of the 58th
Taken from Final Report on
the Battlefield of Gettysburg (New York at Gettysburg) by the New York
Monuments Commission for the Battlefields of Gettysburg and Chattanooga. Albany,
NY: J.B. Lyon Company, 1902.
The Fifty-eighth Regiment was composed almost entirely of
men of foreign birth. Various nationalities were represented in its organization,
composed of Poles, Germans, Danes, Italians, Russians, and Frenchmen, most of
whom were recruited in New York City. It was organized by consolidating some
regiments which had failed to complete their organization.
In August, 1861, Colonel Wladimir Krzyzanowski, a Polish
officer who had seen service in the Polish war, was authorized by the Hon. Simon
Cameron, Secretary of War, at Washington, to recruit a regiment, and he succeeded
in enlisting about 400 men, whom he called the United States Rifles. Colonel
Frederick Gellman, under the same authority, recruited a partially formed regiment
named the Morgan Rifles, in honor of the Governor of the State.
The Morgan Rifles was formed largely by consolidating with
it three other bodies of recruits, known respectively as the Polish Legion,
the Gallatin Rifles and the Humboldt Yaegers. The Fifty-eighth New York Infantry
was formed October 19, 1861, by the consolidation of the United States Rifles
and Morgan Rifles, the former furnishing four companies and the latter six to
complete the minimum regimental number of companies and men. Krzyzanowski was
commissioned colonel, and Gellman lieutenant colonel. The men who composed the
regiment had been mustered into the United States service at New York City on
various dates between August 27 and November 5, 1861. The regiment left the
State November 7, 1861, and proceeded to Washington where it was assigned to
Bohlen's Brigade of Blenker's Division, a division containing three brigades,
whose regiments were composed almost wholly of men of foreign birth.
Leaving Washington on the 13th it crossed the Potomac, and
entering Virginia marched to Hunter's Chapel, where it joined the division.
It remained encamped here during the ensuing winter, excepting one month in
December and January, when it was placed on picket duty at Annandale Church.
On March 18, 1862, the Army of the Potomac broke camp, and
with it Blenker's Division. The regiment entered on a series of fatiguing marches
in bitterly inclement weather which lasted thirty-eight days, during which the
men suffered severely for lack of tents and rations. Leaving Hunter's Chapel
the division marched to Burke's Station, Fairfax Court House, Manassas Junction,
Warrenton, Salem, Paris, Millwood and Winchester, arriving at the latter place
on April 20, 1862. After resting for two weeks at Winchester, the division started,
on May 2d, under command of General Rosecrans, and after crossing the mountains
marched into West Virginia by way of Romney, and joined General Fremont's army.
On May 24, 1862, Fremont started for the Shenandoah Valley in pursuit of General
Jackson's Confederate forces.
The first experience of the Fifty-eighth under fire occurred at the Battle
of Cross Keys, Va., an engagement in which General Fremont's army encountered
a Confederate corps under command of " Stonewall" Jackson. In this
battle the regiment, under Colonel Krzyzanowski, made a bayonet charge in which
the enemy's line was driven back about one hundred yards, their gallantry on
this their first battlefield eliciting words of praise from General Bohlen in
his official report. The report of Captain Schirmer, of the light artillery,
speaks also of the " great gallantry " with which the regiment supported
his guns during one period of the battle. The loss of the Fifty-eighth at Cross
Keys was, 7 killed, 18 wounded, and 4 missing; total, 29. The Union forces after
pursuing Jackson to Port Republic went down the Shenandoah Valley to Middletown,
where Gen. Franz Sigel relieved Fremont of the command. A reorganization of
the corps followed, upon which the Fifty-eighth was assigned to the Second Brigade
of Schurz's (First) Division, and Colonel Krzyzanowski was placed in command
of the brigade.
Sigel's forces, which had been designated the First Corps,
Army of Virginia, left Middletown on July 8th, and marched via Front Royal and
Luray to Sperryville, where they encamped until the 8th of August, 1862, when
they marched to the assistance of Banks's Corps, which had encountered the ubiquitous
Jackson in the bloody battle of Cedar Mountain.
