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Commanding Officer on the Sharpsburg Campaign:
Capt. William K. Bachman
This Battery's Chain of Command:
Army - Army of Northern Virginia
Corps - Longstreet's Command
Division - Hood's Division
Brigade - Hood's Division Artillery
Unit history
This was a company of mostly German-speakers in Charleston organized in Charleston in mid-1861 by William K. Bachman. They became Bachman's German Battery - Company A, Artillery Battalion, Hampton Legion as they mustered for Confederate service on 22 August 1861. In about August 1862 they were reorganized as an independent battery - Bachman's Company, South Carolina Artillery. In a letter of 16 February 1864, Captain Bachman noted that
my company ... volunteered unconditionally August 21, 1861 to serve "during the war." There was not a man in the Company who owed allegiance to the Confederate States. Every man being a foreigner and unnaturalized.
On the Sharpsburg Campaign
The battery had 4 guns present at South Mountain on 14 September 1862 and at Sharpsburg on the 17th - sections of 2 guns each of Napoleons and rifles (Blakelys).1
Maps Showing this Unit
Detail Map #9: Richardson's Division Attacks the Sunken Road (10-11 am)
Detail Map #11: Sykes' Regulars Advance from the Middle Bridge (noon-4 pm)
Battlefield Tablets for this Unit
Tablet #303: Longstreet's Command - 14 Sep, 9 PM to 15 Sep, 12 PM
Tablet #309: Hood's Division, Longstreet's Command - 14 Sep, 9 PM to 16 Sep, 11 PM
Tablet #311: Reserve Artillery, Hood's Division - 15 Sep, 12 PM to 17 Sep, 2 PM
Tablet #368: Jones' Division, Longstreet's Command - 15 Sep, 9 AM to 16 Sep, 9 PM
Tablet #327: Hood's Division, Longstreet's Command - 16 Sep, 2 PM to 16 Sep, 10 PM
Tablet #304: Longstreet's Command - 17 Sep, 7 AM to 17 Sep, 3 PM
Tablet #310: Hood's Division, Longstreet's Command - 17 Sep, 7 AM to 17 Sep, 9 AM
We have 6 individuals in the AotW database who were on the Maryland Campaign with this unit:
| Co. | Rank | Name | Casualty? | Details* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -- | Capt | Bachman, William Kunhardt |  | |
| -- | Sgt | Hahn, John C. | KIA 09/17 | |
| -- | Pvt | Hollings, Henry | WIA 09/17 | |
| -- | Pvt | Kassler, Fritz | KIA 09/17 | |
| -- | Sgt | Schlimmermyer, Dieter | | |
| -- | Lt | Simons, Jr., James | |
* If there's a symbol in the Details column ...
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Click on their last name to see more
1 Battalion commander Major Frobel's Report notes 4 guns present on the Campaign. Johnson and Anderson give the battery 4 Napoleons and 2 Blakelys, citing J. Simons' history of the battery in U.R. Brooks' Stories of the Confederacy (1912), which only mentions the Blakelys.
Johnson, Curt, and Richard C. Anderson, Artillery Hell: Employment of Artillery at Antietam, College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1995, p. 89 [AotW citation 30516]