Private Augustus Beckman-- Part 1

From Find-A-Grave.  Biography by Dennis Brake.

Augustus Beckman arrived in Galveston, Texas, on the ship "Gessner" from Germany in 1860 with their destination reported as being San Antonio.

He and his brother William enlisted in Company F, 2nd Texas Infantry, Moore's Regiment, on September 5, 1861, at Galveston.

Both brothers made it through the first day at the Battle of Shiloh, but on the second day, when Confederate forces were pushed back, both were wounded and both captured.  Both were taken to Union field hospitals on board transports rented by the U.S. Sanitary Commission.

--Old Secesh

2nd Texas Infantry, the Beckmann Brothers-- Part 3: Augustus Not So Lucky

Augustus Beckmann was wounded the same day that his brother William was, April 7, 1861, at the second day of fighting at the Battle of Shiloh.  He was wounded in the knee and then taken prisoner.

He was taken to Camp Dennison in Cincinnati where he died on May 9, 1862.  All he had with him at the time was his German Testament.  Years after the war, his body was disinterred and moved to Camp Chase in Columbus where he was reburied and had the incorrect name and company on his gravestone.

I have no doubt that part of the problem with his misidentification was because of his inability to speak English very well or his accent.

Of interest, his brother William Beckmann had been a prisoner at Camp Chase during the war.

--Old Secesh

2nd Texas Infantry Beckmann Brothers-- Part 2: Both Wounded and Captured at Shiloh

William and Augustus Beckmann's (the column also lists a brother Charles) first and only battle was at Shiloh.  Both brothers came through the first day's action, April 6, 1862, unscathed.  But, the next day proved not as fortunate as both were wounded and taken prisoner.  At this time, they were also separated.

William was shot in the calf and sent to a Union hospital in Louisville and then to Camp Chase in Columbus.  Six months later he was heading home as part of a prisoner exchange.  After the war, he settled in Mississippi, married, farmed and had a family.

He died in 1914.

2nd Texas Infantry, the Beckmann Brothers-- Part 1: They Join Company F, A German-Speaking Unit

From the August 23, 2016, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch  "Theodore Decker Commentary:  After 154 years, family finally learn fate of fallen Civil War soldier" by Theodore Decker.

The brothers, Augustus and William Beckmann  came to America from the Grand Duchy of Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, Germany, to find a better life.  They came for land and settled in Galveston, Texas.

Then, war came and they went to fight for their new country.  They enlisted in the 2nd Texas Infantry and became part of Company F, an all-German unit.  I imagine they felt comfortable with former countrymen.  Company F was also called the Mounted riflemen.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find out any more about Company F, but imagine they had an interesting history.

--Old Secesh

2nd Texas Infantry, Company C, Bayland Guards-- Part 3: Sam Houston, Jr.

Colonel Ashbel Smith was wounded.  Sam Houston, Jr., 19, went missing in the action when he was wounded, but the bullet struck his metal-covered New Testament his mother had given him.

A Union chaplain found him and noted the inscription on the New Testament and, knowing his importance, gave him special care.

Sam Houston, Jr., was sent to Camp Douglas in Illinois, survived and returned home in September 1862.

The people who write this application are asking for the marker to the Bayland Guards and they did get it in 2010.

--Old Secesh

Second Texas Infantry, Company C, Bayland Guards-- Part 2: Half Killed or Wounded at the Battle of Shiloh

From the Application for Official Texas Historical Marker for Bayland Guards.

On April 27, 1861, a Harris County group from Baytown and Cedar Bayou and others from Barbers Hill in western Chambers County organized as the Bayland Guards.  Fifty-year-old Dr. Ashbel Smith trained and outfitted them at his Evergreen Plantation.

Sam Houston's son, Sam, Jr. was a member as were Samuel E. Jones and Charles Elliott Jones, sons of Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas.

The company and regiment arrived at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee on April 3, 1861, and soon afterwards took part in the Battle of Shiloh, where the Bayland Guards led the Confederate advance into a Union camp with two other companies.  Half of Company C were killed or wounded in the assault.

--Old Secesh

Second Texas Infantry, Company C, Bayland Guards-- Part 1

Continued from September 9, 2016.

The incorrect grave marker for Augustus Beckmann also listed him as being in Company C of the 2nd Texas, as I found out, which was also incorrect.  But after finding out about this company, it had an interesting history and some somewhat famous members.

This outfit sounds to me like they were somewhat of an upper class group.  Plus, they were organized outside of Galveston.  I doubt that fairly recent immigrants like Augustus and William Beckmann would have had enough money to belong to an elite group.

--Old Secesh

2nd Texas Infantry-- Part 3: At Battle of Shiloh

The Order of Battle for the 2nd Texas Infantry at the Battle of Shiloh"

2nd Army Corps under Major General Braxton Bragg.

Second Division under Brigadier General Jones M. Withers.