Sigel's Corps formed a part of General Pope's army, and with
it the Fifty-eighth participated in the actions of Freeman's Ford, August 22d;
Sulphur Springs, August 23d; and Waterloo Bridge, August 24th. Under command
of Maj. William Henkel the regiment was actively engaged in the Second Battle
of Manassas, August 29-30th, in which it sustained a loss of 14 killed, 32 wounded
(including those mortally so), and 11 missing; total, 57- Major Henkel was severely
wounded, but remained on the field for three hours after he was hit. The command
of the regiment devolved then on Capt. Frederick Braun.
After the Manassas campaign the Army of the Potomac marched
through Maryland on its way to Antietam, leaving the Third Corps and Sigel's
Corps — now the Eleventh — in the defences of Washington. The Eleventh
Corps — Sigel's — remained encamped near Fairfax and Centreville,
Va., until the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, when it marched
to Falmouth and back to Stafford Court House, where it went into winter quarters.
In the meantime Colonel Gellman and Major Henkel resigned their commissions
and left the regiment.
The Fifty-eighth, under command of Captain Braun, broke camp
at Stafford Court House, April 29, 1863, and marched to Chancellorsville, where
it was engaged in that disastrous battle. On the evening of May 2d, when Jackson
made his famous attack on the Eleventh Corps, he found that corps in no position
to repel a flank attack, although repeated warnings of the impending danger
had been transmitted from the Union pickets to Eleventh Corps headquarters.
When the Confederates struck the right of the Eleventh Corps, about 5:15 p.
m., they encountered enough resistance from Devens' Division to check their
swift advance long enough for Schurz's Division to change front and meet them.
Schurz's regiments held the ground for a half hour or more, and then finding
that the enemy overlapped their line on either flank fell back, stopping from
time to time to deliver their fire. The Fifty-eighth New York shared in this
fighting, during which the gallant Captain Braun, who was in command, was shot
and fell from his horse mortally wounded. Capt. Emil Koenig then assumed command.
In this fighting, on the evening of May 2d, the regiment lost 31 in killed,
wounded, and missing, out of 238 officers and men engaged. The regiment was
not engaged during the succeeding days of the battle, after which it recrossed
the Rappahannock with the army, and, marching in a rain storm, accompanied the
Eleventh Corps back to its abandoned camps at Stafford, which were speedily
reoccupied by the wet, tired and defeated troops.
Defeated, but not discouraged, a month later the men left
their camps and started northward on the Gettysburg march as bravely and cheerily
as if it were their first campaign. Leaving Stafford on June 12th, the regiment,
under command of Lieutenant Colonel Otto, marched that day to Hartwood Church;
thence to Centreville, after a long, hard day's march; thence to Goose Creek,
where it encamped a week; the Potomac was crossed at Edwards Ferry on the 25th,
the column arriving at Jefferson, Md., late that night; next day, to Middletown,
where a two days' rest was had; and thence to Ernmitsburg, Md., where the Eleventh
Corps, under command of General Howard, was resting on the morning of July 1,
1863, the day on which the battle opened at Gettysburg. At this time the Fifty-eighth
numbered 11 officers and 211 enlisted men, " present for duty equipped," as shown by the returns of the muster made the previous day.
During the night of June 30th — the night before the
First Day's Battle — Capt. Emil Koenig was ordered to take 100 men of
the regiment, and make a reconnaissance in the direction of Creagerstown, where,
as it was said, some of the enemy's cavalry had been seen. After marching about
five miles, and not seeing any signs of the enemy, Captain Koenig halted his
command and gave his men an opportunity for rest and sleep. But he soon received
a despatch ordering him to return with his detachment immediately, as the corps
had already started on a march to Gettysburg.
It was 9 a. m. on July 1st, when Koenig and his men, returning
to Emmitsburg, arrived at the abandoned camping ground of the regiment. Here
he was joined by a squad of men belonging to the Fifty-eighth who had been on
picket during the night. With this picket detail and the 100 men already mentioned,
Captain Koenig had more than half of the regiment with him. He started promptly
to overtake the corps, pushing on with all possible speed, but was unable to
do so, as he was ordered to march with the wagon train. A passing shower of
rain drenched the men and damaged the roads; but although the water came down
in torrents the shower did not extend to Gettysburg. About four miles from the
town heavy cannonading was heard, and the men, leaving the train, pressed forward
at a fast pace, arriving at Gettysburg about 3:30 p. m. After some delay in
finding the corps, the detachment rejoined the regiment and brigade on Cemetery
Hill. In the meantime the remainder of the regiment, composed of two companies,
were engaged in the battle of the First Day on the north side of the town, and
had fallen back through the streets to Cemetery Hill, with the rest of the army.
