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Introduction
- University of Missouri Press
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Introduction Pe t e r Joseph Osterhaus, major general of Volunteers for the Union army in the American Civil War, rightly referred to himself as “an utterly unknown person—homo novus.” This remains true today, despite the fact that Osterhaus, an exiled leader from the 1848 rebellion in Germany, enjoyed a meteoric military career in America. Working as an accounting clerk in St. Louis as the war began, he joined up immediately and rose from the rank of private to brigadier general in just a year. During his years of service to his adopted country he played a significant role in several of the major turning points of the war, led fifteen thousand men on Sherman’s March to the Sea, served as the military governor of Mississippi during the early days of Reconstruction, and represented the United States in consular positions in Europe after the war. Recognized by his superiors, loved by his officers and men, he could rightly be called the “Yankee warhorse” for his many solid contributions to the Union war effort in the West. Yet his accomplishments were underreported even in his day, and even less is known about him now. The little that has been written about him, apart from some excellent essays, has often been inaccurate.1 How did Peter Joseph Osterhaus acquire his skill as a military leader? Historians have credited both his Prussian military heritage and his training at the prestigious Berlin Military Academy. Actually, neither of these assumptions is completely accurate. His birthplace, Koblenz, had only recently come under Prussian rule as capital of the new Rhine Province ceded to Prussia in 1815. He grew up in a nonmilitary family and moved as a young adult to the southern duchy of Baden. True, he did have some Prussian military training, but just the obligatory year of officer’s training that the Prussians required of all young men. He also had experience in warfare, but as a rebel on the barricades of Mannheim, not on a formal battlefield. What he did have was a keen interest in military matters, a lively intellect, and the ability to adapt. He was schooled by his experience early in the American Civil War, and he learned well. Osterhaus had been a U.S. citizen for six years when the Confederates attacked Fort Sumter. Less than a week later, he enlisted as a private in the Union army at the advanced age of thirty-seven. The army was delighted to have him. 1 2 Yankee Warhorse From a standing U.S. Army of fewer than twenty thousand, President Abraham Lincoln quickly had to mobilize a huge new force made up almost entirely of untrained and overenthusiastic civilians, bringing with them little idea of what it meant to fight or to lead effectively. In this crisis the government was desperate for leaders with military experience. In addition to his Prussian military training and his brief battle experience, Osterhaus was able to offer his new country his ability to speak and to write English. These were desirable skills for commanders of volunteer units, particularly heavily German-speaking units, and not surprisingly his men elected him major almost immediately. He advanced to colonel within a few months, forming his own regiment. Like many other German revolutionaries with previous military training, Osterhaus was a superb molder of new soldiers. But unlike the case with most of his compatriots, who rarely rose above regimental command as the war progressed, his performance in the field would soon earmark him for advancement to higher levels. Even though Osterhaus was little known by the general public, he soon made a name for himself within the army. From the earliest days of the war, his superior officers recognized Osterhaus as an energetic, dependable leader, often assigning him temporary commands at a higher level than his rank would indicate . He led a division throughout most of the war, advancing temporarily to corps command for part of that time. Along the way he won the praise of Generals Grant, Halleck, Frémont, McClernand, Curtis, Hooker, Logan, and Sherman for both his reliable performance in battle and his capable leadership on campaign.2 Osterhaus was the only man in the Union army present at both the first military action in the West, the capture of Camp Jackson in St. Louis, and the last official Confederate surrender of the war, Kirby Smith’s surrender finalized on May 26, 1865, which he had the honor of signing. Between those signal events...