Peter Joseph Osterhaus

Peter Joseph Osterhaus
Peter J. Osterhaus
Born	January 4, 1823 Koblenz, Rhenish Prussia
Died	January 2, 1917(1917-01-02) (aged 93) Duisburg, Germany
Place of burial	Koblenz City Cemetery, Koblenz, Germany
Allegiance	United States of America Union
Service / branch	United States Army Union Army
Years of service	1861–1866
Rank	Major General
Commands	12th Missouri Volunteer Infantry XV Corps
Battles / wars	American Civil War Battle of Wilson's Creek Battle of Pea Ridge Battle of Champion Hill Battle of Big Black River Bridge Battle of Lookout Mountain Battle of Ringgold Gap Atlanta Campaign Battle of Jonesborough Sherman's March to the Sea

Peter Joseph Osterhaus (January 4, 1823 – January 2, 1917) was a German-American Union Army general in the American Civil War and later served as a diplomat.As a young businessman living in Mannheim, Osterhaus took part in the 1848 German Revolution and was afterwards forced to flee the country. Osterhaus emigrated to the United States and became a bookkeeper in Missouri."</ref>

Early life

Osterhaus was born in Koblenz, Rhenish Prussia, the son of Eleanora (Kraemer) and Josef Adolf Oisterhusz. After graduating from high school he had a three-year business apprenticeship and served the two years of his state military obligation in Regiment 29 of the Third Rhine Infantry. As a young businessman living in Mannheim Osterhaus took part in the [[1848 German Revolution[[ and was afterwards forced to flee the country. He immigrated to the United States in 1858 and settled in Belleville, Illinois, later moving to St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked as a bookkeeper.

Civil War

At the outbreak of the Civil War Osterhaus enlisted as a private but was soon appointed a major of the 2nd Missouri Volunteer Infantry and during the first year of the war was employed in Missouri and Arkansas, where he took a conspicuous part in the Battle of Wilson's Creek and Battle of Pea Ridge.After Wilson's Creek he was promoted to colonel and ordered to recruit a new three-year regiment, the 12th Missouri Infantry. At Pea Ridge he commanded the First Division, preventing a much larger Confederate force advancing on the Union left from uniting with the rest of the Confederate forces and greatly impacting the Union victory. He was promoted to brigadier general on June 9, 1862. In 1863 he commanded a division in the Battle of Port Gibson, where he displayed tactical ability in prying Confederate defenders out of a favorable position.

Osterhaus commanded the Ninth Division under Maj. Gen. John McClernand during the Vicksburg Campaign, fighting at the [[Battle of Arkansas Post Battle of Champion Hill and at the Battle of Big Black River Bridge, where he was slightly wounded. Osterhaus's division participated in an unsuccessful attack on the defenses of Vicksburg, the first act of the Siege of Vicksburg. His division helped cover the siege against intervention by the Confederate forces of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, and he took part in Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's advance on Jackson, Mississippi, that was designed to protect the rear of the Army of the Tennessee in its siege operations.

After the fall of Vicksburg, Osterhaus was reassigned to command Maj.Gen. U. S. Grant's First Division (Union Army) and led the advance across northern Alabama to rescue Union forces besieged at Chattanooga, Tennessee. In the Chattanooga, after a brief trip home to St. Louis when his wife died suddenly, he aided Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker in the capture of Lookout Mountain and carried the Union left flanking movement at the Missionary Ridge but was defeated at the Ringgold Gap. Osterhaus then participated in the Atlanta at the Resaca, but a month-long sick leave due to malaria caused him to miss the crucial Battle of Atlanta. However, he returned to command and played a significant role in the Jonesborough. Osterhaus was appointed Major General, U. S. Army Volunteers in July, 1864 and was assigned command of the XV Corps, one of the four corps into which the army was consolidated, in the Sherman's March to the Sea. In March 1865 Osterhaus was appointed chief of staff in the Military Division of West Mississippi under the command of Maj. Gen. Edward Canby, a commander with little combat experience in high command. Osterhaus served Canby through the battles of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely. When Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered the Confederate forces in the Trans-Mississippi Theater, Osterhaus was sent as Canby's representative and therefore personally signed the documents on behalf of the Union army.

He was mustered out of the service on January 15, 1866, and the same year was appointed United States Consul at Lyons, France, but subsequently made his home in Germany, at Duisburg. He retired in 1905, and was in 1915 the oldest pensioner on the Army list.

Osterhaus died in Duisburg and was buried in Koblenz, Germany at the Koblenz City Cemetery. The grave no longer exists, but a memorial marks his service to both of his countries.

Commemorations

Osterhaus is mentioned as losing a battle with Confederate cavalry lead by Joseph Wheeler on the Turkey Town Monument near Gadsden, Alabama.

See also

• List of American Civil War generals (Union)

References

• Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
• Townsend, Mary Bobbitt. Yankee Warhorse: A Biography of Major General Peter Osterhaus (University of Missouri Press; 2010) 288 pages; scholarly biography
• Woodworth, Steven E., Grant's Lieutenants, vol. 1: From Cairo to Vicksburg, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2001.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

• Peter Joseph Osterhaus Official Website
• "Osterhaus, Peter Joseph" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.