AUGUST C. SIEVERT IN THE CIVIL WAR
Drawn Chiefly from His Military and Pension Records
August C. Sievert was drafted into the army (from Charlestown, Wis.), and was designated for the 14th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry. He was mustered in as a Private on Oct. 3, 1864. On a muster roll of draftees and substitutes to be forwarded to the 14th Regiment, dated at Madison, Wis., Nov. 2, 1864, Sievert was described as follows – Age: 40 years; Height: 5 feet, 8 inches; Complexion: ruddy; Eyes: blue; Hair: brown; Where born: Germany; Occupation: blacksmith. His term of conscription was for one year. But Sievert did not actually serve with that regiment. According to the muster roll for Nov. and Dec. 1864, of Company I, 17th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry – on which Sievert was listed as “present” – he was described as a “drafted man belonging to 14. Wis Inf temporarily assigned to 17 Wis Inf – by order Brig Gen Legget comd’g 3 Div 17 A.C.” (Brigadier General Mortimer D. Leggett commanded the 3rd Division of the 17th Army Corps.) This “temporary” assignment lasted, however, for as long as Sievert served in the army. He was listed as “present” on another muster roll for Company I, 17th Regiment, dated Apr. 30, 1865; and was mustered out with that company and regiment at Louisville, Ken., on July 14, 1865.
Three letters, written by Sievert to his wife Augusta during his time in the army, have survived, and have been translated from German to English. The first, written from the field in South Carolina, recounts Sievert’s reassignment from the 14th Wisconsin Infantry – for which he had been drafted – to the 17th Wisconsin Infantry. He also describes the various movements of his regiment, and the weather and other campaign conditions:
South Carolina
January 27, 1865
Letter received Jan 26.
This one mailed January 27
My dearest wife,
Your letter of January 4 I received on January 26 with a lot of joy and I enjoyed reading it. From it I understand that all of you are well and healthy. I hope that when you receive this letter you will still be well. I am somewhat sick. I had caught a little cold, but it’s better already. From Mattesson [Madison] we were not sent to this regiment, we were to have joined the 14th Regiment. But when we came to Atlanta, the 14th R[egiment] was gone and so we joined the 17th R[egiment]. And the recruits who were to be here, they stayed too long away. They still are not here. It is said that they are still to come for our regular company commander is with them, at least we have that news. Because we were attached to another regiment, no one knew where we were. That’s why we could not write. We came with the last train to Atlanta where it ended. The tracks were torn up and burned and we headed toward Savannah and could not write until we came to Savannah. And that is the way it is with us all the time. Today we are here – tomorrow there, we have no permanent place. We are now going toward Charleston – we are still about 65 miles away. We’ve been lying around here now for 12 days; now, they say, we are to go again. When I mailed the second letter we had to leave Savannah, and now it is said again that we are to leave.
My dearest wife, whom I love with all my heart, we thank God for we have been very fortunate. While we were on that long march, we had a good time. It was nice and warm, often almost too warm. Now we have some rain and some cooler [temperatures] too. Twice now we were to go to the front and have been to the front. But when we got there the enemy was gone and so twice we marched after them. Now they say again that our regiment is to leave; that’s what they say, but no one seems to know yet.
Dearest wife, you write about Leonard [?] Igen. Already I have looked, but I can’t find him. Pretty difficult to search around in the 16th Regiment, so it is hard to find out. There are still a lot at Savannah. Should be some 8000 men here. Nester [?] Neckelson and Nickolaus Peters have visited me repeatedly [?]. But Johann Lewrenz and also Johann Krenz got sick on us [or “got wounded”]. And now I can’t write to them for I don’t know the address. He [Igen] has to write first; I don’t know where they [the 16th Regiment] stayed. At this time I’m together with Peick and we are very well.
Dearest wife, [regarding] buying the land – you just better let it go – there is still time enough to buy. Dearest wife, don’t forget, you have to keep some oats if you have the land plowed and worked so that you may have enough, to pay the plowman.
That Mueller’s wife was dead, that I knew already and found it out from ___ Nechelssen. He had an earlier letter.
Dearest wife, now you have to let Peick’s wife know, maybe you can even go to her with the small ___ from our ___ which is in this letter. Krenz is not here, I can’t help that. When you go there then greet Peick’s wife heartily. He is well. Dear wife, I am now in the field. I don’t have much time any more and what I forget this time I’ll write another time.
The address is: August Sievert
Company I 17th Regiment
Address August Sievert
Company I 17 Regt Wis Vol
2nd Brig, 3rd Div 17 Corps
SC
(“Leonard [?] Igen” might be Leonard Illiff, who was serving in Company I, 16th Wisconsin Infantry, at this time. “Johann Lewerenz” is Joachim Leverenz, who was a member of Sievert’s company. “Peick” is Joachim Peik, also a member of Sievert’s company. “Mueller’s wife” is Betty Louise [Timm] Moeller, the wife of Adolph Moeller, who died in New Holstein on Dec. 10, 1864.)
