FRANZ SIGEL.

EVER engaged in any battle where the side upon which he fought could

NEVE

fairly claim an unqualified victory; and never engaged in a separate command where he was not compelled to retreat, Franz Sigel yet keeps a sure hold upon public confidence, and a perusal of his career compels the acknowledgment of his thorough soldiership, and his ability as a general. This can only be the result of some real power in the man, for the world-and especially our world -is too fond of success to overlook disaster; and unless fully impressed with the conviction that a better chance than he has hitherto had would show a better result, it would not hesitate to cry down the soldier whose only fault has been an utter want of luck, that great constituent of military fame.

FRANZ SIGEL was born at Zinsheim, in the grand duchy of Baden, November 18th, 1824. His father held the important position of Kreisumtman-the highest magistrate in the county of Bruchsal. Franz received a liberal education, and was graduated from the military school at Carlsruhe, whence he entered the regular army of Baden. Rapid advance is not common in that service, yet the young lieutenant had reached the post of chief-adjutant in the year 1847, and in this perhaps, we may see the benefit of his father's position. But when the revolution broke out in Southern Germany, young Siegel openly sympathized with it and was even said to have been compromised in Struve's premature attempt to revolutionize his native state; through these difficulties he lost his commission in the Badish army. All Germany was at that period divided upon the great question of a central government-with a liberal constitution, and the cashiered lieutenant at once cast his fortunes with the liberal party. He entered the contest with the natural ardor of a young soldier already martyred in what he believed to be the cause of his country and of freedom. Various journals agitated the cause on the part of the liberals, and for these Sigel wrote earnestly against the government, and in favor of a new one. He thus acquired a considerable influence with the people, and became prominent among the leaders of the movement. In March, 1849, a preliminary parliament was held at Frankfort, which issued a call for a National Assembly to meet in May, and to submit a plan of government. Disturbances in Rhenish Bavaria anticipated the action of the assembly thus called, and were denounced by the opponents of the liberal movement, as only the trickery of the agitators,

intended to make changes in the government appear more necessary, and to commit the people in advance to whatever revolutionary measures might be brought forward at Frankfort. Prussian soldiers were immediately marched into Rhenish Bavaria Scarcely had the Prussians moved than the liberalists in the grand duchy of Baden made common cause with those in Rhenish Bavaria, and about twenty thousand persons publicly assembled at Offenburg in Baden, passed a series of resolutions, to the effect that the movement in Rhenish Bavaria should be supported, that the constitution voted by the National Assembly should be acknowledged, and that officers in the army should be chosen by the private soldiers. Many soldiers were in attendance, and one of the resolutions that referred to them secured their adherance. On the same day the fortress of Rastadt was seized by the soldiers of the garrison, and disturbances broke out at Carlsruhe. By ten o'clock that night, the grand duke and his ministers were in full flight, and the state was in the hands of the liberal party A "National Committee" assumed the powers of government. Lieutenant Eichfield was made minister of war, and Lieutenant Sigel became prominent among the young officers whose fortunes were in the movement, and who were ready to organize and lead a popular army. With the state itself there had fallen into the hands of the liberals, seven millions florins in coin, two and a half in paper, and seventy thousand muskets, besides those in the hands of the army. The army numbered seventeen thousand men. Some energetic measures were taken by the new government; but, in accordance with the revolutionary idea, the army was ordered to choose its officers anew. Doubtless, this was the death-blow of the revolutionary cause, for it virtually deprived the state of its army. Discipline was destroyed, and all organization entirely lost. "Soldiers appeared on parade," says an eye-witness, "in what they had indiscriminately plundered from the stores at Carlsruhe. Shakos, helmets, caps, great-coats, frocks, full-dress and undress uniforms, all figured in the same ranks..... Officers and privates, arm-inarm, and excessively drunk, reeled through the streets." Raw recruits rose to the rank of major in a day, and a similar disproportion between service and position prevailed throughout. Head-quarters were established at Heidelberg, and there Lieutenant Sigel arrived May 19th.

Five days later, a meeting of liberals near the frontier, in Hesse-Darmstadt, was dispersed by the Hessian soldiery, and Lieutenant Sigel was ordered to lead the revolutionary army of Baden across the frontier. Four battalions of the line, with about six thousand volunteers, were reviewed at Heidelberg previous to the march; and Sigel, as commander of the troops, issued a manifesto, in which was set forth the reasons why he prepared to enter the territory of Hesse-Darmstadt. But Mieroslawski, a Pole, who had been called to the chief command, arrived before the troops moved, and Sigel lost this early chance of distinction.

The revolutionary force, between ten and twelve thousand strong, marched May 28th. On the 1st of June, the "National Committee" was superseded by a "Provisional Government"-formed of the same men as the committee had been --and Sigel was made minister of war. From that period he necessarily exercised a controlling influence upon the struggle; but, though no serious blow had yet been struck, the strength of the cause was gone. Bad counsel had prevailed; the army was already ruined; the volunteers who came forward to fight fell into the radical German error, confounded personal with political freedom, and were consequently impossible to control; and the confidence of the people was lost. Moreover, the leaders themselves appeared to have lost faith in the movement. Yet, under the administration of the young minister, a far from contemptible resistance was made to the united imperial and Prussian armies.

Active operations against the revolutionary forces began about the first of June; and an imperial army, under Peucker, advanced from Furth in two columns, and came up with the army under Mieroslawski, near Weinheim, on the 14th. Mieroslawski attacked Peucker's front and right flank, posted in the village of Grossacken, at six, A. M., on the 15th, and obtained some advantage, but was repulsed, though the battle continued till night. Peucker renewed the battle on the 16th, and suffered severely from Mieroslawski's artillery, but drove the latter from his position. Both sides claimed the victory, and Mîeroslawski regretted his inability to pursue, through want of cavalry; but each fell back to the position occupied previous to the fight on the 15th.

Peucker was superseded in command of the imperial army by the Prince of Prussia, who proclaimed the grand-duchy of Baden in a state of war, and that all offenders against military law should be tried by court-martial, and, if deemed necessary, punished with death. Mieroslawski withdrew his forces from his position near Weinheim to Waghausel on the Rhine, whither he was followed by the Prince of Prussia, whom he attacked, June 22d. He was again beaten, however, and retreated to the upper Neckar and the region of the Black Forest. Sigel, though minister, was present, and took an active part in these battles. After their victory at Waghausel, the Prussians crossed the Neckar, came up with the revolutionary forces at Ettlingen, beat them again, and drove them across the Murg. Mieroslawski now abandoned the cause and fled, and Sigel assumed the chief command. With his broken and demoralized forces he made a splendid retreat, and reached the fortress of Rastadt without loss of a gun. Here the most considerable portion of the revolutionary army was now left, while Sigel endeavored to rally further resistance in other quarters, and concentrated a force at Salem, in the Badish lake district. But the members of the provisional government were already fugitives, and Rastadt was invested; and, though some further resistance was offered, it was at best but a guerilla warfare, and was soon

abandoned by Sigel, who entered Switzerland, July 11th. Driven from the Swiss territory, in common with all other fugitives from Baden, by the decree of the government of the Helvetic confederation, he was compelled to seek a further refuge, and reached the United States in 1850. He took up his residence in New York city, became associated in the conduct of an academy in Market street, and married the daughter of the principal of that academy, Dr. Dulon. He also took an active interest in the volunteer militia organization, and even held the position for some months, under Colonel Schwarzwaelder, of major in the fifth regiment.

In September, 1858, Sigel removed from New York to St. Louis, where he was employed as a teacher in the German-American Academy, when the present war became imminent. Peace had perhaps become ennuyante after ten years, and Sigel immediately determined, in the event of war, to take an active part. Known as a soldier of experience, he obtained a colonel's commission, and, upon the first call of the President upon the people, he organized a regiment of his countrymen, which, under the designation of the third Missouri, was incorporated, May 15th, in General Lyon's first Missouri brigade. This regiment was one of those enlisted for three months. Under Sigel's command, it participated in the seizure of Camp Jackson, where, posted with Blair's regiment, and four pieces of artillery, on the ridge to the north of the rebel position, it guarded the main approach to it, and prevented the possibility of assistance being received by the rebels from St. Louis. This movement was effected with a celerity and precision that spoke highly for the degree of discipline to which the regiment had already attained. After the capture of this rebel force, Governor Jackson was known to be very active in the organization of another at Jefferson City, and General Lyon apprehended that the intention was to make a sudden movement upon St. Louis. He therefore posted the several regiments under his command at the various avenues of approach to the city, to guard against this movement, and also to intercept supplies and munitions of war which it was endeavored to send from St. Louis to the rebel governor at the state capital. In discharge of this duty, Colonel Sigel with his regiment was posted to the west of the city, in Lindall's Grove, and performed efficient service there.

Just previous to the battle at Booneville, Mo., rebel military organizations became very active toward the Arkansas border, and Ben M'Culloch was known to be in motion with forces for the assistance of Jackson and Price, then at Jefferson City. Rather to watch, perhaps, than to fight these forces, Colonel Sigel was ordered for active service in the extreme south-western part of Missouri, and left St. Louis with six companies of his regiment on the night of June 11th, followed on the next day by the other four companies. Colonel Salomon's regiment, the fifth, was subsequently added to his command, which also included the various