DU Civil War Historians.. I need your help

[Viva_La_Revolution]

I'm trying to track my g-g-grandfather George Faubel, and what part he played in the Civil War (if any at all). His obituary says "shortly after he arrived in this country he joined the United States Army and fought Indians in the West."

He immigrated from Germany around 1853 (right after the revolution) to NY. He married and had one child, then on April 18, 1861 he enlisted in the Regular Army. This was just a few days after the Battle at Ft Sumter. He was assigned to 2nd Reg. Infantry company K.

I found his enlistment record, just a line in a ledger that says he signed up at Ft. Ripley (in Minnesota) just a few weeks before the Minnesota Volunteers arrived to hold the fort (against the Indians). This is a bit odd, because he should have been in New Lots, NY.

The info I have been able to find via the google says that Company K (among others) ended up at the battle of Bull Run, and was then stationed in D.C.

The most interesting little nugget I found is that he was listed as Deserter on July 25 1861, just a few days after the first Battle of Bull Run on the 21st. I once found (and since have lost) a note in an officer's report that he had not deserted, and had since been cleared and re-assigned to company I. He was discharged with the rank of Corporal, but I don't have a discharge date.

So my question is, where can I find more information? I don't have the $$ to send for his file at the Archives, so until then all I have is the Internet. I've searched for his name in every conceivable corner of the net, now I'm just learning all I can about the Civil War and what the blazes he might have been doing there.

[Rhiannon12866]

1. I was going to suggest the Ancestry/Genealogy Group, but I see you've already found it...

Good luck! :hi:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=331

[Journeyman]

2. The First Minnesota Volunteers is one of the most storied regiments of the War. . .

They were the first volunteers. The Governor of Minnesota was in Washington the day Mr Lincoln put out the first call for volunteers and he quickly stepped forward with a promise to raise a regiment. He had some idea it would be a useful addition; he had no idea how well they would distinguish themselves.

If your grandfather fought with the 1st Minnesota, you're fortunate to be here. Very few of the original 3,000 men returned home just a scant two years later. They fought in nearly every major engagement of the first two years of war: Bull Run, the Penninsula, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville. At Gettysburg, they found themselves almost alone on Cemetery Ridge, the only Union force available to confront a mass of Confederate troops who were storming through the broken lines of Gen. Sickles' ill-placed defenses and threatening to get behind the Federal lines. Gen. Hancock, commanding the center, knew he needed to delay the Confederates for five minutes so he could move in reinforcements. All he found for the task was a handful of the 1st Minnesota. He pointed to the advancing enemy lines and told Col. Colville to hold 'em at all cost. Charging forward, the Minnesotans fixed bayonets as they ran. They knew it was suicide. They numbered only 262. And there were more than 1600 Alabamans coming towards them.

It was the highest casualty rate in a single engagement of any regiment in the war. Only 47 men returned. They suffered a staggering loss of 82%. But they bought Gen. Hancock not five minutes, but ten, inflicted tremendous casualties on the Rebel regiment, and helped hold the line.

There are over 1600 monuments at Gettysburg. The very first was dedicated to the 1st Minnesota. It was placed in the National Cemetery exactly four years to the hour after Col. Colville lead that fateful charge. It's one of the simplest, a stone vase in which fresh flowers are planted every Spring. On Cemetery Ridge there's a larger monument, atop which a running soldier is posed, bayonet at the ready, faced eternally towards the rock-strewn swale into which so many gave that last full measure.

There are many books written about the 1st Minnesota. Richard Moe's The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers is an exceptionally good account of the regiment. There's much detail about their daily lives and a good deal of information about what the survivors did after the War. I don't find any mention of your Grandfather in the book. Indeed, he may not have fought with the 1st. But if he served with the Minnesota forces, I'm certain you'll find information. I'll look through the sources for some of the books I have and, if I find anything that could be helpful, I'll pass it along. Good luck.