TRANSCRIBED BY RUSS SCOTT, WOODBURY, MN.
June 29, 1914
Recall Famous Fight
Survivors of 26th Wisconsin Recall Battle of Peach Tree Creek Before Atlanta.
C. F. Stemm, Peter Wirshem,
George C. Lampert and Charles Vollmer Were All With The Union Army in Famous
Fight Against Confederates.
This was a day of memories
for the handful of the 26th Wisconsin Infantry as just fifty years ago
at sunset this day these men took part in the Battle of Peach Tree Creek,
one of the heaviest battles of the campaign for Atlanta. The fight with
the Confederates at Peach Tree Creek was one of the most horrible engagements
of the troops from Kenosha were engaged. Some survivors of the famous skirmish
were D. F. Stemm, former Major of this City, Charles Vollmer, George C.
Lampert and Peter Wirshem. The 26th Wisconsin Regiment enlisted a large
number of German Immigrants were in the very hottest of the fighting. The
regiment was under the command of Colonel F. C. Winkler now live in Milwaukee.
In the fight which lasted
less than a quarter of an hour the 26th lost fifty men. Opposing the Union
in this fight were the members of the fighting 33rd
Mississippi Regiment of the Confederate Army. In the fight this regiment
was cut to pieces, all of its officers were killed and the two flags of
the regiment including the state flag and the flag of the Confederacy,
were captured. These flags were brought back to Wisconsin and placed in
the capitol at Madison and they were among the battle flags destroyed in
the fire which burned the state house a decade ago.
Former Mayor Stemm talked
of the battle today. " I remember it just as if it was yesterday," said
Mr. Stemm. "We had been on the march most of the day when we came to an
old dead corn field and had stacked our arms with a view of getting some
supper. The Kenosha members of the regiment had made it a custom to stick
together and when we stacked arms Limpert went out and got some wood to
make a fire. Charley Vollmer scouted out to get some water for the coffee
and I was out gathering blackberries. I had picked a quart of the berries
when I heard the firing of the skirmish lines. We could see the men of
the 33rd Mississippi were coming nearly three-quarters of a mile away and
we hurried to arms and went to meet them. I remember that the first time
I attempted to shoot my old muzzle loading musket the cartage missed fire
and I threw it down and reach to pick up a musket from one of the men who
had fallen. I got hold of the sword of Captain Miller of Milwaukee, who
had been one of the first of our men to fall in the struggle. I went on
and managed to get a musket and the four Kenosha boys were right in the
fighting until the flags of the enemy had been captured and the survivors
scattered. Other regiments at the fight were the 73rd
Ohio, 33rd
Massachusetts, 55th Indiana, and one other regiment. ***
Later on in the war we found a few of the members of the 33rd Mississippi
after they had been mustered into other regiments of the Confederate army.
In this fight the mettle of the German volunteers was fully tried and the
victory attained was one of the most brilliant of the campaign before Atlanta.
At that time Vollmer and I were just about seventeen years of age while
Limpert and Wirshem were well up in the twenties. We members of the 26th
regard the battle of Peach Tree Creek as one of the real notable engagements
of the war."
***NOTE: Mr. Stemm may have been referring to the 136th New York.
