Those damned Dutchmen fight like bulldogs: With the 24th Illinois at Perryville

The struggle for the colors of the all-German 24th Illinois at Perryville was an intense, hand-to-hand affair as remembered by Surgeon William Wagner. The line, thinning at each discharge of musketry, was starting to crumble away “but our center, grouped around the regimental colors, refused to give way,” Wager wrote. “I received the flag to carry it on to victory, never shall an enemy see my back” cried Joseph Broesch, the color bearer, ready to die at his post. But immediately afterwards he, too, sank down, holding the flag staff bravely aloft as the flag had already been shot to tatters.”

 “Quick as a thought, a Rebel officer sprang forward from the column of the enemy (which was only a few paces from ours) in order to conquer our palladium, but a ball from Corporal Vogelberg’s rifle laid him low at the same moment. However, the gallant corporal, too, was struck down by the deadly lead. The enemy’s flag was only 20 paces from ours and twice the bearers of it were shot down by our riflemen, but from our heroic color guard one by one sank to the dust.”

          Surgeon Wagner’s letter, written just two days after the battle, originally was published in the Illinois Staats Zeitung, but a translated version saw publication in the October 18, 1862, edition of the Chicago Tribune.

 

Surgeon William Wagner served with the 24th Illinois until the end of 1863 and later authored a regimental history in the 1870s. 

Camp near Perryville, Boyle Co., Kentucky

October 10, 1862

Editors of the Illinois Staats Zeitung,

          I am still too much exhausted today to send you much more than the list of our heavy losses and some disjointed notices of the bloody battle which we fought the day before yesterday.

          On the 1st of October, Rousseau’s, and Jackson’s (formerly Jefferson C. Davis’s) divisions under the command of Major General Alexander McCook left Louisville and slowly marched by way of Taylorville, Bloomfield, and Chaplin. On the morning of the 8th, under a burning sun and under a terrible want of water, we advanced from Mackville, a village in the strongly Union county of Washington, towards Perryville.

          Towards the afternoon, we espied the first Rebels and our left wing was soon engaged. It was not McCook’s intention, as I know from good authority, to give battle here, and it was soon apparent that we stood against an enemy vastly superior in numbers. Our two divisions were opposed by the united army corps of Hardee and Polk totaling six divisions. The 28th Brigade (ours) formed our extreme left. On the left of our regiment was the 21st Wisconsin which had recently joined our brigade and on the right was another regiment of recruits.

Surgeon William Wagner
24th Illinois

We occupied the height of a thickly wooded hill and on the first charge in solid columns by the brigade of the enemy, the two regiments of recruits broke and could not be rallied again. Major Schumacher of the 21st Wisconsin was killed at the first fire, and Colonel Sweet severely wounded; of the yet undrilled company officers, none seems to have been able to assume command of the regiment. Thus, we had to stand the full and terrible charge of four regiments.

Soon, the fire of the enemy thinned our ranks to such an extent that a retreat into a better position about 100 paces to the rear was ordered. Of the few officers the regiment had, the gallant Captain August Steffens was already disabled by a shot wound, also the intrepid first lieutenant of the Turner company [G], Peter Hand; the old Mexican soldier Captain Fred Hartman [Co. H] had been unhorsed by a Rebel bullet while riding along the line and cheering on the men. Captain Guenther’s horse had been wounded by three balls and many of our bravest men lay bleeding on the ground.

But our center, grouped around the regimental colors, refused to give way. “I received the flag to carry it on to victory, never shall an enemy see my back” cried Joseph Broesch, the color bearer, ready to die at his post. But immediately afterwards he, too, sank down, holding the flag staff bravely aloft as the flag had already been shot to tatters. Quick as a thought, a Rebel officer sprang forward from the column of the enemy (which was only a few paces from ours) in order to conquer our palladium, but a ball from Corporal [Jonathan G.]  Vogelsburg’s rifle laid him low at the same moment. However, the gallant corporal, too, was struck down by the deadly lead.

The enemy’s flag was only 20 paces from ours and twice the bearers of it were shot down by our riflemen, but from our heroic color guard one by one sank to the dust. Here Carl Kirchner received his death wound and now Holien fell to the ground with shattered arms at the moment when he again leveled his rifle against an officer who had laid his hands upon our flagstaff. Paul Kemmler, already bleeding from a wound in the arm, cried not to forsake the flag, but he, too, was felled by a second shot in the leg. During the melee, the flag staff was broken -it never should fall into the hands of the enemy. We have collected the remnants as a sacred memory to our dead brothers and we shall send them to the citizens of Chicago who once presented the flag to us. [Not clearly stated here, but the flag of the 24th Illinois was captured at this point.]

"General Rousseau made his appearance with us and, waving his plumed hat at the point of his sword, brought three cheers for the heroes of the 24th Illinois and encouraged us to stand firm," Surgeon Wagner observed. 

From our second position, we took up combat with renewed rage and from here we struck down the enemy by whole ranks who now fought without cover. Here General Rousseau made his appearance with us, and, waving his plumed hat at the point of his sword, brought three cheers for the heroes of the 24th Illinois and encouraged us to stand firm. Our left flank was now protected by the 1st Wisconsin and a battery which made terrible havoc upon the Rebels. They did no longer make a stand against our joint efforts, but retreated in wild disorder and did molest us no more.

