Illinois Civil War Muster and
Descriptive Rolls Database:
Bernier, Gideon - CPL - Co
B - 20 IL US INF
Residence, Joliet, Will Co, IL; Join,
13Jun1861; Age, 20; Born, Canada East
Height, 5' 8"; Hair, black; Eyes, blue;
Complexion, fair; Single; Shoemaker
Promoted to Sergeant 15Dec1861 and to
2LT 15Feb1862
Promoted to 1LT 26Dec1863
Mustered out as 1 LT 24Jun1865
Promoted to Captain 30Jun1865
Mustered out16Jul1865
Fifteen Years Ago; or The Patriotism of Will County by
George H. Woodruff, 1876:
Bernier, Gideon, Capt.
co. B, 20th Ill., died since discharge, from health impaired in Service.
Headstone Reading,
Will County Illinois USGenWeb
Necrologist Reports (© 2002
The ILGenWeb Project All Rights
Reserved):
Published Obituaries:
The Republican,
Joliet,
IL, Sat. Feb. 11, 1871,
Page 2
Died In this city, February 9th of
Consumption, Gideon Bernier, aged 27 years and 6 months
He was born in Nova
Scotia.
His parents removed to this city when he was but 4 or 5 years old, and
both
died soon after, leaving him with two sisters, and three brothers,
orphans,
without friends, and hardly able to speak the language. At the age of
11 years
he entered the blacksmith shop of Benjamin Pickles, as a helper. After
working
at that business some two or three years and finding that he was too
young to
endure the swinging of a sledge, he entered the shoe shop of George M.
Wallace,
as an apprentice.
At the breaking out of the Rebellion he
was at Peoria,
and being under 18 years of age was unable to join a Company there. He
immediately came to this city and was admitted to the Company then
being raised
by Captain Bartleson and onthe
13th of June 1861 was inducted into the Union
army as Corporal
of Company B, 20th
Regiment Ills. Vols. The Regiment went into Missouri,
and from there on the 2d of
February 1862; to Fort Henry.
Here he asked permission of Captain B. to enter the rebel lines in the
night
and get information of the plans of the rebels. It was granted and he
crept
through close to their headquarters, and from what he overheard
reported their
plan of attack on the following morning. Acting on this information,
the rebels
ware received and defeated. For this and other important services he
was on Feb. 15,
1862 promoted
from 4 Corporal to Second Lieutenant and on July 1, 1863, to
1st
Lieutenant, and was mustered out as Captain at the close of the war,
July 15, 1865. He was in 36
battles,
and was a brave officer and a strict disciplinarian. His health was
broken by
confinement in a rebel prison in Charleston
and by exposure and fatigue on the march to the sea. Soon after his
return from
the army he was married to Miss Fannie E. Munson, and moved to
Minnesota,
after residing there about a year, he returned to this city and entered
Mr.
Stafford’s shoe shop as foreman.
Last winter he purchased the shop and
stock, and with his
untiring energy and business.
Talent would have soon made his mark as a
business man. But
the seeds of disease planted in the army, developed, and he was obliged
to
abandon his business and rapidly, failed until his death on Sunday
last.
Notwithstanding his exposure in his youth to all kinds of society in
shops and
streets, and of his four years army career his habits and his life have
been as
blameless and spotless as it is possible for human life and habits to
be.
Additional Biographical
Material:
Fifteen years ago, or, The
patriotism
of WillCounty:
designed to
preserve the
names and memory of WillCounty
soldiers, Woodruff, George H.,Joliet
J. Goodspeed. 1876.
Part third. Chapter I.
Prison experiences, death record, and biographical sketches (page 504)
CAPTAIN GIDEON BERNIER
Was a native of Canada,
of French parentage. He came to this
place when eleven years of age, a mere boy, but with the energy and
purpose of
making his way in the world. But the war cloud over-shadowed his
adopted
county, when but eighteen years of age, and he at once determined to
join the
ranks of its defenders. He enlisted as private in Co. B, of the 20th
regiment, re-enlisted as a veteran, and followed its various fortunes
all
through its history. He was promoted on his own merits, to 2d, and then
1st
lieutenant, and in June, 1865, to the captaincy of his company, and was
mustered out with the regiment. He was however disabled in the service,
and
died from impaired health, consequent upon his many exposures in the
service, February 5, 1871,
at the age of
twenty-seven, leaving a widow with three children. An instance of
Bernier’s
characteristic bravery has been related in the history of McAllister’s Battery.
He was taken prisoner on that same day. At the time of his death, he
was
keeping a shoe store on Jefferson Street.
US Census Record, 1870, Joliet, IL:
Bernier
Eugene G.- male; age, 28; b. Canada; Shoemaker
" Fanny E. -
fenale; age, 28; b. Ill
"
E.S. -
male; age, 4; b. Minn
" (not named) - male; age 2, b. Ill
" (not named) - female; age, 6/12, b. Ill