Werner von Bachelle

Probably an immigrant from Germany, he had served in the Citizens Corps of Milwaukee (militia). At the first call for troops in April 1861 he enlisted with his company for Federal service. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant of what became Company F, 6th Wisconsin Infantry in May. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in December, and Captain in May 1862. He and the regiment served in the defenses of Washington for about a year, and then first saw action at Second Bull Run in August 1862.

von Bachelle and his men fought at Turner's Gap on South Mountain on 14 September, and in and around the Cornfield at Antietam on the 17th. Major Dawes, commanding his regiment later said of him at Antietam:

At the very farthest point of advance on the turnpike, Captain Werner Von Bachelle, commanding Company F, was shot dead.

Captain Bachelle was an ex-officer of the French army. Brought up as a soldier in the Napoleonic school, he was imbued with the doctrine of fatalism. His soldierly qualities commanded the respect of all, and his loss was deeply felt in the regiment.

Service information from the Roster,1 with the quote above from Service with the Sixth2. The photograph is from one posted by Scott Hann on Find-a-grave.

See a little more about the Captain in a post on behindAotW.

09/17/1862; Sharpsburg, MD; burial in Antietam National Cemetery, Sharpsburg, MD