Death of an Assassin: The True Story of the German Murderer Who Died Defending Robert E. Lee by Ann Marie Ackermann

Author:Ann Marie Ackermann
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Kent State University Press

Capt. Frederick W. Binder (Source: The Illustrated New Age [Philadelphia], April 21, 1874)

Preparing a company for war involved much more than drilling the men. Local women sewed uniforms, tents, and the company flag. The flag commanded the utmost respect. Once the women finished the banner, they usually presented it in a formal ceremony. The typical procedure was to have one lady give a speech, imploring the soldiers-to-be to defend their flag with their lives. One of the officers would accept the flag, assuring the women none of his soldiers would ever dishonor the women’s handiwork. A toast to the women and a company dinner often followed the flag presentation.11

Nothing is recorded about the flag of the Washington Light Infantry, but it was probably similar to the flag of its sister company, the Washington National Guard, from whom it broke off in the 1830s when the latter became too large. A German newspaper described the latter’s flag as blue silk with golden fringes and thirteen embroidered stars on each side. One side featured a flowering vine surrounding the text, “Deutsche Washington Guard,” and the other the American eagle with the text, “Hail our new Country.” German “women and maidens” sewed it, and they presented it in March 1836. The flag presentation to an all-German company from Ohio took place in a German theater with the entire company present. German women, clad in white, exhorted the soldiers to fight in honor of both the German nation and their adopted homeland.12

Captain Binder and his company left Philadelphia on the morning of December 7, 1846, for the state rendezvous in Pittsburgh. Snow capped the roofs and fell heavily all that morning. Clad in their new blue uniforms, the Philadelphia companies left by train. A diverse crowd gathered to bid them farewell. One Philadelphian described a throng of both sexes and panoply of emotions: duty, friendship, envy, military pride, curiosity, and pain.13

Pittsburgh, the rendezvous point, plunged the volunteers into realities of military life. Some of the troops were quartered in a warehouse without heat. They also had to undergo physical examinations. Although army regulations required the recruits to completely disrobe—this allowed the examining physician to better assess disabilities, diseases, and check for the tattooed letters “D” or “HD” on a hip or arm, meaning deserter or habitual drunkard—the pressure to get volunteers sent off to Mexico was so great that one regiment of volunteers from an unspecified state went through the physicals fully clothed. If Captain Binder had any residual disability from his childhood, the superficiality of the exam may have allowed him to pass it.14

The doctors at least peered into the soldiers’ mouths. The army required a set of strong front teeth. Soldiers needed them to load their muskets—they had to rip open the paper covering on the cartridges with their teeth.15

A lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Artillery mustered the Washington Light Infantry on December 14. It became Company E of the 1st Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers. On December 21, the regiment boarded

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.