| Notes |
- His early life was probably that of a typical farm boy. His father died when he was young so as the eldest son the burden of helping his mother would have matured him too soon. There is some confusion on his enlistment record. One paper in the pension file of his mother states he enlisted for three years. Another states the period of enlistment was five years. They agree that he enlisted at Pittsburgh Pennsylvania on the 29th of Dec 1863 in the regular army. He was assigned to Company C 14th US Infantry. He was on the muster roll of said company for May and June 1864. He was reported as wounded in action and sent to General Hospital May 5th 1864. He was on the roll of said company until Sept and Oct 1865 when he was transferred to B company 3rd Battalion. No evidence of death on file.
Nowhere to Run
The Wilderness, May 4th and 5th, 1864
John Michael Priest
White Mane Publishing 1995
As a member of C Company 14 U.S. Infantry (Regulars), Gustav was a part of the first brigade (Ayres) of the first division (Griffin) of Warren's V Corps when it assaulted Ewell's line at Saunders field at 1:00 PM 5 May 1864. On the right of the Orange turnpike with the 12th U.S. on its right and the 83rd PA on its left and directly in back of the 140th N.Y. with the 11th US to the right of the NY regiment. The 14th US being on the left of the 12th US with the 2nd US being directly behind them and the 17th US behind the 12th US. The 146th NY direct behind the 2nd and 17th US regiments with the 155th and 91st Pennsylvania to their right followed by the 44th NY. The regiments moved forward to the assault.
Opposed by the 21st Virginia Infantry which fired a volley into the first three ranks of Ayres Brigade as the 146 New York reached the eastern lip of the ditch. A second rapidly executed volley punched huge holes through the Regulars? two lines. Part of the 2nd US hit the ground, the rest of the regiment and the entire 17th US broke ranks and streamed to the rear. while the 12th and 14th US kept moving ahead in ragged formation into the woods. The two regiments overran two light lines of of breastworks before being stopped at a third line to which the confederates stubbornly hung on. It was probably during this action that Gustav received his wound. At first when I learned of his mother's pension on his alleged death, I thought he had survived and just disappeared. This was based on the communion records listing Gustav and Magdalena up to 1868 (the father died in 1858) and the two original witnesses for her pension application were the mother of the woman who married her youngest son and the man who married her eldest daughter. In thinking further I believe he was killed as a result of his wound as he is not listed as an heir when the family divided up the estate of Gustav and Magdalena in 1894.
It was an eerie feeling when I visited the battlefield and our dog, Precious, wandered out into a field while we examined a map explaining the area where we stood. As luck would have it the monument where Precious was sniffing was to the 146th New York Infantry. This was the area where he had received his mortal wound. To say that was a spooky moment would be an understatement.
A good source for the movements of the 14th US Infantry, Regulars, in the Wilderness battle is "Nowhere to Run", The Wilderness, May 4th & 5th, 1864, John Michael Priest, White Mane Publishing 1995.
http://www.usregulars.com/usarmy/!14usroster.html
The Wilderness - May 3-5
"The Regular Brigade crossed at Germanna the night of the 3rd and 4th in territory all too familiar to them. . . . Strewn before them to either side lay the infamous Wilderness where thousands had perished by bullet and flame while Hooker dawdled at Chancellorsville to the east. . . . Skeletal remains of their half-buried of fire-ravaged predecessors lay all about, mute evidence of what awaited them should Lee take it into his head to attack here. . . . Some of Ayres' sardonic Regulars tossed a bleached skull back and forth, as though scoffing at what even professionals had come to dread."
"Ayres' Regular Brigade was up early on Thursday, May 5, gulping down a quick breakfast before running to their places in line. . . . and began the toruous advance through the undergrowth by regiments in column of fours to the right of the pike. They constituted the extreme right of the army until such time as Wright's division of the VI Corps made connection from the north. . . .
"Sweating and swearing, they emerged at the edge of a broad open field perhaps 800 yards wide and half as deep across which the Rebels could be plainly heard erecting breastworks within their sector of the forest. . . . [H]ere in Sanders' Field - for whatever it might have been worth - the Regulars were about to go in for the last time in ordered ranks. "
Timothy J. Reese
Sykes' Regular Infantry Division, 1861-1864
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1845 - 1864 (18 years)
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