The second surviving letter, written from Raleigh, N.C., reports some additional details about the closing campaign of the war, leading up to Johnston’s surrender to Sherman, which took place on April 26, 1865. This letter was written the following day. The rumor that the war was over – which Sievert had heard, and which he reports to his wife – was true:
Raleigh N.C.
April 27, 1865
Dearest wife,
Want to let you know that I am well and hope that this letter finds you alright. Would have written sooner but waited for a letter from you. I went to mail call every day but there was never a letter for me. I am waiting for mail from you real bad and I already have bad dreams about home – hope everything is alright. I always think that something bad has happened, then in the last few days I have gotten really nervous. I never have been that way before. They will let us have mail now every day and the rumor has it the war is over or is about to be. Since the last letter we have been on the march for 5 days and the day after we started up again. After that we got orders to retreat and that was the Sunday before Easter and we are still here. Before Easter we went away again but came back to the same place.
Everybody here says that we will be home soon.
Dear wife, I have to ask you if you have gotten any money from the army. If you have not gotten any please let me know right away, so that this can be straightened out before I get home.
We have here a train depot but maybe we have to march.
Please, dear wife, start to plant the fields the best you know how. If it should be too late we can use it for the animals, then when I get home I have to get a pair of oxen.
I have not gotten any money either or I would have sent you some. You have to see how you can manage. I hope you always had enough flour.
Dear wife, I want to let you know that Jo. Krenz and Jo. Levrenz are back here. Peick is also back and sends his love.
Dear wife, I forgot to mention in the last letter that the money we borrowed is due in May. Please talk to the man and straighten it out as well as you can. I got no money so I can’t send you any. Please do your best.
Dear wife, I send my love to everybody and hope that we will be together soon. How are our brother-in-law and sister-in-law and Thea and kids and her in-laws and Johann Wichmann and his wife and kids? Tell them all hello from me. I have to finish now. Many thousand wishes from your loving husband until death.
August Sievert
Dear wife, please ask around if the other wives have gotten any money.
Dear wife, rumor has it that we will be moving on next Monday. I do not know to where but it will be on foot.
(“Our brother-in-law and sister-in-law” are Joergen Thede and his wife Emilie Born, who were living in New Holstein. “Thea” is Dorothea Peik, whose husband Joachim Peik – also referred to in the letter – was serving with Sievert.)
The final letter was written from Louisville, Ken., two days before Sievert was mustered out of the service. Sievert does not refer directly to the chronic sickness that eventually took his life – with which he was even then suffering – but the effects of that sickness are clearly evident in what he says concerning his lack of sleep, his loss of strength, and his inability to concentrate:
Louisville
July 12, 1865
Dearly beloved wife,
I received your letter of June 29th on July 9th and note from it that you are well but that all the children are sick. That makes me sick too for in several weeks now I’ve had no rest. I can’t sleep for I am worried that at home something must have happened. That’s what I thought. Because of this worry I’ve been sick and quite weak. Dear wife, I have to write it to you, even if I should be home before the harvest. I can’t unload [?] the winter wheat. I don’t believe I can do it, for I am too weak. I don’t get any rest no matter where I go, no matter where I lie down I can’t sleep. On the other hand, the fellows with me, when they lie down they sleep immediately and rest well.
Dear wife, I can however tell you that tomorrow we are to leave here for Madison and it is rumored here that we may be home shortly. We could be there already but our captains didn’t have the muster roll ready – otherwise we would be on the way. Two regiments of our brigade are already gone and another is to leave today, and tomorrow comes our turn.
Dear wife, the winter wheat I intended to store in the barn, but I think I’ll be home by that time. If I should be home by that time and the weather is favorable I would put it in piles. But if I should not come by that time, then you must do it the best way you can, fill the barn from top to bottom. I think you can get all the winter wheat in there. I am very sure that I think I’ll be home by that time.
Dear wife, and now you write to me about the great trouble with the old ___ . Sorry, dear wife, at this time I can’t help you even if I would like to. But it does not go, I can’t do anything about it now.
Dearest wife, I will close, I can’t really concentrate to write; everything goes against me. I greet all the relatives and friends and our brother-in-law and sister-in-law a thousand times – and wait until I’m in Madison from where I’ll write again. I sincerely greet you and all our dear children and I’ll always be your dear husband until death us do part.
August Sievert
The pound of butter costs ___
and a dozen eggs costs ___
George St. Sure, who had served as First Assistant Surgeon in the 17th Wisconsin, stated in 1867 that he “was personally well acquainted with August Sievert,” and that “August Sievert on or about the 15th day of April 1865 while on the march through the State of North Carolina...contracted chronic diarrhoea, and that said soldier was suffering from said disease at the time of his muster out of service.” David La Bount, the physician who treated Sievert for this sickness after he got home, stated in 1866 that “August Sievert after being discharged from the U. S. military service arrived home on the 19th day of July A.D. 1865, at which time he was suffering from chronic diarrhoea which continued to increase on him...until his death which took place on the sixth day of October A.D. 1865...”
