Sigel’s Regiment

To War, Patriots! Volunteers needed for the German Sigel Regiment (26th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers)

His Excellency, the Governor, has decided to permit Major General Franz Siegel to organize an infantry regiment as he requested.  Said regiment to enlist of men of German extraction and to be known as the 26th.  The undersigned, appointed by the Governor, to enlist volunteers for this regiment, request, therefore that all patriotic Germans who are willing to serve under the hero Siegel and so do their duty as citizens of the Union, announce themselves promptly.  After August 16th, recruiting will be carried on in an entirely different way; namely by lot. 

It is understood that every recruit who joins before the 16th of August this year will receive a bounty of about $127.00.  Funds for this are already set aside in Milwaukee and further details will be given out shortly. 

Signed by recruiting officers Charles Pizzala and Henry Baetz

Recruiting office: August Richter’s Saloon (R. Klingholz’s Brick House) 8th street, Manitowoc, Wis.

This translation of the pictured recruiting poster depicts a fascinating part of Wisconsin’s Civil War history.  During the Civil War, troops were divided into corps, divisions, brigades and regiments.  This recruiting poster was for the 11th Corps, 26th Infantry Regiment, Company F.  Regiments would usually have 10 companies, designated by a letter and each consisting of 100 men from the same geographical area.    

The 26th Regiment, called Sigel’s Regiment, tells an amazing story.  Franz Sigel was active in a failed revolution in Germany in 1848, fighting for unification of the different German speaking states and increased rights for citizens.   In 1849, he became Secretary of War and Commander in Chief of the revolutionary republican government of Baden, now a part of Germany.       

Like many of the other revolutionaries, Sigel eventually emigrated to the United States where he enlisted as the Civil War loomed.  With his history as a soldier and popularity among German immigrants, Sigel was quickly promoted and placed in command of the 11th corps.  His name was used to help recruit German immigrants, such as those that would have seen this poster in August Richter’s saloon.

Company F of the 26th Wisconsin Regiment consisted almost entirely of German-born soldiers from Manitowoc County.  They came from towns like Manitowoc, Two Rivers, Gibson Rockland and Maple Grove and had such familiar surnames as Neumann, Kreuger, and Schmidt.   

These men, barely assimilated to life in the United States, gathered at taverns such as Richter’s and began the experience of a lifetime as they set off together to fight for the unity of their new homeland. 

The 26th Infantry Regiment was organized in Milwaukee and mustered into service in September of 1862. They left for Washington D.C. and served in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia.  Among others, the 26th Regiment participated in the battles of Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the Siege of Atlanta, the Siege of Savannah, and the Battle of Bentonville.  The regiment lost a total 265 men to injury and disease.