HISTORICAL NOTES:
The 34th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment was a conscripted infantry regimen composed of men drafted by state authorities under General Order No. 94. The regiment was organized at Madison, Wisconsin, and mustered into Federal service December 31, 1862.[1][2]
The regiment was mustered out on September 8, 1863, in the course of disciplinary action against various members of the regiment, including the regiment commander, Fritz Anneke.
Anneke, a famous Forty-Eighter of German origin, had been a former Prussian officer and artillery commander during the 1849 revolutionary war in Palatinate and Baden, Germany. Carl Schurz, who was later a U.S. general, Secretary of the Interior, and U.S. Senator, had been his adjunct officer during that campaign, and his wife Mathilde Franziska Anneke, the famous abolitionist and feminist activist, served as ordnance officer in that campaign. Emil Anneke, the first Michigan Auditor General of the Republican Party, was his brother. Although Anneke was arrested and later dismissed from military service, he was probably innocent and a victim of denouncement and slander. Most of his friends from the German 1849 campaign served as generals in the Union, for example Carl Schurz, August Willich, Ludwig Blenker, and Franz Sigel. Fritz Anneke later tried to be re-admitted to military service, also supported by his brother Emil, but did not succeed.
The 34th Wisconsin Infantry was definitely NOT a volunteer unit. Indeed, its enlisted ranks (i.e. privates) consisted mostly of draftees who were not particularly interested in fulfilling their term of service (which I believe was for only nine months). The "experiment" was in placing all of Wisconsin's drafted men into a single regiment. That was a conspicuous failure.
The 34th Wisconsin, even being led by Col. Fritz Anneke (whose appointment may have likely been a political sop to the draftees) was a dismal failure. The desertions began even before the regiment left the state of Wisconsin. As a nine-months regiment, the 34th was posted to Louisville, KY for guard duty and saw no combat service and suffered (if you want to use that term) a lost of 19 men to disease. This regiment was afflicted by an unusually high number of desertions. To be sure, there were indeed loyal men who served out their term of service, and most of the officers and senior NCOs had prior service with out Wisconsin volunteer regiments and did there best to lead honorably. Fritz Anneke did not fare well, possibly for being German, and possibly for the reputation his regiment had among his superiors.
What I find interesting is that, given the high level of desertion in this regiment, provost authorities in Wisconsin apparently made little effort to capture the deserters and hold them accountable, most likely for political reasons. Many deserters simply returned to their homes and apparently resumed their civilian lives without repercussions.
The takeaway lesson Wisconsin military officials learned from this experiment was, after 1862, to send draftees (often under guard) to established Wisconsin regiments in the field as replacements in small drafts. Once they arrived at their newly assigned unit, they were closely watched and assimilated into regiment. As drafted men, they were often treated with a certain amount of contempt by the volunteers of 1861 until they proved themselves to be reliable (if indeed they did) and not shirkers.
- Reid Van Sluys posting on Facebook
The 34th Wisconsin suffered 1 officers and 18 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 19 fatalities.
OFFICERS:
Colonel Fritz Anneke
John A. Becher was quartermaster of the regiment. After the war he served as a Wisconsin state legislator and immigration commissioner.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Attached to District of Columbus, Ky., 6th Division, 16th Army Corps, Dept. of the Tennessee, to August, 1863. (6 Companies attached to 4th Brigade, District of Memphis, Tenn., 5th Division, 16th Army Corps, May to August)
SERVICE:
Garrison and fatigue duty at Fort Halleck, Columbus, Ky., till August, 1863. Company "E" detached at Paducah, Ky., March 3; Companies "I" and "G" at Cairo, Ill., April 25-June 1; Companies "B," "C," "D," "F," "H" and "K" at Memphis, Tenn., May 12. Regiment united at Cairo, Ill., August 14. Moved to Wisconsin August 16 and mustered out September 8, 1863.
ROSTERS:
The composite rosters of this unit contain the names of 1735 men. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Vol. 2. Davenport, IA: Eastern Digital Resources, 2003.
Love, William D. Wisconsin in the War of the Rebellion. Chicago: Church and Goodman, 1866. E537L79. Davenport, IA: Eastern Digital Resources, 2011.
Quiner, E.B. The Military History of Wisconsin. Chicago: Clarke, 1866. E537Q75.
Davenport, IA: Eastern Digital Resources, 2011.
Rigdon, John C. Wisconsin Civil War Soldiers Index. Davenport, IA: Eastern Digital Resources, 2011.
HISTORICAL NOTES: