Alexander
Schimmelfennig
was
born in Germany in 1824. A graduate
of the German military academy he joined Franz
Sigel, Carl Schurz, August
Willich, Peter Osterhaus, Max
Weber in taking part in the failed 1848 German Revolution.
Schimmelfennig emigrated to America and on the outbreak of the American
Civil War he joined the Union Army.
Commissioned as a colonel he fought under John
Pope and Franz Sigel at the second
battle of Bull Run (August, 1862).
Promoted to brigadier general he took part in the battles at Chancellorsville
(May, 1863) and Gettysburg (July,
1863), where he was wounded and cut off from his regiment for three
days.
Transferred to the Carolinas, he suffered from ill-health. As well
as the effects of the wounds he received at Gettysburg,
he contacted malaria. He was commanding
the defenses of Charleston when he died of tuberculosis
in 1865.
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