Come my dear husband, this is no place for us: A Perryville Story

The 79th Pennsylvania, part of Colonel John Starkweather’s brigade, was marching into action at the Battle of Perryville side by side with the 1st Wisconsin. 

    “As the solid, serried ranks of glistening bayonets and brave men moved onward with all the regularity and precision of a dress parade, and with the steadiness of veteran troops, the two regiments involuntarily paid just tribute to one another by sending up long and loud cheers,” one veteran recalled. “It was a grand sight! There was no flinching- not a man! Every man stood his ground firmly and manfully.”

          But out of the eyesight of our correspondent, one man did flinch, indeed, making a conscious decision to flee the battlefield. He can perhaps be forgiven this decision because as John D. Kautz marched onto the battlefield at Perryville, his German-born wife Barbara and infant son Christian accompanied him. It’s an interesting if rather convoluted story.

Reunion card for the first regimental reunion for the 79th Pennsylvania Volunteers, held on October 8, 1877 at the Fulton Opera House in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This date marked the 15th anniversary of the regiment's first engagement, the Battle of Perryville.
(Image courtesy of Lancaster at War) 

          John D. Kautz was born April 21, 1839, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. By the outbreak of the war, he had married Catherine Barbara Dussinger and was working a farm laborer. In January 1862, the couple had their first son (and only child) Christian D. Kautz. On September 5, 1862, John enlisted as a private in Co. H of the 79th Pennsylvania Infantry. The regiment was one of the few Pennsylvania regiments assigned to the western theater, and shortly after enlistment, John set off to join the regiment. What was very unusual is that both Barbara and Christian accompanied him as he went off to war.

“They journeyed to Pittsburgh by rail, and from thence to Louisville, Kentucky, by steamboat,” stated Barbara’s obituary. “There they joined the regiment, and Mrs. Kautz and the baby accompanied it from there in the baggage wagons. The young wife made herself useful about the camp and was finally dubbed the "Daughter of the Regiment." [Other reports stated she was called the “Mother of the Regiment,” but given her young age (she was only 24), Daughter probably is more correct. Reportedly, Barbara took up washing for Colonel Henry A. Hambright who was not only aware of this highly usual arrangement, but apparently condoned it.]

Colonel Henry A. Hambright
79th Pennsylvania

“She was with the 79th at the Battle of Perryville, and then a funny incident happened,” the obituary continued. Frightened by the noise and ferocity of the battle Barbara “approached her husband and cried to him in German, "Come, my dear husband, this is no place for us. Let us go home." [In German, "Komm, mein lieber Mann, das ist kein Ort für uns. Lass uns nach Hause gehen."] "And home they started, at once, soon procuring a rudely made little wagon for the baby.” The young family reportedly made the 600-mile journey back to Lancaster, Pennsylvania entirely on foot. All the while, John Kautz had been listed as missing in action as no one from his regiment had seen him since the battle. In truth, he had gone AWOL and once he returned to Lancaster, that fact became known to the army and he became a wanted man.

Barbara Kautz’s obituary simply states that her husband “returned to the regiment and served “bravely and with credit,” but the story isn’t so neat and clean. It was the summer of 1863 before authorities caught up with John Kautz and sent him back to rejoin his regiment, now poised to march into Georgia as part of General William S. Rosecrans’ campaign to take Chattanooga, Tennessee. Kautz was court martialed for being absent nearly a year without leave, but the court acquitted him, stating that Kautz was “always feeble-minded” and “has a degree of idiocy. He would have been discharged, but we had marching orders.” Kautz did not accompany the regiment into what became the Battle of Chickamauga but was instead sent back to a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee.

National colors of the 79th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Note that the fight at Perryville was called "Chaplin Hills," a popular early name for the battle. 

Kautz bounced around the rear areas of the Army of the Cumberland for the rest of the war, transferring into the 78th Pennsylvania at one point but going AWOL again from October 17, 1864, to April 25 of the following year (he later claimed ill health). He took advantage of a general amnesty and procured an honorable discharge on July 12, 1865, mustering out with the 79th Pennsylvania although in all honesty he had scarcely served more than a few months in its ranks. His final pay roll record states that his account was never settled and that he was absent “by virtue of General Order No. 101 of the War Department.”

Kautz returned to his family near Lancaster and resumed his work as a farm laborer. In 1880, he applied for a pension and learned that the desertion charge (from 1864) was still on the books. This took several years to clear up, but by 1887, Kautz had not only been granted a pension, but had gained membership in Thomas Post No. 84, Grand Army of the Republic. Barbara, too, joined the Women’s Relief Corps of the G.A.R. and enjoyed her notoriety as “Daughter of the Regiment” at the 79th Pennsylvania reunions that the couple attended each October with Christian in tow, presumably no longer in a "rudely-made little wagon." At one such event, a photograph was made of the Kautz family, a souvenir of this strange little story of the Battle of Perryville. 

Sources:

Letter from “Occasional,” 79th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Lancaster Daily Inquirer (Pennsylvania), October 20, 1862, pg. 2

Find-A-Grave Memorial for John D. Kautz

Obituaries for Barbara Katherine (Dussinger) Kautz, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal (Pennsylvania), May 16, 1904, pg. 6; also, Lancaster New Era (Pennsylvania), May 16, 1904, pg. 2


Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on their way to
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true warrior, for then comes the harvest of gain.
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of how Confederate jacke
Read more

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Maryland, performing provost duty at Cumberlan
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on securing all the Enfi
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my
Read more

Federal Arms in the Stones River Campaign

Image
  T he following list, constructed after many years of research, lists unit by unit which type of weapons were carried by the Army of the Cumberland during the Stones River campaign. A number of sources were consulted including state ordnance reports, Federal quarterly ordnance reports (thank you Research Arsenal ), Ken Baumann’s Arming the Suckers, regimental histories and memoirs, captured ordnance reports, and consultation with knowledgeable experts in the field of firearms. Some of this information has been shared on the blog before in “ Rosy’s Heavy Metal: Artillery of the Army of the Cumberland ” or “ Shoulder Arms: How Sheridan’s and Davis’s Divisions Were Armed at Stones River ” but this is the first time the army as a whole has been presented. The overall conclusion I drew from looking at this data is that the Army of the Cumberland in December 1862 was an organization in the midst of transformation as far as arms. Many of the regiments still retained their original issue
Read more

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm at the outset of the
Read more

Revisiting Snodgrass Hill: Memories of a 21st Ohio Officer

Image
Captain Isaac Cusac, Co. G, 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry proudly displaying his rank as captain in an image likely dating from early 1863. One of his shoulder straps was shot off in the final stages of the 21st Ohio's fight atop Snodgrass Hill on September 20, 1863. Cusac brought it back to Chickamauga 50 years later.  I n September 1913, 83-year-old Isaac Cusac, a retired Presbyterian minister from the little town of McComb, Ohio, returned to Chattanooga to attend the national G.A.R. encampment. The former captain of the 21 st Ohio returned to Snodgrass Hill on the old Chickamauga battlefield on the 50 th anniversary of the battle carrying with him a precious relic of his wartime experiences. “He carried with him there an epaulet that was shot from his shoulder at the battle,” it was reported. “The bullet clipped off the epaulet and then struck him on the left hand, injuring two fingers.”           The flood of memories as he walked the grounds must have been overwhelming. The f
Read more