NEWS OF 150 YEARS AGO
March and April 1861
From The Missouri Democrat, Saturday, April 27, 1861.
THE ARSENAL.
THE ORGANIZATION OF REGIMENTS.
Five Regiments to be Soon Completed.
The precincts and areas of the Arsenal continue to present a scene of increasing activity and interest. The patriotism of the people appears in the daily augmenting numbers who present themselves as ready to defend the insulted and threatened flag and government of their country. The recruits are drilled eight hours of each day, and the scene thus presented is a most animated one. Over all the extensive park the columns may be seen, separated in companies, joined in battalions, or united in regiments, busily and briskly engaged in marching, wheeling, countermarching, performing the maneuvers of the dress parade, or running and leaping in the Zouave practice. This lively panorama, accompanied by martial music flowing from all quarters of the grounds, and varied by throngs of promenading spectators, among whom are numerous bevies of ladies, affords a sight of not unpleasing interest, as well as of mournful suggestiveness.
The multitude of the volunteers renders the quarters by far too strained to accommodate all with ease. The regulars camp out in tents, and the new companies are quartered in the various buildings. The bedding principally consists simply of straw laid upon the floors, and a blanket to draw over the person. The cooking is extensively performed in the open air, and in genuine camp style. The health and spirits of all the troops appear most excellent.
The organization of the new companies into regiments commenced Thursday evening, was continued yesterday, and is still not completed. New companies are continually arriving on the ground, and additional recruits asking enrollment in the companies formed. The following is a list of the regiments, companies, battalions, officers, &c., so far as organized up to last evening:
FIRST REGIMENT.
Lieut. Frank P. Blair, Jr., Colonel; Lieut. Sc[h]ofield, of regular U. S. A., Major.
Company A.—Captain Lathrop; 1st Lieut., T. Gordon.
Company B.—Capt., R. Sexton; 1st Lieut. Benj. Tanrath; 2d Lieut., J. L. Matthaef. One hundred men.
Company C.—Capt., G. Harry Stone; 1st Lieut., Marshall; 2d. Lieut., Tiemeyer. Eighty-four men.
Company D.—Capt., Charles Anderson; 1st Lieut., S. O. Fish; 2d Lieut., T. H. Johnson; O. S., T. H. Oliver. Eighty-one men.
Company E.—Capt., R. B. Beck; 1st. Lieut., John McFall; 2d Lieut. Wm. Bowen. One hundred men.
Company F.—Capt., W. C. Gantt; 1st Lieut., Wm. S. Steward; 2d Lieut., John D. Baldwin. One hundred and twenty men.
Company G. (Lafayette Guards)—Capt., J. S. Cavender; 1st Lieut., Thomas D. Maurice. Seventy-eight men.
Company H.—Capt., Theodore Yates; 1st Lieut., Frank H. Manter. Seventy-four men.
Company J. (from Carondelet)—Capt., Madison Miller; 1st Lieut., L. F. Maxon; 2d Lieut., James Marr; O. S., E. E. Furber.
Four additional companies are in process of organization for this regiment.
SECOND REGIMENT.
Capt. Henry Boernstein, Colonel; Major Frederick Schaeffer, Lieut. Colonel.
Company A.—Capt. Osterhaus; 1st Lieutenant, Otto Schadt; 2d Lieut. Aug. Gunsell; Orderly Sergeant, J. Kayser. Ninety men.
Company B.—Capt. Wecherlin; 1st Lieutenant, F. Hessler; 2d Lieutenant, Theod. Weller; Orderly Sergeant, Louis Massot. One hundred and one men.
Company C.—Capt. Trauernicht; 1st Lieutenant, Gustave Boernstein; 2d Lieutenant, Anselm Albsecht; Orderly Sergeant, Louis Lang. Ninety-eight men.
Company D.—Capt. Henry Bendell; 1st Lieutenant, Julius Lang; 2d Lieutenant, Charles Kaufholdt; Orderly Sergeant, August Grumme. Eighty-five men.
Company E.—Capt. Boernstein’s company. The Captain’s election as Colonel leaves a new captain to be chosen for company E. 1st Lieut., Aug. S. Boernstein, 2d Lieut., Frank Erler. O. S., Winsbecker. One hundred and ten men.
Second Battalion.—B. Laibold, Major and commander; Ernst Pfaff, captain; 1st Lieut., Louis Weber; 2nd Lieut. Clemens Landgrober. One hundred and seventeen men.
Other companies are enlisted and organizing for the completion of the battalion.
THIRD REGIMENT.
Gen. Franz Sigel, commanding as Colonel.
FIRST BATTALION.
First Artillery Company—Capt. Backoff; First Lieutenant, Franz Essig. One hundred men.
Second Company of Artillery, numbered as Company E—Capt. Wilkins; First Lieutenant, A. S. Turneck; Second Lieutenant, Gustave Schaffer. One hundred men.
Company A.—Captain, Henry Bishop; 1st Lieut., John Steiner; 2d Lieut., Wm. Roemer. Ninety men.
Company B.—Captain, D. Conrath; 1st Lieut., Wippman; 2d Lieut., Geo. Dandy. Ninety-four men.
Company C.—Captain, Cramer; 1st Lieut., Wm. Osterhorm; 2d Lieut., Wuestney. Ninety-two men.
Company D.—Captain, Zais. Lieutenant not yet chosen. One hundred and two men.
SECOND BATTALION.
(Company E., artillery, above given.)
Company F.—Captain, Hartmann. Lieutenants not yet chosen. Eighty men.
Company G.—Captain, Hackmann. Lieutenants not yet chosen. Fifty men.
Company H.—Captain, John E. Stroudtmann. Lieutenants as above. Eighty men.
Regimental Staff.—C. Heinricks, Adjutant; Chas. E. Stark, Quartermaster; F. Koerner, Ordnance Officer; Frederic E. Schreiner, Secretary.
FOURTH REGIMENT.
Gen. Nicholas Schutner, commanding.
First Company.—Capt. Dauma. One hundred and three men.
Second Company.—Capt. Riemann. One hundred men.
Third Company.—Capt. Schuddig. One hundred and four men.
Fourth Company.—Capt. Niemann. One hundred and ten men.
Fifth Company.—Capt. Fishback. One hundred men.
A Fifth Regiment is also organizing, of which Company A. is commanded by Captain Nelson Cole; 1st Lieut[en]ant, Josepp Foust; 2d Lieutenant, Geo. P. Covert; Brevet 2d Lieutenant, Wm. H. Wells. Sixty-five men.
The entire number of troops now within the arsenal is estimated at some twenty-eight hundred. About six hundred are quartered in buildings in the vicinity. Major Schaffer’s battalion at present occupies the Marine Hospital.
