Historic California Militia and
National Guard Units
Sigel Rifles
(Sigel Guard)
Military Unit Designation: Sigel Rifles, 1st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade,
California Militia; after 12 February 1864, Sigel Rifles, 2nd
Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, California Militia; after August
1864, Sigel Guard, Company B, 6th (German) Infantry Regiment,
2nd Brigade, California Militia
Date of Organization: 25 September
1861
Date of Disbanding: 23 July 1866
Inclusive dates of units papers: 1861-1866
Geographical Location or Locations: San
Francisco City and County.
Records Series Descriptions: a. Organization Papers 1 document
(1861)
b. Bonds 2 document (1861-1862)
c. Correspondence (Unclassified letters) 8 documents (1861-1865)
d. Election Returns 6 documents (1861-1865)
e. Exempt Certificates, Applications for none
f. Muster Rolls, Monthly returns 8 documents (1861-1866)
g. Oaths Qualifications 4 documents (1864-1865)
h. Orders none
i. Receipts, invoices 2 document (1861)
j. Requisitions 1 documents (1862)
k. Resignations none
l. Target Practice Reports none
m. Other none
Commanding Officers:
Peter Lesser, Captain: Elected September 25, 1861, Commissioned
September 28, 1861, Reelected September 17, 1862, Promoted to
Major, November. 25, 1862
Max Wesendorff, First Lieutenant: Elected September 25, 1861,
Commissioned September 28, 1861
Anton Ewald, Elected First Lieutenant September 17,1862 Commissioned
September 27, 1862
Anton Ewald, Captain: Elected September 16, 1863; Commissioned
September 29, 1863; Reelected September 15, 1864; September 21,
1865
William Wagner, First Lieutenant Elected September 16, 1863;
Commissioned September 29, 1863
Charles Gozer, First Lieutenant: Elected September 15, 1864;
Commissioned September 26, 1864; September 21, 1865}
Official History:
The Sigel Rifles,a German company, was organized in San Francisco
and mustered in as a unit of the California State Militia on
the twenty-fifth of September 1861. At the time of its organization
the company numbered seventy-six rank and file and was attached
to the First Regiment of Infantry, Second Brigade. The company
was supplied with forty stand of arms on October 7, 1861, and
before the end of that year the members had provided their own
uniforms and hats. The new company was well officered, devoted
much time and energy to drill practice and gave promise for the
future.
The Sigel Rifles attended the ten day Encampment of the Second
Brigade held at Camp Allen, Alameda
County in October 1863, where they soon won high applause,
and were rated one of the
best disciplined companies in attendance on that occasion. On
the twelfth of February, 1864 the company was transferred from
the First to the Second Infantry Regiment under Special Order
No. 48 of that year, [1] and in August was again transferred
to the Sixth (German) Infantry Regiment, Second Brigade and designated
as Company B. During the year 1864 the name of the company was
also changed from the Sigel Rifles to the Sigel Guard. Little
of military importance transpired in 1865 and the activities
of the troops were limited to drill, parade and target practice.
·
The State Legislature at its 1865-1866 session enacted a law
necessitating a reorganization of the State Militia, and reducing
the number of companies in the National Guard of California to
eighty in all,and authorized the State Board of Location and
Organization to disband and reorganize companies and make such
other changes in the military organization of the State as seemed
just and proper.[2] This reorganization caused Special Order
No. 3 of 1866 to be issued and pursuant to that order the Sigel
Rifles (now the Sigel Guard) was mustered out of the service
on the twenty-third of July, 1866.[3]
Footnotes:
1. Historical Record of the Second
Brigade 1860-1864, page 19, on file Adjutant General's Office.
2. California Statutes 1865-1866, Chapter DXLI, page 722.
3. Adjutant General Report 1865-1867, page 91.
Colonel Franz Sigel
Franz Sigel (November
18, 1824 – August 21, 1902) was a German military officer,
revolutionist and immigrant to the United States who was a teacher,
newspaperman, politician, and served as a Union major general
in the American Civil War.
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