Third Brigade under Brigadier General John K. Jackson

Also in the Third Brigade:

17th Alabama
18th Alabama
19th Alabama
Georgia Battery under Capt. Isadore P. Girardey

At Shiloh, the 2nd Texas was led by Colonel John C. Moore
Lt. Colonel was William P. Rodgers.  (During the Mexican War he had gotten into a quarrel with Jefferson Davis which almost led to a duel.)  He was later killed at the Battle of Corinth on October 4, 1862.  A famous photograph was taken of his body and others in his command who died there.

Of 6.482 men at the Battle of Shiloh, the 2nd Division had 1,918 killed and wounded.

Jackson's 3rd Brigade had 86 killed, 365 wounded and 213 missing.

Heavy Fighting Indeed.  --Old Secesh

Second Texas Infantry-- Part 2: Fighting At the Hornet's Nest at the Battle of Shiloh

Continued from September 8, 2016.

The unit was at the Battle of Shiloh April 6-7, 1862, and cited for bravery as it fought on the right wing of the Confederate Army.  It helped capture the headquarters of three Union brigades and encircled Gen. Benjamin M. Prentiss' division at what became known as the Hornet's Nest.

By nightfall of April 6th, they had penetrated to within a very short distance of the steamboat landing, having pushed through the Union Army that far.

Both Augustus and William Beckmann came through the first day's fighting unscathed.  They were both wounded the next day.

--Old secesh

Second Texas Infantry-- Part 1: Raised to Defend Texas Coast

This is regards my blog entry of September 1 on Augustus Beckmann who was mortally wounded at the Battle of Shiloh, buried at Camp Dennison in Cincinnati under the wrong name and later moved to Camp Chase in Columbus.

He served in the 2nd Texas Infantry.

From the Texas State Historical Association.

The 2nd Texas Infantry was organized at Galveston, Texas, in September 1861 to protect the Texas coast.  The regiment moved to Camp Bee in Houston that September to complete its training.  It had ten companies.

By March 1862, it moved to Corinth, Mississippi, where it became part of the Army of the Mississippi, under General Albert Sidney Johnston.

--Old Secesh

Headstone of Confederate Soldier To Be Fixed After 154 Years-- Part 2

Greg Beckman, Augustus Beckmann's brother's great-great-grandson, teaches government at a high school in Placentia, California, pulled together the necessary documentation and asked the National Cemetery Administration to fix the headstone.  He recently learned his request was approved.

An administration spokeswoman said the approved stones are typically in place within sixty days.

Beckman's great-great-grandfather, William Beckmann, was Augustus' brother.  The two men came to America from present-day Germany between 1858 and 1860 and enlisted in the 2nd Infantry Division in Galveston.

"William never learned the fate of his brother, as (Augustus) was buried under the wrong surname of Bergman all those years," Beckman said.  "The last time they saw one another was on the battlefield of Shiloh."

Augustus Beckmann was buried under the name Bergman at Camp Dennison near Cincinnati, and the incorrect name followed him when his remains and those of 30 other soldiers were removed in 1869 and reinterred at Camp Chase.

Beckman said he was happy to visit his relative's gravesite but wasn't content with the incorrect inscription.  "I knew something had to be done about it," he said.

Job Well Done.  --Old Secesh

Headstone of Confederate Soldier To Be Fixed After 154 Years-- Part 1

From the August 28, 2016, Chicago Tribune, AP.

Augustus Beckmann was killed in the 1862 Battle of Shiloh and buried under the wrong name, A Bergman.

A Civil War soldier who was misidentified when he was buried in an Ohio cemetery more than 150 years ago is set to receive a new headstone, this time with the correct name.

Confederate soldier Augustus Beckmann was fatally wounded in the Battle of Shiloh on April 7,1862.  When he died as a prisoner, he was buried at the Camp chase Confederate Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio under the wrong name, A. Bergman, and the wrong company.

Beckmann's brother's great-great-grandson, Greg Beckman, discovered the error when he visited Camp Chase last Memorial Day.

--Old Secesh

The Colonel's Sword Comes Back

From the March 2nd Columbus (In) The Republic "Civil War relics show brings back Confederate colonel's sword to Corinth." From the March 2nd Daily Corinthian (Ms) by Bobby J. Smith.

On October 4, 1862, victorious Union troops claimed a trophy of war, the sword and scabbard of Col. William P. Rogers of the 2nd Texas Infantry, who had died leading the doomed assault on Union Battery Robinett at the Battle of Corinth in Mississippi.

After Union soldiers finishing stripping Rogers' body of souvenirs, he and the bodies of some of the men he led were gathered together and a photo taken of their corpses. The Union commander then ordered the colonel buried at the spot he fell.

This weekend, that sword and scabbard were returned to Corinth for the first time in nearly 150 years as part of the Corinth Civil War Relic and Militaria Show and Sale sponsored by the Col. W. P. Rogers Camp SCV.

Current owner of the sword, Allen Chandling, a collector from St. Louis, will be bringing it. He acquired the sword and scabbard in 2010.

Welcome Home. --Old Secesh