Alexander Schimmelfennig (Cyclopaedia of Important Events)

SCHIMMELFENNIG, ALEXANDER, Brigadier-General U. S. volunteers, born in Germany in 1824; died at Minersville, near Reading, Pennsylvania, September 7, 1865.  He was an officer under Kossuth in the Hungarian revolt.  At the breaking out of the war he was appointed colonel of a Pennsylvania regiment, and served under General Sigel during the Virginia campaign of General Pope.  He was nominated a brigadier-general for his services at Bull Run, in November, 1862, but not being confirmed, was renominated in January, 1863, and confirmed in the March following, his commission being dated back to the first nomination.  At Chancellorsville, he commanded the first brigade of General Shurz's division of General Howard's Eleventh Corps, and was at Gettysburg with the same command.  In February, 1864, he was sent to St. John's Island, and thence crossed to James Island.  General Schimmelfennig's forces were the first to enter Charleston, February 18, 1865, when flanked by General Sherman.  For some time he remained in command of the [defences] of the city, but was finally relieved on account of ill health, the result of his exposure during the war, and, retiring to his home in Pennsylvania, rapidly sank under consumption.