New attacks would necessarily have been pernicious to us for our ammunition was nearly spent, and it took an hour to replenish the cartridge boxes. While thus the fire on our left wing lulled, we distinctly heard from our right that the enemy had the advantage and soon we received the terrible news that our center had been broken, and that the enemy was vigorously pushing forward. Our brigade, too, received the order to fall back half a mile.

At this critical moment, the roar of cannons and the rattling fire of small arms suddenly rose to a stunning, earth-quaking fierceness. Major General Thomas, with his division, had arrived to reinforce us. His timely arrival saved the day for us. The fresh troops threw themselves with irresistible impetuosity upon the enemy, already elated by his supposed victory, and although the Rebels still made a stout resistance, their whole line finally had to retreat. The rising moon shone upon the Union troops victorious and masters of the battlefield.

Sergeant August Bitter led Co. K during the Battle of Perryville and was later commissioned a lieutenant in recognition of his leadership on the field. 

During the night, our regiment and the 79th Pennsylvania, which had also suffered terribly, held a position about one mile to the right of our first one. Towards morning, the whole army was placed in line of battle two miles further to the right, but soon it became apparent that the enemy had further retreated and was not willing to accept another battle.

There was a church three miles behind our position which had been assigned to the medical director as a temporary hospital for the wounded who, aside from the pains caused by their wounds, had to suffer very much from the utter want of water. The transporting over the uneven road, now up a hill then down another again, added to their sufferings.

My means of transportation were very limited. Just at the beginning of the battle, my largest ambulance had been shot to pieces and thus there remained only two small ones which were kept busy the whole of the next day until dark, picking up from the hill and underbrush our poor wounded and to carry them back. Already in the night after the battle, I had tried with the assistance of my indefatigable steward Mr. Wild to reach the battlefield of our first position with some brancard [litter] bearers, but by a fierce fire, the Rebels compelled us to retire. I am sorry to say that I was not allowed to stay in the hospital to nurse the wounded, as a renewal of the struggle was momentarily expected and I had to return to the regiment. But I hope that the medical director appointed a sufficient number of surgeons to proceed to the hospital.

Colonel Geza Mihalotzy
24th Illinois

The losses of our brigade are enormous, about 900 dead and wounded in the four regiments. The 17th Kentucky had to stand guard over the ammunition and was not in the fight. In consequence of the fatiguing march from Nashville to Louisville, a great number of our men had to remain in the hospitals at Bowling Green and Louisville so that we numbered at the highest 350 bayonets. Colonel Geza Mihalotzy, also, we had to leave severely sick at the latter place along with Lieutenants Schweinfurt, Borneman, and Paull. As we had no field officers, the three oldest captains (Mauff, Gunther, and Hartmann) had to act as such, and in reality, the ten companies only had seven commissioned officers instead of 30! Sergeants Vocke, Fritze, Kaufmann, Lohmann, and Bitter acted as lieutenants. It is high time that the vacancies among the company officers are filled at last.

We have lost 24 dead, 76 wounded, and 4 missing. The number of the dead will, alas, be still higher as several of the severely wounded cannot survive. Most of the missing are probably wounded and were transported to the hospitals of other regiments.

Today, our two divisions marched over the field where the center of the enemy had stood. The sight of the battlefield was appalling. The Rebel dead lay in heaps still unburied; and to all appearances, and from the statements of the prisoners, the losses of the enemy were still higher than ours. Field officers who fought in Mexico and at Shiloh said that in those hard-contested fields, they had never heard such a terrible fire by column.

We have now advanced again a few miles and stand in line of battle. The heat of the last few days has been followed by a cold, piercing rain and as we are without tents, we must expect to suffer much from the inclemency of the weather. I must close for today.

P.S. Ten of our men who had been taken prisoners returned today from Harrodsburg. They say they were brought before General Hardee who asked them the name of the regiment that had fought so gallantly on the hill. When he heard that it was the German 24th Illinois, he said, “I though it. Those damned Dutchmen fight like bulldogs.” The paroled prisoners say that Kirby Smith joined Bragg yesterday, so we may prepare for other battles.

In a later account, Surgeon Wagner provided a list of the company commanders of the 24th Illinois at Perryville. Its interesting to note that eventually 5 of the 10 companies were led by non-commissioned officers!

Acting Field officers:

Captain August Mauff, acting colonel

Captain George A. Guenther, acting lieutenant colonel

Captain Frederick Hartman, acting major

Company Commanders:

Co. A: Sergeant Charles Fritze

Co. B: First Lieutenant Andrew Jacobi

Co. C: First Lieutenant William Blanke, Sergeant Edward Lohmann

Co. D: Sergeant Major William Vocke

Co. E: First Lieutenant Arthur Erbe

Co. F: Second Lieutenant Hugo Gerhardt

Co. G: First Lieutenant Peter Hand (WIA)

Co. H: Sergeant Moritz Kaufmann

Co. I: Captain August Steffens (WIA)

Co. K: Sergeant August Bitter

Source:

Letter from Surgeon William Wagner, 24th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Chicago Tribune (Illinois), October 18, 1862, pg. 2

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