The 12th Missouri Infantry: A German-American Regiment

Missouri contributed many fine military units, both Union and Confederate ones, to the war effort. William F. Fox highlighted four Union Missouri regiments in his list of 300 fighting regiments; all of the Missouri units in his list suffered high percentages of men killed or mortally wounded in action. Many German-Americans served in the ranks of the 12^th Missouri Infantry, and they saw their first combat at the battle of Pea Ridge.

For further information about the unit see:

Hess, Earl J., ed. A German in the Yankee Fatherland: The Civil War Letters of Henry A. Kircher. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1983.

“C. R. Wood's Brigade — Osterhaus's Division--Fifteenth Corps.

（1) Col. P. J. Osterhaus; Major-General.

（2) Col. Hugo Wangelin; Bvt. Brig.-Gen.

Losses.	Officers.	En. Men.	Total.
Killed and mortally wounded	10	102	112
Died of disease, accidents, in prison, etc.	2	94	96
Totals	12	196	208

Total enrollment, 931; killed, 112; percentage, 12.0.

Battles.	Killed.	Wounded.1	Missing.2	Total.
Pea Ridge, Ark.	3	29	2	34
Chickasaw Bluffs, Miss.	2	4		6
Arkansas Post, Ark.		1		1
Fort Pemberton, Miss.		2		2
Vicksburg, Miss. (assault, May 19）	1	3		4
Vicksburg, Miss. (assault, May 22）	26	82		108
Siege of Vicksburg, Miss.	10	42		52
Canton, Miss.	1	5		6
Barton Station, Miss.	1	3		4
Lookout Mountain, Tenn.	1	23	3	27
Misssionary Ridge, Tenn.
Ringgold, Ga.	5	22	1	28
Resaca, Ga.	6	18		24
Dallas, Ga.	3	9		12
Kenesaw Mountain, Ga.	4	6		10
Battle of Atlanta, Ga., July 22d	2	5	1	8
Ezra Chapel, Ga.	1	2		3
Siege of Atlanta, Ga.	2	8		10
Skirmishes; Guerillas; On Picket.	3	10	1	14
Totals	71	274	8	353

Notes.--Organized at St. Louis in August, 1861. After participating in Fremont's expedition in Missouri, the regiment left its camp at Rolla, Mo., in January, 1862, with General Curtis's Army, moving into Arkansas, where it was engaged, March 8, 1862, at the battle of Pea Ridge. It was then in Greusel's Brigade, of Osterhaus's Division. The rest of that year was passed in Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas, its next battle occurring, December 29, 1862, at Chickasaw Bluffs; a few days after it sailed for Arkansas Post, where it was present but not engaged. It was then in Hovey's Brigade, of Steele’s Division. During the Vicksburg campaign it was in C. R. Woods's Brigade, Steele's Division, Fifteenth Corps. It took a prominent part in the assault on Vicksburg, May 22, 1863, in which Major Gustavus Lightfoot was killed. After the fall of Vicksburg, the regiment accompanied its corps to Tennessee, where it participated in the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, in which Colonel Wangelin lost an arm. On May 1, 1864, it moved with Sherman's Army in the advance on Atlanta. It was then in Wangelin's (3d) Brigade, Osterhaus's (1st) Division, Fifteenth Corps; this division was subsequently commanded by General Charles R. Woods. The Twelfth fought its last battle at Ezra Chapel, Ga., on July 28, 1864; its time having expired it was shortly afterwards ordered home for muster-out. Of the officers belonging to the regiment, ten were killed, one lost both eyes, one lost a leg and arm, one lost one arm, and two lost one leg each; one died of disease, and one was drowned” (Fox, p. 414).

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1 Includes the mortally wounded.

2 Includes the captured.