Memorial Day commemoration at Calvary was in 1927, but older records are spotty – the group may held such honors there even earlier.
Schuerman was named Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee by Pope Francis in 2017.
The keynote speaker will be Lt. Col. Maria Garcia, Wisconsin Army National Guard. Garcia recently stepped down as commander of the 732nd Combat Support Sustainment Battalion. She was deployed with the unit from November 2024 to September 2025 in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, in Iraq and Syria. She has served in uniform for more than 26 years, including the Florida Army National Guard and the U.S. Marine Corps.
The event also features an address by Abraham Lincoln, and rifle salutes by the Iron Brigade Guard and American Legion Police Post # 415, along with a soldier escort of Lincoln that includes the 29th Colored Infantry, Co. F. Crowd members will be asked to decorate a veteran’s grave with the U.S. flag as they leave.
More than 400 Civil War veterans are buried at Calvary, including two Medal of Honor recipients. Research continues to find more almost every month.
In case of rain, the ceremony will be inside original St. Vincent Pallotti Church, across the street from Calvary at 5478 W. Bluemound Road.
