Alexander Schimmelfennig - Civil War

Civil War

After his efforts with Carl Schurz to raise an all-German cavalry regiment failed (due to Schurz's appointment by President Abraham Lincoln to be his Minister to Spain), Schimmelfennig attempted to raise an all-German regiment in Philadelphia. When he fell ill, others strove to take over control of this new regiment, but they ultimately failed thanks to the efforts of Schimmelfennig's friends. The regiment, consisting of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Germans, was called the 1st German Regiment (of Pennsylvania) and would later be designated the 74th Pennsylvania Infantry

At the time of the Civil War, there was strong nativist sentiment in the Union. This sentiment was especially directed on the German troops of the XI Corps, who engaged in a mass retreat after they were flanked by Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville. The mostly German XI Corps took the brunt of the scorn that poured forth from the press. Among the critics was the corps commander Oliver Otis Howard, who sought a scapegoat for his own mistakes. During the battle, Schimmelfennig commanded a brigade in the 3rd Division of the XI Corps.

At the subsequent Battle of Gettysburg, Schimmelfennig commanded a brigade in fellow Forty-Eighter-turned-major general Carl Schurz's 3rd Division of the XI Corps. For a short time, Schimmelfennig took command of the 3rd Division when Schurz briefly commanded the corps. His brigade suffered greatly, mostly due to a high prisoner rate as hundreds of men became confused in the narrow streets of Gettysburg and ended up being captured by oncoming Confederates. It and Colonel Charles Coster's brigade did their best to cover the retreat of the rest of the XI Corps, but they soon became disorganized and fled too. During the retreat through the town, Schimmelfennig briefly hid in a culvert on Baltimore Street, and then stayed for several days in a shed on the Anna Garlach property, avoiding capture. (There is a marker outside the Garlach house commemorating this event.) After the battle, he rejoined the corps, much to the pleasure of the troops who thought he was dead. However, Schimmelfennig's story was seized upon by the press and was promulgated as yet another example of German cowardice.

After the Battle of Gettysburg, from mid-July until early August 1863, Schimmelfennig was moved to command a brigade in 1st Division, XI Corps. He and his brigade were reassigned to the Southern District of the Department of the South, in the Carolinas, serving on Folly Island. He commanded the District of Charleston, then part of the X Corps during Sherman's March to the Sea. After being sidelined for some time by a bout with malaria, Schimmelfennig had the honor of accepting Charleston's surrender on February 18, 1865. His headquarters was the Miles Brewton House. During his time of service in the swamps about Charleston, he contracted a virulent form of tuberculosis that ultimately led to his death in Wernersville, Pennsylvania, where he had visited a mineral springs sanatorium in an effort to find a cure.

Schimmelfennig is buried in Reading, Pennsylvania, in the Charles Evans Cemetery, not far from fellow Union general David McMurtrie Gregg.