FENGLER, George

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George Fengler

Photo courtesy: Telegraph Herald and Paul Hemmer

FENGLER, George. (Breslau, Germany, Apr. 9, 1841--Dubuque, IA, Apr. 28, 1900). Fengler's family immigrated to the United States in 1849 and moved to Iowa in 1850. It was there that he met Alice M. Curtis. Alice, born on January 13, 1845, in Bellevue, Iowa, and George were married on August 21, 1861, “on application of said Fengler and satisfactory proof by the written consent of the mother of Alice.” A daughter, Melvina, was born the following year.

George Fengler was a twenty-one-year-old farmer when he enlisted on August 21, 1862. The next day, at CAMP FRANKLIN, he was mustered into Company A. On September 9th, when all ten companies were of sufficient strength, they were mustered in as the 21st Regiment of Iowa’s Volunteer Infantry. On the 16th, they were crowded on board the side-wheel steamer Henry Clay. They spent the night of the 17th on Rock Island, resumed their trip about noon on the 18th, debarked at Montrose due to low water levels, traveled by train to Montrose, boarded the Hawkeye State and reached St. Louis on the 20th. After a morning inspection on the 21st, they traveled by train to Rolla, Missouri where they trained until the 18th of October when they started the first of many long marches.

Bimonthly company muster rolls were taken on the last day of the period. George was marked “present” on rolls taken on October 31st at Salem and December 31st at Houston after being detailed on November 22nd to a Pioneer Corps usually made up of soldiers temporarily released from regular duty. Pioneers cleared roads, erected bridges, loaded and unloaded boats and supply wagons, built breastworks and dug trenches and other structures. Sometimes they worked alone and sometimes with civilians, mostly African Americans, who were hired or forced to do similar work. George continued “present” on February 28, 1863, at Iron Mountain, Missouri, and was with the regiment in April when they were transported downstream from Ste. Genevieve to Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana. General Grant was assembling a large three-corps army to capture Vicksburg. In a corps led by General John McClelland, they moved slowly south along muddy roads, across bayous and through swamps west of the river.

Grant hoped to cross the river to Grand Gulf but, when it proved to be too well defended, he took the advice of a former slave who said there was a good crossing not much further downstream. On April 30, 1863, they crossed from Disharoon’s Plantation to the Bruinsburg Landing in Mississippi where the 21st Infantry was designated as the point regiment for the entire 30,000-man army. Starting inland in late afternoon, they continued in darkness until fired on by Confederate pickets about midnight. A brief exchange of gunfire followed before the men rested. The next day, George participated with his regiment in the Battle of Port Gibson. With three men having received fatal wounds and another fourteen having less serious wounds, men were allowed to rest, bury the dead and care for the wounded. Other regiments took the lead and engaged in battle at Raymond. On the 16th they were present during the Battle of Champion Hill when they were held out of action by General McClelland and forced to listen as men in other regiments were being killed. In a postwar address, George Crooke recalled that “those who stood there that day will surely never forget the bands of humiliation and shame which bound them to the spot, while listening to the awful crashes of musketry and thunders of cannon close by.”

Having been held out of action on thew to operate an Eagle Point ferry to Wisconsin. (2)

Fengler helped organize and then became vice-president and director of the People's Building and Loan Association. In 1889 he began four years of service as United States Surveyor of Customs, a position to which President William Henry Harrison appointed him. He served three years as a member of the city council as a representative of the Fifth Ward. Fengler was an early advocate for the construction of a bridge across the MISSISSIPPI RIVER into Wisconsin and chaired the meetings used to gain support for the project. At his death, his son Ernest FENGLER took up the task and eventually served as one of the directors of the bridge company. (3)

Business was good but George, like many other veterans, applied for an invalid pension with support from two of his comrades, Lovatus Fuller and Albert Curtis, both of Company A, who confirmed his wound. He was examined by Dr. William Watson whose affidavit said the wound “causes some inconvenience” but the physical disability was minor and no pension was granted. George applied again in 1874 with Archibald Stuart, a former member of Company G, as his attorney. A $2.00 monthly pension was granted and, in 1884, George applied for an increase saying he “cannot hold anything by his left hand as he has no control of the nerves, that he cannot milk his cows, or drive his horses, and that his team ran away with him by reason of the inability of his left arm.” The pension was increased, but his health was failing. By 1899 he was diagnosed with cancer and needed constant attention. On April 28, 1900, at fifty-nine years of age, he died at his home, 1059 Garfield Street.

George’s will left everything to his wife. Soon after his death Alice applied for a widow’s pension and a pension for Orrin who was only eleven years old, but proving she needed support proved difficult. George had acquired a lot of property for his Eagle Point business, their home and elsewhere in the county. Affidavits were filed by George’s comrades and by the county’s Recorder and Treasurer. A Pension Bureau Special Examiner was appointed and depositions were taken of Alice and her son, Edwin, living at 854 Rhomberg Avenue and now running the Lime Works. Eventually the Bureau was convinced that, although Alice now owned many properties, they were heavily mortgaged and the $4,500 proceeds of George’s insurance policy had been used to pay debts. On July 9, 1901, a certificate was issued providing an $8.00 monthly pension for Alice and $2.00 for Orrin, an amount he would receive until his sixteenth birthday.

Alice was seventy-four years old when she died on November 30, 1919. She and George are buried in LINWOOD CEMETERY. (4)

See: George Fengler

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Source:

1. Ingwalson, Carl, "George Fengler," IaGenWeb. Online: agenweb.org/dubuque/military/cw/Fengler_Geo.htm

2. Oldt, Franklin. History of Dubuque County, Iowa. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1880, p. 787-788

3. Portrait and Biographical Record of Dubuque, Jones and Clayton Counties, Iowa. Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company, 1894, p. 221

4. Ingwalson