Ozaukee County's
War History
by Daniel E. McGinley

as extracted from THE PORT WASHINGTON STAR
July 10, 1897



26th Wisconsin
Chapter 4

The beautiful May day was drawing to a close in almost Sabbath stillness, on the lines of the Eleventh Corps. Away to the south of the Welford Furnace - two or three miles away, an occasional cannon shot could be heard as Sickles felt his way through the timber covered country; but all was quiet on the right of Hooker's lines. Off to the left the stillness was broken about 5 P.M., by a part of Lee's forces making a demonstration there, to draw Hooker's attention away from the real point of danger on his right, and they were successful to a certain degree, for they stirred up such a brisk artillery fire and rattle of small arms that it occupied the attention of the Union generals for some time. But on the right all was quiet, and some of the men of the Eleventh Corps had just begun to make preparations for their evening meal, while others were playing cards, or engaged in some other amusement to while away the time, when at about 5:30 P.M., there was a shot or two, and then a rattling fire on the skirmish line that bent around the Union right and faced west, which startled the Union troops out of their fancied security, and made them seize their arms and rush into line. Some of the regiments near the right did not have time to form before the storm burst upon them in all its grandeur and terror. And it did them little good to form behind their works or barricades, for with the exception of the two regiments on the right that faced west, and Schurz's Second brigade on Hawkinsí farm, the whole line was attacked from the flank and rear. So close was the enemy upon them, and so sudden was the onset, that very few of the regiments of Devensí division had time to wheel and face the foe, before he was on them in overpowering numbers, as Jackson's veteran 30,000 swept upon them like a deluge.

With fierce, confident yells the rebel host rushed in at the heels of the Union pickets, and first struck Von Gilsa's two small regiments facing west, and the two guns on the pike at the right of the Union line, the only force that actually fronted them at that point. Van Gilsa seeing his brigade at the mercy of such a host, galloped at once to Howard's headquarters at the Dowall Tavern, to ask for reinforcements. Howard told him that he "must hold his post with the men he had, and trust in God!" It is safe to say that Von Gilsa swore in both languages as he rode back to see his brigade overwhelmed, and dispersed before the heavy assaulting column. Two pieces of Stuart's light artillery galloped down the pike to the front line of the advancing rebels, and poured canister into the blue clad soldiers. The two guns in the pike on the Union side did excellent service for a time, opening wide gaps in the assaulting lines, but when the men working them tried to limber up and escape, the horses were shot down and the guns captured.

But the heroic Von Gilsa did not give up the struggle. When his brigade was driven from its first position, he rallied hundreds of his men on a line formed by two of the regiments from the brigade on his left - now his rear - that had wheeled so far as to face the storm. Here with about 1,000 men, the brave general faced the enemy, and bidding his men stand firm fought so desperately that Jackson's first line was driven back, and the second line would have shared the same fate, had not the enemy's lines extended beyond and lapped around Von Gilsa's flanks until the only alternative left his men was to run or surrender. Retreating some distance through the woods, they came to the Seventy-fifth Ohio, drawn up in line and alone, and with this gallant regiment a third attempt was made to stem the torrent of grey that was sweeping through the forest and down the pike. But although the brave regiment and the remnant of Von Gilsa's brigade held this line nearly five minutes, the attempt was fruitless, and the Union troops were again driven back with a heavy loss, 150 of the Ohio boys falling while three rounds were being fired.

At the Talley farm-house many of the fugitives rallied with three or four regiments which had formed a line there facing the foe, but the rebel artillery ran out into the clearing and poured a fearful fire into the ranks of the boys in blue, while three rebel brigades enveloped both front and flanks. "It was no longer a fight," writes Hamlin, "but a massacre." In a few minutes every mounted officer had been struck down, and the survivors of the blue line broke and fled in confusion to the Church on the Dowall farm, where the left of Schurz's division was gallantly trying to change front and form a new line across the path of the victorious foe. Flight or annihilation were the only alternatives which seemed to be left for the broken remnants of Devensí unfortunate division, and the flight created a panic among some of them which swept away from their minds all thoughts except that of self-preservation. As they rushed down the pike, the stream of fugitives broke through two of Schurz's veteran regiments, just then changing front, and in the rush, and panic carried away some old soldiers of well-tried bravery. A large number of the fugitives rallied on Schurz's line, or on Bushbeck's farther to the rear, but some of them kept on until they reached Hooker's headquarters in the Chancellor House, two miles away, bringing him the first news of the disaster on his right. The heavy intervening timber had prevented the firing being heard at headquarters, and Howard had been too busy or thoughtless to notify Hooker of the attack.

Let us now return to the Twenty-sixth Wisconsin, which we left with the other regiments of Schurz's Second brigade in the fields on the Hawkins' farm, facing west, but disconnected and without works or intrenchments of any kind. The Twenty-sixth was on the extreme right of the brigade, its right "in air" in the northern part of the clearing, and about three-fourths of a mile north of the turnpike upon which the main line had been formed. The regiment was not deployed, but lay in column by companies, and about 80 yards from the timber on the west of the field. In this timber, a skirmish line covered the front of the brigade. The distance this skirmish line was from the edge of the field in which the regiment laid, is a matter upon which the survivors do not agree, and we will compromise by taking the average of the distances mentioned by those interviewed, which is 150 yards. A part of this skirmish line was composed of 100 sharpshooters who had been selected from the different companies of the Twenty-sixth for their skill as marksmen, and were commanded by Capt. Chas. Pizzala, of Co. G, (promoted from lieutenant of Co. F), and Lieut. Chas. H. Doerflinger, of Co. K, now Secretary of the Civil Service Commission of Milwaukee.

