With the 3rd Wisconsin Badgers

Willard was a member of Co. G at the age of twenty. He served continuously until July 1, 1864. In those three years, he served as a nurse in a Frederick hospital; marched up and down the Shenandoah Valley; was wounded in the cornfield at Antietam; returned to his unit just in time to take part in Chancellorsville; helped quell draft riots in New York City; and was present for Sherman's Georgia campaign. He was again wounded in Dallas, Georgia, in May 1864 just months before he was mustered out.