In the evening Lieutenant Colonel Otto was detailed by General Schurz, the division
commander, to act as his chief of staff, leaving the regiment under the command
of Captain Koenig.
During the battle of the Second Day, the Fifty-eighth lay
in support of the artillery on Cemetery Hill, which in the afternoon was heavily
engaged with the Confederate batteries on Benner's Hill. A perfect storm of
cannon projectiles was hurled against the position of the Eleventh Corps, the
exploding fragments dealing death and wounds throughout the ranks of every regiment.
Adjt. Louis Dietrich was struck by one of these missiles and killed, while several
others in the regiment were killed or wounded during this artillery fire. Among
the mortally wounded were Capts. Edward Antonieski and Gustave Stoldt.
At dusk Hays's Louisiana Brigade and Hoke's North Carolina
Brigade assaulted the Union position on East Cemetery Hill, and attaining a
temporary success charged up the slope and through the line of cannon in Wiedrich's
Battery, driving the gunners from their pieces. Led by General Schurz in person
the Fifty-eighth and One Hundred and Nineteenth New York hastened to the rescue
of the artillery, but the assailants were repulsed without their assistance.
As another attack was momentarily expected, the Fifty-eighth was ordered to
remain, one of its companies, under Lieutenant Schwartz, being sent out as skirmishers
to ascertain the direction in which the enemy had retired.
On the morning of the 3d the regiment moved to the right
of the road leading into Gettysburg (Baltimore Pike), and took a position behind
a stone fence on the left of Wiedrich's Battery. Lieutenant Schwartz with one
company was sent forward to take possession of the houses on the outskirts of
the town. He did so, and during the day the Confederate sharpshooters kept up
a continuous fire on these houses, during which Miss Jennie Wade, who remained
in her house, was killed while busily engaged in baking bread for the Union
soldiers close by.
The enemy having evacuated the town during the night of July
3d, Schwartz sent out ten of his men as a patrol to gain information. The citizens
by quiet signs indicated the houses in which some of the enemy might be found,
and on entering them several Confederate sharpshooters were found asleep, and
captured together with some men who were awake. The Confederate officers in
withdrawing their troops had neglected to notify these sharpshooters. Shortly
after, Lieutenant Lauber with twenty men was sent into the town, and these two
squads returned with about 200 prisoners.
The regiment joined in the pursuit of General Lee's defeated
army, and recrossing the Potomac on the 19th returned to Virginia and the scenes
of its former campaigns.
In September, 1863, the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps were ordered
to Tennessee to the assistance of General Rosecrans' army, which was shut up
in Chattanooga. The long journey was made by rail, the troops taking the cars
in Virginia, and passing through Washington, Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio,
Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. Colonel Krzyzanowski still retained command
of the brigade, while the regiment was commanded by Capt. Michael Esembaux.
While encamped near Chattanooga, about 200 of the original members re-enlisted
for the war, and receiving the customary veteran's furlough of sixty days, returned
in a body to New York City, January 26, 1864, where they received a grand reception
and ovation from the mayor, city officials, and the German citizens.
Prior to this furlough the regiment, under command of Captain
Esembaux, was present at the midnight battle of Wauhatchie, Tenn., on October
28, 1863, and at the storming of Missionary Ridge, November 23, 1863, although
suffering but slight loss.
During the years 1864 and 1865, the regiment was stationed
at Bridgeport, Tenn., and along the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad, on
garrison duty and In guarding the railroad communications of the army. The Eleventh
Corps, having been merged in the newly-formed Twentieth Corps, in April, 1864,
Colonel Krzyzanowski was left without a brigade, and returned to the command
of his regiment. In September, 1865, the war having ended, the Fifty-eighth
New York proceeded to Nashville, Tenn., where it was paid off and discharged,
October 1, 1865.
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New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs: Military History
March 27, 2006