I took the liberty of looking up Wilhelm or William Deisner in the 1860 Census, his military service record in the online Missouri State Archives, and the list of officers of his company (Company C, 17th EMM) just to see if I can put together some pieces for you.

His service card in the State of Missouri, Secretary of State's Office, Missouri State Archives does not tell us much, but does give some clues. It states that Private William Deisner at age 43 enrolled 2 September 1862 as required by civil and military law (General Orders Number 19 of the Dept. of the Missouri and backed up by the provisional governor and General Assembly) in Captain Wilson's Company C, 17th EMM in St. Louis. He was mustered into service in this unit the same day by a man named L. T. Hatch (or possibly a Lieutenant Hatch). The only other remark on Deisner's service card states "From muster-in roll, only roll of above company on file in this office." I have seen this remark on many Enrolled Missouri Militia members records. Basically, it means that other than this militiaman being on the unit roll, there is no other record kept by the Missouri Adjutant General's Officer on this soldier. That does not mean to imply that this individual failed in his duty or was a "no show," or anything else except that office had no other record of military service on the man.

I looked up the officer roster for Company C, 17th EMM in the Missouri Adjutant General's Annual Report for the Year 1863. This is only a list of the officers' names with some columnar entries telling when they filled their position and sometimes a remark for what became of that individual officer. This tells me that the first commander of Company C, Captain William C. Wilson assumed his command on 2 September 1862, but was promoted 23 September 1862 to the position of regimental adjutant (personnel officer on the regimental staff of the 17th EMM). This caused the Company C first lieutenant, Edward Ehrlich, to be promoted to Company C captain on 21 October 1862, which caused the company second lieutenant, Charles W. Deil, to stay where he was. Instead, the 17th EMM promoted a man from the ranks perhaps of Company C, George Stinniger, to be the new first lieutenant ahead of Second Lieutenant Deil. There was no further information about Company C in that source. There is almost no remark in this source about the 17th EMM Regiment during 1863, and nothing at all after that year. I am not sure, but it looks to me as though the EMM apparatus at state level discontinued the 17th regiment for unknown reasons and never called upon it after they had it organized in the autumn of 1862 at the beginning of the entire EMM program.

I next looked up Wilhelm Deisner and his company officers in the 1860 census and of the ones I was able to locate in that source I concluded that Company C originated in the 2nd Ward of the City of St. Louis, probably close to the riverfront. At least, I did find Wilhelm Deisner and his second company commander, Edmund Ehrlich, living in the 2nd Ward. The riverfront portion of the 2nd Ward was located nroth of Park Avenue, south of Geyer Street, and east of Broadway Bouleward with the Mississippi Riverfront as the eastern boundary. In modern day terms, this is south of the St. Louis Arch and near the closed down McArthur Bridge. This census says of Wilhelm Deisner of the 2nd Ward that he was in 1860 40 years old, born in Germany, occupation as a baker on a steamboat with family Elise, age 32, born Germany with three children all born in St. Louis: Amelia, age 7, Wilhelm age 3 and six months, and Friedrich age one and 4 months. Among the occupations of his neighbors were cabin boy on a steamboat, steward on a steamboat, boat deckhand, shoemaker, grocer, cattle dealer, tailor, foundry worker, carpenter, blacksmith, and bricklayer apprentice. These occupations on those three pages of census taker's book tell me that this neighborhood is close to the riverfront about the location I gave above. Also, in the 2nd Ward I found a census record not far away of the Company C second captain Edmund Ehrlich, born Austria, age 28, storekeeper who lived above the flour store with other men in a German neighborhood, the same as Deisner.

I failed to find Wilson or Deal (or Diel or Deil or Dill) in the 1860 census, but I believe I located George Stinniger--the first lieutenant. I found 23-yer-old, Pennsylvania-born, teacher, George Stinnager and his small family living in Moreau Township of west Cole County, MO in the middle of the state. I personally know there were a number of southern sympathizers living in this neighborhood, based on my research for somebody else, so I conclude that Yankee-born Stinnager moved with his little family to St. Louis for safety where he enrolled in the 17th EMM in September 1862. This seems to fit, as I find it logical that members of Company C would be impressed with a schoolteacher to name him as one of their officers. By the way, officers in the EMM were usually voted to that position by the men in the manner that the older militia of the colonial period elected their officers. There were other similarities between the EMM and earlier colonial militias, too.

That is really all I could find, including putting together the few pieces I found. Sorry I couldn't do more for you. Any questions?

Bruce Nichols