June 2010 Meeting
By Travis Fuqua with photos by Bob Batten
On June 16, 2010, the SDCWRT was honored to have guest speaker, Mary Townsend present: “The Unknown General: Major General Peter Joseph Osterhaus” based on her book about her great-great grandfather entitled: “Yankee Warhorse: A Biography of Major General Peter Osterhaus”. Mrs. Townsend has spent the last several years researching her ancestor. Since he was a general, one would assume there would be a generous amount of information, but this was not the case and in fact, Mrs. Townsend only had some family documents and various other sources which were often contradictory. She sorted through the information to create her biography. She has discovered that he was amongst the best German immigrant soldiers of the war and had several key roles in the Western Theatre, but remains largely forgotten.
Mrs. Townsend and Major General Osterhaus
Major General Osterhaus was born in Koblenz in the Rhineland on January 4, 1823. After the Napoleonic Wars of the previous decade, the Rhineland had been incorporated into Prussia which would largely shape the future general’s life. Osterhaus had wanted to become a history professor, but the new Prussian laws mandated that he attend a military academy and he thus attended the Berlin Military Academy where he became a Prussian. Osterhaus was not fond of the Prussians and took part in the 1848 Revolution against Prussian rule. It was there he gained his military experience while fighting the Prussians, but when the Revolution failed, he was forced to flee to the United States in 1849 where he later became a citizen. He became a businessman in Illinois and joined the Republican Party. He once met Abraham Lincoln at a dinner in 1856. In 1860, he moved his wife and five young children to St. Louis.
In April of 1861, after Fort Sumter, Osterhaus joined the 2nd Missouri Volunteer Infantry and was so popular amongst his men that in the course of two weeks he was elected to captain and then major. On the last day of July he was appointed acting colonel of 12th Missouri Volunteer Infantry by Frémont. His deep voice, sense of humor, and great stature (6 feet 2 inches), likely contributed to his great popularity. He was helped by the fact that he was bilingual in a regiment composed of German immigrants. His first action was in the Missouri Campaign under Brigadier General Nathaniel B. Lyon where he fought at Camp Jackson on May 10, Booneville on June 17, and Wilson’s Creek on August 10. He did well in these battles and by the end of the year, he was appointed colonel.
The following year would see Osterhaus in the Arkansas Campaign under Major General Samuel R. Curtis. In January, he was made acting brigadier general. On March 7 and 8, he fought at Pea Ridge, Arkansas where he arguably saved Missouri from being taken by the Confederacy. Here, Osterhaus succeeded in disorganizing 8,000 Confederate soldiers (about half of their force) with 600 Federal soldiers by catching them during their attempted encirclement of the main Federal force. He did this by accident when he stumbled upon them and decided to ambush them by firing upon them from the nearby woods. The Confederate leadership in this detachment was killed and the soldiers fell in to disarray. With the majority of Confederate forces out of action, Federal forces won the battle and Missouri was saved.
In the middle of the year, Osterhaus went with General Samuel Curtis on his cross-country march which gave him valuable experience for his future involvement in Sherman’s March to the Sea. On this march, however, he contracted malaria and was not able to rejoin the fight until December. By then, he had been appointed brigadier general. In 1863, he was involved in the Vicksburg Campaign under General Grant. He fought at Arkansas Post on January 11, the Battle of Port Gibson on May 1, the Battle of Champion Hill on May 16, the Battle of Big Black River on May 17, the two assaults on Vicksburg on May 19 and 22, and the siege of Jackson on July 9-16. Later in the year, he was involved in the Chattanooga Campaign fighting at the Cane Creek Skirmishes on October 20 and 21, and the Tuscumbia Skirmishes on October 26 and 27.
Not long after this, Osterhaus received word that his wife was near death and he rushed home in time for her funeral. He then made arrangements for the care of his children and returned to the war in time to fight at the Battle of Lookout Mountain on November 24, the Battle of Missionary Ridge on November 25, and the Battle of Ringgold Gap on November 27. In this campaign, he served under General Sherman who came to like Osterhaus.
In the following year, Osterhaus would be involved in the Atlanta Campaign under General Sherman which involved his famous March to the Sea. Before that, however, Osterhaus again had malaria. In Sherman’s campaign, Osterhaus fought in the Battle of Resaca on May 14, the Battle of Dallas on May 28, the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain on June 27, and the Battle of Jonesboro on August 31. In July, President Lincoln appointed Osterhaus major general against the desire of Sherman who did not want any promotions until after the capture of Atlanta. Lincoln did this because he wanted the German vote in the coming presidential election of 1864. When Sherman reacted, Lincoln noted that he only made the former temporary rank permanent. From that point on, however, Sherman no longer liked Osterhaus.
In the final year of the war, Osterhaus was transferred to the Mobile Bay Campaign in March and April of 1865 as the chief of staff for General Edward Canby where his experience in artillery was invaluable to the far less experienced general. With the war over, Osterhaus was made military governor of Mississippi in May. He was mustered out of the army on January 16, 1866.
In June of 1866, Osterhaus became the American Consul to Lyon, France and was there during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Here he found himself in a curious position when as a representative of his adopted nation which remained neutral, he witnessed a conflict between his former home and one of her enemies. In 1877, he left Lyon and returned to the recently unified Germany where he became a businessman. Later, he was the American Vice Consul in Manheim from 1899 to 1901.
He remained in Germany for the remainder of his life except for a short trip to the United States at the turn of the 1900s. One of his sons, Hugo, remained in the United States where he became an admiral and commanded the Atlantic Fleet under President Taft and was active in the Great War. Some of his other sons and daughters followed their father to Europe where a few of his sons had success in the German Army. With the Great War, Osterhaus would have seen his family on opposing sides of the conflict. Major General Peter Osterhaus died in Duisburg on January 2, 1917 at the age of 93 and was buried in Koblenz.
Mrs. Townsend went on to explain why Osterhaus has not been remembered and she noted that unlike his contemporaries, Osterhaus did not promote himself or write a memoir. He wrote a very short paper, but this hardly compares to others. He also did not have many political connections unlike his contemporaries. Due to these reason, Osterhaus’ great accomplishments were only recovered through the diligent work of his great-great granddaughter.