Schimmelpfennig, Alexander b.July 20, 1824; Lithauen, Prussia d. September 5, 1865;Wernersville, Pennsylvania
Eminent German American general in the American Civil War. During the Schleswig-Holstein war and later the revolution in Baden, Schimmelpfennig served as an engineer in the Prussian army.
He immigrated to the United States in 1853 and settled in Philadelphia. He earned a living as an engineer and published a book that anticipated the Crimean War. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Schimmelpfennig was working as a draftsman for the War Department in Washington, D.C., and following the attack of Fort Sumter and Abraham Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers to subdue the rebellion, he offered his services to the government and was promoted to brigadier general.In September 1861 Schimmelpfennig was mustered into service as the colonel of the 74th Pennsylvania Infantry. Due to an injury suffered when his horse fell on him and a case of smallpox, Schimmelpfennig missed the important military engagements in Virginia until the Battle of Second Manassas, which took place at the end of August 1862. At Second Manassas he commanded the 1st Brigade of Carl Schurz’s division of Franz Sigel’s corps due to the recent death of General Henry Bohlen.
Following Second Manassas, Schimmelpfennig was promoted to the rank of brigadier general before he next saw action at Chancellorsville in May 1863. At Chan- cellorsville, his unit was stationed on the Union right as part of Oliver O. Howard’s XI Corps when it was attacked in the early evening by Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s entire corps. The entire corps was taken by surprise and the resulting rout went far in damaging the reputations of both Howard and Schim- melpfennig. Two months later and now serving at the rank of brigadier general, Schimmelpfennig was still in command of Schurz’s division, which was positioned north of Gettysburg to meet Confederate attacks on July 1, 1863.
By late afternoon, the XI Corps was in full retreat through the town of Gettysburg to the high ground of Cemetery Hill. Not unlike others, Schim- melpfennig was cut off from his unit as Confederates continued their advance through town; he failed to link up with the rest of the Union army and sat out the rest of the battle behind a woodpile in the garden of a private residence.Following the Battle of Gettysburg and not wishing to serve with the 11th Corps, Schimmelpfennig requested a transfer to South Carolina. His request was granted, but due to a case of malaria, he remained away from his new command for an extended period of time. Schimmelpfennig was present in Charleston, South Carolina, on February 18, 1865, to witness the official transfer of authority; he served as the military commander of the city until the beginning of April 1865. While in Charleston, Schimmelpfennig contracted tuberculosis and was granted sick leave for thirty days. Schimmelpfennig traveled to Living Springs Water Cure Establishment in Wernersville, Pennsylvania, and convalesced until he died on September 5, 1865.
Kevin M. Levin
See also 82nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment; Forty-Eighters; Schurz, Carl; Sigel, Franz
References and Further Reading
McPherson, James. Battle Cry of Freedom. New York: Oxford University, 1998.
Sears, Stephen. Gettysburg. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2003.