26-05-2025
Dedication ceremony takes place for last Union soldier buried in Westmoreland County
John E. Wiegel was the last Union veteran from the Civil War to be laid to rest in Westmoreland County.
While no one who was gathered at Irwin Union Cemetery on Memorial Day ever met Private John E. Wiegel of the 189th Ohio Volunteers, the love and respect for the last living Union soldier from Westmoreland County were on full display, some 79 years after his passing.
William Bray, who commands the Greensburg chapter of Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Captain George A. Cribbs Camp #276, says that his organization, both locally and nationally, aims to pay tribute to all Union veterans through ceremonies like this.
Their goal is to go county by county throughout the United States and lay wreaths at the graves of the last Union veterans who died.
"It's a great honor to have everybody come out and pay homage to Civil War veterans because you figure, the war has been over for 160 years, a lot of people have forgotten the history of the Civil War and what it was for," said Bray.
Private John Ernest Wiegel was 18 when he volunteered to fight for the North in early March 1865. His unit saw just a few months of action near Huntsville, Alabama, before the war ended, and they were mustered out in September of that year.
In his obituary, written by Wiegel before his death, he stated that he had five brothers and that all of them served in the war and all returned safely home from the conflict.
Upon returning home to Irwin, it is known that Wiegel became the borough's tax collector for many years. He retired to Florida in 1924 and died in 1946 at 99.
Despite his longevity, however, Kimberly Herman said she had never heard of her great-great-great-great-grandfather, at least not until the Sons of Union Veterans reached out to her a few weeks ago about this tribute.
"My dad used to talk, according to my mom, about John all the time," said Herman. "But I don't recall personally any stories, so this was all brand new to me and awesome."
Herman, a social studies and civics teacher, says she wants to know more about Wiegel and his service, for herself and her children.
Despite knowing a few things about Wiegel right now, Herman says that she and her family are excited to keep the legacy of this gone-but-not-forgotten relative alive for generations to come.
