Finding aid for the Franz Sigel Papers


Title:
Franz Sigel Papers
Repository:
Western Reserve Historical Society
Phone: 216-721-5722
http://www.wrhs.org
Creator:
Sigel, Franz
Dates:
1858-1902
Quantity:
5.60 linear feet (13 containers and 4 bound volumes)
Abstract:
Franz Sigel (1824-1902) was an Army officer and editor. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The collection consists of correspondence, orders, dispatches, reports, notes, memoranda, maps, and other papers dealing almost exclusively with Sigel's activities as a brigadier general and major general from April 1861 to July 1864. Includes unpublished narratives of Sigel's campaigns, a few personal letters, and others involving Sigel's enlistment of volunteers in St. Louis early in 1861.
Identification:
MS 3123
Location:
closed stacks
Language:
The records are in English, German and French

Biography of Franz Sigel

Franz Sigel was born on November 18, 1824 in Sinsheim, Baden, Germany. He graduated from the Karlsruhe Military Academy in 1843. From 1848-1849, he led revolutionary armies overthrowing the Grand Duke of Baden. He was defeated by the Prussians, and fled to Switzerland. In 1851 Sigel moved to England, and he moved to New York, New York, in 1852 where he taught school and served in the state militia. He married Elsie Dulon, daughter of Rudolph Dulon, founder of the earliest German-American school in the United States. In 1857 he became the Director of Schools in St. Louis, Missouri, and he also taught in the German-American Institution there.

In April 1861, at the outbreak of the American Civil War, Ligel organized the 3rd Missouri Volunteers and was elected Colonel. On May 17, 1861 he became Brigadier General of Volunteers, 2nd Missouri Brigade under General Lyon in the Missouri Campaign. Sigel saw battle on July 5, 1861 at the Battle of Carthage and on August 10, 1861 at the Battle of Wilson's Creek. On September 23, 1861, he was placed in command of the 3rd Division, Army of the West, under Union General Fremont.

On March 21, 1862, Franz Sigel was commissioned Major General of Volunteers, Army of the West. On March 8, 1862, Sigel personally led the Union artillery in the defeat of Confederate Major General Earl Van Dorn at the Battle of Pea Ridge.

On May 31, 1862, he was in command of the Mountain Department, Harpers Ferry, under General Fremont. He was placed in command of the I Crops, Army of Virginia, under General Pope on June 29, 1862. He saw battle in August 1862 at the Battle of Cedar Mountain and the Manassas Campaign (Battles of Groveton, 2nd Bull Run, and Chantilly). He was placed in command of the XI Corps, Army of the Potomac, under General McClellan and General Hooker on September 20, 1862.

Sigel took a leave of absence due to illness in February 1863, and upon returning to duty on July 2 was placed in command of the Department of the Susquehanna at Harrisburg.

Sigel was placed in command of the Department of West Virginia on February 29, 1864 and saw battle in the Shenandoah Campaign at at the Battle of new Market on May 15, 1864. He was replaced by General Hunter on May 29 and assigned to Reserve Division at Harper's Ferry. He was involved in Early's Raid in July of 1864, and was granted another leave of absence in August. Sigel resigned his commission in May 1865.

From 1865-1867, Franz Sigel was the Editor of the Baltimore Wecker. He became the publisher of the New York Deutsches Volksblatt in 1867, and editor of the New York Monthly in 1897. Franz Sigel died in New York City on August 21, 1902.

Scope and Content

The Franz Sigel Papers, 1858-1902 and undated, related almost entirely with Sigel's career as Brigadier and Major General in the Union Army between 1861-1864. They include originals and copies of letters, dispatches, reports, special and other orders, rosters, telegrams, and the like sent and received in the daily activity of an Army command. There are a few personal letters, maps drawn by Sigel, notes on tactics, and extensive memoranda covering the engagements in which he took part. There are also newspaper clippings. Much of the material is in German and a very little in French.

This collection will be useful to researchers studying the history of the American Civil War and the activities of Franz Sigel from 1861-1864, particularly daily command decisions and operations. Those studying the battles in which Franz Sigel participated will find this collection useful. Those studying the history of German immigrant activities in the Civil War, and Sigel's involvement in the recruitment of German immigrants to the Union cause will find this collection useful. Sigel's command of the Mountain Department of West Virginia and the Department of the Susquehanna is well documented in the collection. The collection also documents the Battle of Cedar Mountain, the Manassa Campaign, the Shenandoah Campaign, and the Battle of New Market. The collection includes orders, dispatches, and notes pertaining to Nathaniel P. Banks, Ambrose E. Burnside, John C. Fremont, Ulysses S. Grant, Samuel P. Heintzelman, Philip Kearney, B. F. Kelley, George B. McClellan, Irvin McDowell, John Pope, Fitz-John Porter, and Earl Van Dorn.

