Family Lineage · 1732 to 1865
Ancestral Tree
From a German immigrant who arrived in 1732 to twenty-three Union soldiers — the Wallick family lineage across five generations.
The Hans Michael Walck / Wallick Family
All twenty-three soldiers documented on this site are descendants of Hans Michael Walck/Wallick, a German immigrant who came to America in 1732. Over the five generations between his arrival and the outbreak of the Civil War, his descendants spread from Pennsylvania westward into Ohio and Indiana, carrying the family name — and eventually, their muskets — across the growing nation.
The genealogical research underlying these biographies was conducted primarily by Jeff Wallick of Los Angeles, California, whose work on the Hans Michael Walck/Wallick family lineage proved invaluable. Additional research was contributed by Scott Alan Wallick, administrator of the Wallick Family Website.
The National Park Service has an exhaustive index of over 6.3 million names in their Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System. Fifty Wallicks are included in that database. The biographies presented here concentrate on only twenty-three soldiers who are definitely descendants of Hans Michael Walck/Wallick. All of these soldiers served in the Union Army. To date, there are no Wallicks from this family known to have served in the Confederate Army.
Direct Line of Descent
The Family Line
Generation I · Arrived in America 1732
Hans Michael Walck / Wallick
Spouse: Esther
German immigrant who arrived in America in 1732. The patriarch of the American Wallick family line. All twenty-three soldiers documented on this site are his descendants. He settled in Pennsylvania, where the family name was spelled variously as Walck, Wallick, and Wallach in early records.
Generation II
Johannes Wallick
Son of Hans Michael and Esther Wallick. The family continued to grow in Pennsylvania before the westward migration began in earnest in the next generation.
Generation III
“Peru” Benjamin Wallick
Son of Johannes. Father of Benjamin Jr. The family branch that eventually settled in Peru, Miami County, Indiana, producing the largest single concentration of Wallick soldiers in the Civil War.
Generation IV — Indiana Branch
Benjamin Wallick Jr.
1804–1884 · Spouse: Elizabeth (Eliza)
Born and raised in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. Moved his family to Miami County, Indiana in 1841. Built and operated a successful sawmill on Little Pipe Creek. Father of Captain William Wallick, Corporal Charles F. Wallick, and John Wesley Wallick — three brothers who all served in the Union Army. Benjamin himself was briefly mustered into Federal service in the summer of 1863 during Morgan’s Raid.
Generation V — The Civil War Generation
Twenty-Three Wallick Soldiers
The sons and grandsons of Benjamin Jr. and his cousins across the Indiana and Ohio branches. They served in regiments from Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas — from the first shots of the war in 1861 to the Grand Review in Washington in May 1865.
A Note on Naming
There are numerous Michaels in the lineage of the Wallick family and to help identify them the county or location where they are buried will preface the name. For instance, “Bedford County” Michael (1740–1823) is buried in Bedford County, Pennsylvania; “Bunker Hill” Michael (1775–1845) is buried in Bunker Hill Cemetery, Winfield, OH; and one of our soldiers, “Daviess County” Michael Wallick (1817–1905), is buried in Daviess County, Indiana. The same convention is used with other family members who share identical given names.
Family Branches
Soldiers by Family Branch
Benjamin Jr. Branch — Peru, Indiana
No other single Wallick family contributed more manpower to the war effort than Benjamin Wallick Jr.'s family of Peru, Miami County, Indiana. Three of his sons served — Captain William, Corporal Charles F., and John Wesley — along with nephews and cousins.
Captain William Wallick
51st Indiana Infantry
Corporal Charles F. Wallick
87th Indiana Infantry
John Wesley Wallick
87th & 151st Indiana Infantry
Wesley Wallick
109th & 138th Indiana Infantry
William F.M. Wallick
13th, 109th & 151st Indiana Infantry
Benjamin Jr. Wallick
109th Indiana Infantry
Christopher Wallick
109th Indiana Infantry
Jeremiah Wallick
109th Indiana Infantry
Benjamin Wallick
130th Ohio National Guard
Ohio Branch
Wallick descendants who remained in Ohio and served in Ohio regiments. This branch produced the largest number of Roll of Honor soldiers — those who gave their lives in service.
Isaiah Wallick
110th Illinois Infantry
Levi Wallick
44th Ohio Infantry
Henry M. Wallick
67th Ohio Infantry
Elias Wallick
126th Ohio Infantry
Edward Wallick
126th Ohio Infantry
Charles P. Wallick
16th Ohio Infantry
William D. Wallick
8th Ohio Infantry
Elijah Wallick
102nd Ohio Infantry
David H. Wallick
102nd Ohio Infantry
Daniel Wallick
20th Ohio Infantry
David Wallick
Ohio Infantry
Indiana — Daviess County Branch
The Daviess County branch of the family, settled in southwestern Indiana. Michael Wallick served in the celebrated 27th Indiana Infantry.
Kansas Branch
A branch of the family that migrated to Kansas before the war. Frank Wallack (Benjamin Franklin Wallick) served from Atchison County, Kansas.
Pennsylvania Branch
Wallick descendants who served from Pennsylvania. Washington Wallick enlisted in Philadelphia and served in the 1st California Infantry / 71st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.
Iowa Branch
Abraham Wallick is the only Wallick soldier known to have served in an Iowa regiment — the 22nd Iowa Infantry.
Historical Context
Understanding Civil War Army Unit Sizes
It will be helpful when reading these biographies to have an understanding of army unit sizes during the Civil War. Theoretically, a company at full strength was 100 men, a regiment 1,000, a brigade 4,000, a division 12,000, and a corps anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 men.
However, those numbers rarely reflected the actual size of Civil War units. Most regiments operated between forty to sixty percent of optimum size once they were in the field. Disease, desertions, and battle casualties depleted the ranks quickly, so it would not be unusual during the war for a company to consist of just 50 men, a regiment 300 or less, a brigade 2,000, a division 4,000 to 6,000, and a corps 12,000 to 15,000 men. Charles F. Wallick’s regiment, the 87th Indiana Infantry, left South Bend in August of 1862 with 945 men. Three years later, at the time they were discharged, only 313 of the original members answered the last roll call — Charles being one of them.