Yankee Warhorse: A Biography of Major General Peter Osterhaus
Peter Osterhaus truly served the Union cause from beginning to end. He led a battalion in the Camp Jackson Affair in St. Louis that started armed conflict in Missouri. He was also present when Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered the Confederate forces of the Trans-Mississippi Theater to Edward Canby and even signed the surrender document. In between he became one of only three German-American major generals — the only one given the rank more for battlefield achievements than political considerations. Remarkably, however, his achievements have been largely ignored by historians. In Yankee Warhorse the general’s great-great-granddaughter, Mary Bobbitt Townsend, finally tells the story of this accomplished general. Osterhaus came to America to escape charges of treason after leading troops in the failed German revolution of 1848. He settled in Illinois and by the start of the Civil War was living in St. Louis. Following the Camp Jackson Affair his battalion fought at Boonville and Wilson’s Creek. At Pea Ridge he admirably commanded a division and helped secure the Union victory. He was then transferred to Grant’s army for the Vicksburg campaign and commanded a division in the battles of Arkansas Post, Port Gibson and Champion Hill and the two assaults on Vicksburg. He was then given the task of defending the Union rear along the Big Black River during the six-week siege of Vicksburg. One of the bright moments of his career happened after one of his saddest times. Prior to the Chattanooga campaign he went home to be with his dying wife but arrived too late. After making arrangements for his children, he returned to the army in time to take part in the battles of Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and Ringgold Gap, where he was severely handled by Patrick Cleburne’s division. Osterhaus continued in divisional command under William T. Sherman during the Atlanta campaign and was given command of the Fifteenth Corps in the March to the Sea. In 1865 he did not march through the Carolinas but was instead sent to Mobile Bay to assist Edward Canby with that campaign, serving as his chief of staff. After the war Osterhaus served as military governor of Mississippi during the early days of Reconstruction. In 1866 he began a diplomatic career for his new country with an appointment as U.S. Consul at Lyons, France. He served in a few more diplomatic posts and eventually moved back to his old hometown of Koblenz, Germany. He died there in 1917 just before his adopted country entered World War I against his native country. The book is pretty even-handed; it points out Osterhaus’ errors and highlights his successes. It does not follow the typical pattern of descendent-driven biographies that heap too much praise on success and ignore mistakes. The author is not as critical as some are of Osterhaus’ performance at Port Gibson but handles his mistakes at Ringgold Gap quite well. The maps lack a scale and do not denote elevation, which is disappointing because the terrain was a key aspect of most of Osterhaus’ battles. Despite this small problem, I recommend this book for anyone interested in Osterhaus, German-Americans or the non-Eastern theaters of the war. Reviewer: Nicholas Kurtz Nicholas Kurtz graduated from the University of Colorado-Denver in 2001 with a B.A. in history. He loves wandering battlefields and is an aspiring author. Although he finds all aspects of the war interesting his primary interest is the Western Theater.
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Illustrated, photographs, maps, bibliography, index, 288 pp., 2010, University of Missouri Press, www.