Statement of Arrangement

The collection is arranged in five series.
Series I: Military Papers relates almost entirely to the detailed operation of the various headquarters under Sigel's command. There are a few personal letters from the Civil War era and the post-war era.
Series I is arranged chronologically.
Series II: Memoranda and Notes on Campaigns has been kpet in the units in which it was received, which usually reflects the use Sigel made of it in his post-war writing career.
Series III: Special Subject File is arranged by document type.
Series IV: Bound Volumes is arranged by document type.
Series V: Scrapbooks is arranged chronologically.

Restrictions on Access

None.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Generals -- United States -- Correspondence.
German Americans.
Sigel, Franz, 1824-1902.
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives.
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Sources.

Preferred Citation

[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 3123 Franz Sigel Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquisition Information

The Franz Sigel Papers were purchased from Elsie Dulon Sigel, widow of Franz Sigel, by William Pendleton Palmer in 1922. Palmer donated the papers to the Western Reserve Historical Society that same year.

Processing Information

Processed by John J. Horton in 1960.


Detailed Description of The Collection



Series I: Military Papers, 1861-1901

Box 1
Military papers, including papers that relate to Sigel's recruitment of German volunteers, campaigns in Missouri, command of the Mountain Department in West Virginia, transfer to I Corps, Army of Virginia, and the Battle of Cedar Mountain, March 1861-August 1862




Box 2
Military papers, including papers that relate to the Manassas Campaign, the 2nd Battle of Bull Run, Sigel's temporary retirement due to ill health, and his command of the Susquehanna Department, August 1862-February 1864




Box 2 / Folder 3
Includes a copy of a letter to President Lincoln, "The Real Point of Attack," and holograph from Governor Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, 1863




Box 3-5
Military papers, including very detailed material relating to the Department of West Virginia, the Shenandoah Campaign, the Battle of New Market, Sigel's minor commands, his resignation, and his post-war activities (includes veterans' affairs activities), March 1864-May 1901





Series II: Memoranda and Notes on Campaigns, undated

Box 6 / Folder 1
Manassas Campaign, reports and notes on Battles of Cedar Mountain, 2nd Bull Run, and Chantilly (August 1862), undated




Box 6 / Folder 2
Manassas Campaign, Sigel's manuscript history of the 2nd Battle of Bull Run (1862), undated




Box 6 / Folder 3-4
Manassas Campaign, notes and statistics on 2nd Bull Run, undated




Box 7 / Folder 1
Shenandoah Campaign, manuscript by Sigel entitled ". . . a campaign in May 1864 in the Shenandoah" and Sigel's notes, undated




Box 7 / Folder 2
Shenandoah Campaign, papers related to the Shenandoah Campaign, particularly to the Battle of New Market, undated




Box 7 / Folder 3-4
Reserve Division (1864), undated




Box 8
Miscellaneous notes, statistics, and letters, most of them undated but referring to specific battles and campaigns. Much of this material is in German, undated





Series III: Special Subject File, 1863; undated

Box 9 / Folder 1
Biographical material including Sigel's brief holograph record of his military record, undated




Box 9 / Folder 2
Notes on generals, including Grant, McClellan, McDowell, Pope, B. F. Kelley, Van Dorn, Kearny, and Porter, undated




Box 9 / Folder 3
Recollections of President and Mrs. Lincoln, undated




Box 9 / Folder 3
Letters from Carl Schurz, in German, with some translated into English, 1863




Box 9 / Folder 4
War maps, many drawn and colored by Sigel, undated





Series IV: Bound Volumes, 1861-1864; undated

Box 10 / Volume 1
Press copy book, St. Louis Headquarters, 2nd Missouri Volunteers (indexed), 1861




Box 10 / Volume 2
Letters, "German and English & mostly private", 1862




Box 10 / Volume 3
Order book, Mountain Department, 1862




Box 10 / Volume 4
Dispatches received, from "Pope, McClellan, Banks, Heintzelmann, and Burnside", 1862




Box 10 / Volume 5
Orders received, from "Banks, Pope, McClellan, Heintzelman", 1862




Box 11 / Volume 1
Telegrams, sent to "Pope, Banks, Heintzelman, Burnside", 1862




Box 11 / Volume 2
Roster, staff and line officers, I Crops, Army of Virginia, undated




Box 11 / Volume 3
Endorsements and memoranda, 1862-1863




Box 11 / Volume 4-6
Journal, 1864




Volume 1
Oversize Volume 1: Letters received, abstracts and full texts, 1862




Volume 2
Oversize Volume 2: Letter book, 1862




Volume 3
Oversize Volume 3: Special orders, "Harpers Ferry to Stafford Court House", 1862




Volume 4
Oversize Volume 4: General orders, from Fremont, Banks, Pope, McClellan, 1862





Series V: Scrapbooks, 1858-1902

Box 12-13
Scrapbooks containing German and English newspaper clippings from newspapers in St. Louis, Baltimore, Washington, New York, and other cities, relating to Sigel's campaigns, his relations with the command in Washington, politics, and general war news (5 volumes, some badly preserved), 1858-1902