John Grundke, a sergeant of Co. B, and now of Cedarburg, was the acting orderly sergeant of the sharpshooters, and that day was at his post on the right of their line.

When the right center of Jackson's lines struck the right of Devens' division, they were checked and considerably delayed; but his left marched on unimpeded through the forest until it came upon the skirmish line just described. Jackson's left was then far in advance of his right, and the attack began on Schurz's Second brigade long before the remnants of Devens' division reached the Dowall farm. The skirmishers at the Hawkins farm had heard the firing on their left front when Von Gilsa had been attacked, and were ready for the foe when he appeared in their front; but they little thought that he would come in such overwhelming numbers.

It was about 5:45 P.M. when our Badger sharpshooters sighted the heavy line of rebel skirmishers approaching through the dense timber in their front. Some of our boys were eager to open fire at once, but were restrained by Capt. Pizzala, who ordered them not to fire until the enemy came near and they could be sure of every shot. They patiently waited until the rebels came within easy range, and then opened such brisk and well-directed fire that the enemy's skirmish line in their front was checked by it, and held until it was joined by the main line of battle. But in the meantime the rebel skirmish line was advancing around both flanks and pouring in a cross fire, and after firing, an average of three shots each, our skirmishers were ordered to fall back and rally on the main line. This they did, but with a heavy loss in killed and wounded, one of the first to fall being the gallant Capt. Pizzala who was instantly killed. Although our skirmishers went back on the run, the rebels were so close upon them that they reached the edge of the clearing before our boys had reached the main line.

When the firing on the skirmish line startled our boys in the main line, the different regiments of the brigade deployed in line of battle, but it seems that no two of them were connected, and that there was a wide space between the regiment on the left of the Twenty-sixth, the Fifty-eighth New York, and the balance of the brigade. After deploying, the two regiments took position a little nearer the western edge of the field, and loading their rifles awaited the onset as calmly as veterans, instead of troops who had never been under fire. Companies A and B of the Twenty-sixth, that had been stationed in the edge of the timber as a support to the skirmish line, also fell back and took their positions in the main line. The position of the Twenty-sixth was in a slight depression, the ground in front rising gradually until reaching the edge of the timber it was thus on higher ground, a fact very much in our boysí favor, as much of the enemy's fire flew harmlessly over our lines, while the advantage of shooting up hill made the fire of the Union line very effective.

As the retreating skirmishers came rushing out of the woods and down to the main line, followed by yelling rebels and zipping bullets, there were a few very trying moments for our green regiment; but at length the fugitives were either safe in the main line or lying killed or wounded on the field, and the Twenty-sixth had a chance to show what superb material it was made of. The rebel main line swept down to the edge of the timber with a yell that would strike terror into faint hearts, but the line of the Twenty-sixth stood as firm as a rock. As the enemy came in plain view, there was a clicking of gun locks, a glistening of gun barrels, and with a ripping, tearing sound that shook the ground beneath their feet, the boys of the Twenty-sixth poured its first volley into the armed foes of Freedom. At their left, the gallant Fifty-eighth New York, whose heroic work that day proved it to be a worthy companion for our Twenty-sixth, also opened; and there in that now historic cornfield, the two brave regiments stood almost isolated and unsupported, and fought more than five times their numbers for nearly twenty minutes. They had not been long fighting when the tide of battle struck the left of the division on Dowall's farm, where there were two batteries of Union artillery in action, and the roar of battle was deafening all along the line.

The brave commander of the brigade, Col. W. Krysanowski, of the Fifty-eighth, rode up and down the line of the two regiments, through the storm of lead that unceasingly poured down from the rebel line, and encouraged his boys to stand firm and take good aim. The Eighty-second Ohio stood 100 years or more to the left rear of the Fifty-eighth New York and the Eighty-second Illinois was stationed still farther to the left. The Twenty-sixth had no support on its right or in its rear. But they heeded not whether they had any supports, but stood manfully there in line and poured volley after volley into the enemy.

The bright May sun, sinking slowly behind the tall timber, lighted up a terrific, and at the same time, a grand scene on those two farms, Hawkinsí and Dowall's that evening. On the latter, the left of Schurz's division, with the assistance of hundreds of the survivors of Devens', was heroically arriving to stem the great wave of victorious grey that came pouring down the pike and on either side of it. It was here that the Ohio battery commanded by the renowned Capt. Hubert Dilger, better known at that time as "Leather Breeches," from the material of his pantaloons, did such excellent work. He had six guns in the line, and worked them so diligently and effectively as to create terrible havoc in the enemy's ranks, and to check for a time the onward sweep of Jackson's right. On the right, the two superb regiments were still in line in that fateful cornfield of Hawkinsí farm, the enemy's lines gradually bending around both flanks and pouring in a raking cross fire, but still those heroes, who later were stigmatized as cowards and "Flying Dutchmen" fought on. Men fell by the score, thinner and thinner grew their lines; but with Old Glory floating proudly above them, and with no hope of winning a victory, those gallant volunteers from the Excelsior and Badger states fought on side by side.