Officer’s Purge following the Battle of Freeman’s Ford
Following the
Battle of Freeman’s Ford, and the Union defeat there, Schimmelfennig carried
out a thorough purge of his brigade, ousting not only Lt. Col. Hamm and at
least one other officer of the 74th, but also both commanders of the 61st Ohio
and the 8th Virginia. In addition, he
purged a further 20 or so officers from those two regiments [ultimately even
getting rid of the entire 8th Virginia and having it replaced by the mostly
German 45th New York]. This event helps
explain some of the unrest in the regiment that led to the future mutiny within
the regiment, and to Schimmelfennig's absolutely unforgiving attitude toward
Major Blessing about his inability to face down the mutineers [combined,
perhaps, with a Prussian's traditional sneering attitude toward a south
German].
Schimmelfennig couldn't just dismiss Lt. Col. Hamm, however, but he
could get rid of him in another fashion.
He sent Hamm off into exile on a permanent "recruiting"
assignment in Pittsburgh. Whenever Hamm
seems to have failed to understand his situation, Major von Hartung would fire
off a rather condescending letter reminding Hamm that he (von Hartung) was in
command of the regiment and that Hamm had no authority with respect to the
regiment by order of Schimmelfennig.
Hamm hung on until March 1863, even gaining the colonelcy, but
apparently eventually realized that he would never be permitted to return to
the regiment. But even that treatment
was better than what was aimed at Colonel Newton Schleich of the 61st Ohio, who
was threatened with a court martial for desertion in the face of the
enemy. He was far less stubborn than
Hamm. But Schimmelfennig and Lt. Col. Stephen McGroarty felt more action was
needed in the 61st and they encouraged the resignation of another 13 officers
and the regimental sergeant-major (seven of whom McGroarty suggested should be
charged with desertion), and discharged one officer who was less willing to
resign. Schimmelfennig and McGroarty
were close, but von Hartung was always Schimmelfennig's protege. When Schimmelfennig demanded to be reassigned
after Gettysburg, von Hartung took the 74th with him, but McGroarty chose to
remain with the XIth Corps (with Carl Schurz -- another Schimmelfennig protege,
although by then the roles had clearly reversed).