The 82 Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment

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We have not seen much on the immigrants forum in a while. The 82nd Illinois was considered a German Regiment, but in fact contained Germans, Jewish Germans, Scandinavian and Swiss immigrants. Its commander when forming was Lt. Colonel Edward Selig Salomon who was a Jewish German immigrant. The regiment was mostly German, most of the Germans being from western and southwestern Germany. Captain Rudolph Mu eller wrote letters home in old German of his experiences in the 82 Illinois. Thus were printed in English in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society vol. 94, No. 2 (Summer 2001) I have recently saw the Journal on sale at a price I could not resist and so have just finished reading it. Although Mueller himself was too young to have been politically involved in the 1848 uprising in Europe, he like many other educated foreign-born saw serving in the Civil War as an abstract struggle for liberty.


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http://www.oocities.org/athens/parthenon/7419/#Mueller


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Captain Rudolph Mueller, Company D, 82nd Illinois Volunteers
(Photo courtesy of Jerome Hunt)

Rudolph Mueller, former private in the 8th Illinois Volunteers (a three-month regiment) helped raise a company for the 82nd Illinois and joined as First Lieutenant in Company E. Promoted to the command of Company D, this young German immigrant fought at and survived all the battles of his regiment, including Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Resaca, Peach Tree Creek, Dallas, Atlanta, and Bentonville. Mueller, an idealist and severe critic of himself, his colleagues, and his times mustered out with the regiment in the summer of 1865, married Colonel Frederick Hecker's daughter, scraped out a living as a merchant, and shot himself in the head in Minneapolis just before the turn of the century.
 
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=116345462

Birth: 1835, Germany
Death: Oct. 12, 1899

Enlisted 9-26-1862
(Age 29, light hair & blue eyes)
Discharged 6-09-1865

Captain of -
CO D & then CO E 82nd IL INF VOL
Among others, Capt. Mueller fought battles with his regiment at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Resaca, Peach Tree Creek, Dallas, Atlanta, and Bentonville.


Burial:
Lakewood Cemetery
Minneapolis
Hennepin County
Minnesota, USA
Plot: Elks Rest


Captain Rudolph Mueller is on the top row and third man from the left.

(Chicago Historical Society photograph)
 
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We have not seen much on the immigrants forum in a while. The 82nd Illinois was considered a German Regiment, but in fact contained Germans, Jewish Germans, Scandinavian and Swiss immigrants. Its commander when forming was Lt. Colonel Edward Selig Salomon who was a Jewish German immigrant. The regiment was mostly German, most of the Germans being from western and southwestern Germany. Captain Rudolph Mu eller wrote letters home in old German of his experiences in the 82 Illinois. Thus were printed in English in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society vol. 94, No. 2 (Summer 2001) I have recently saw the Journal on sale at a price I could not resist and so have just finished reading it. Although Mueller himself was too young to have been politically involved in the 1848 uprising in Europe, he like many other educated foreign-born saw serving in the Civil War as an abstract struggle for liberty.


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Thanks for posting this.
 
Although the regiment was mostly composed of German immigrants, Company H was largely made up of Swiss. Captain Emil Johann Rudolph Frey of Company H later became President of Switzerland (known as the Swiss Confederation) - he was captured at Gettysburg. Company C “Concordia Guards” was a Jewish company (Captain Jacob Lasalle’s company), while Company I was composed of Scandinavians (Captain Ivar Alexander Weid’s company).

Max Schlund's diary, 1862-1865, is at the Newberry Library in Chicago.

An account by a Norwegian soldier named Grorud is at the Duke University Libraries in Durham, North Carolina. I've copied a couple of pages on the Gettysburg campaign, however it is written in Norwegian - do we have any Norwegians out there who can transcribe it into English?
 
We have not seen much on the immigrants forum in a while. The 82nd Illinois was considered a German Regiment, but in fact contained Germans, Jewish Germans, Scandinavian and Swiss immigrants. Its commander when forming was Lt. Colonel Edward Selig Salomon who was a Jewish German immigrant. The regiment was mostly German, most of the Germans being from western and southwestern Germany. Captain Rudolph Mu eller wrote letters home in old German of his experiences in the 82 Illinois. Thus were printed in English in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society vol. 94, No. 2 (Summer 2001) I have recently saw the Journal on sale at a price I could not resist and so have just finished reading it. Although Mueller himself was too young to have been politically involved in the 1848 uprising in Europe, he like many other educated foreign-born saw serving in the Civil War as an abstract struggle for liberty.


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Thanks for posting. In your study of the regiment any mention they assumed a mounted infantry role during the Carolinas Campaign. I ask because, during the movement from Columbia to Chesterfield they were routinely selected to move well in advance of the following infantry formations typically to secure a critical bridge required for the march the next day. Thanks.
 
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