Charles W. (Karl) Bachmann was born in the Saxony province of Prussia in 1837. He came to the United States in 1853 or 1854, and worked in New Jersey and Pennsylvania before coming to Carver County, Minnesota in 1861. He was a carpenter and building contractor by trade. During the Civil War he served in Company D, Fifth Minnesota Infantry, from September 3, 1864 until he was discharged on June 10, 1865 at Montgomery, Alabama. Prior to the war Bachmann was also a second lieutenant in the 28th regiment of the Minnesota State Militia. In 1873 Bachmann served in the Minnesota legislature and sat on the University and University Lands Committee. His wife, Ida Clementine Mackenroth (b. February 5, 1836), was from Liebschwitz in the Saxony Province of Prussia. They were married on September 4, 1956 and she bore 10 children of whom 8 survived. The 1870 census shows the Bachmann family to consist of both parents and five children: Charles, 14; Laura, 9; Edward, 7; Robert, 5; and Enri, 2. The first two children were born in Pennsylvania and New York respectively; the last three in Minnesota.
Biographical information was taken from
The collection consists of letters, military papers, newspaper clippings, and a scrapbook. The correspondence, clippings, and scrapbook are entirely in German. The military papers are in English and three letters written by Bachmann have been translated into English.
Most of the letters were written to Charles W. Bachmann and his family by friends and relatives. The majority were written by Anton Franke of College Point, New York whom Bachmann knew in Weida and by members of the Mackenroth family in Leibschwitz. Other pieces include an 1871 letter and photograph from Henry Dilly, a member of the Arion choral society in Newark, New Jersey; an 1889 letter written by Julius Koch from Hastings, Minnesota; and an 1889 letter written by Carl Ahrendt from the Palmer Theater in New York City.
Letters that Bachmann penned include one written on October 25, 1854 from Easton, Pennsylvania to G. Peip in Weida, Saxony, whom Bachmann addresses as "dear master." This letter reports on Bachmann's ability to find work as a carpenter upon his arrival in America. Bachmann states that he is working on cabins for a shipbuilder in the canal yard at the rate of one dollar a day. He also compares the carpentry trade in the United States with that of Germany commenting on finishing techniques, tools, and job prospects.
Two additional letters by Bachmann were written during the last year
of the Civil War while Bachmann served as one of 12 orderlies to General A. J.
Smith in the headquarters of the 16th Corps of the Army of Tennessee. Both
letters are addressed to his brother-in-law, Friedrich [or Heinrich?] Doelz of
Carver County, and his sister. The first of these was dated January 29, 1865
from winter quarters in Eastport, Mississippi. Bachmann discusses his duties,
flour rations, and the lack of provisions due to the freezing of the
Mississippi and Ohio rivers. He also relays the belief that the war will soon
end by his description of conversation with a Confederate deserter. The letter
closes by describing a gathering in Nashville of 5th regiment members of the
The collection also includes two military papers that were issued by the State of Minnesota. The first of these papers document Bachmann's commission as Second Lieutenant in the 28th Regiment of the Minnesota State Militia and was signed by Adjutant General Oscar Malmros and Governor Alexander Ramsey (May 7, 1863). The second certifies his honorable discharge as a private from Company D of the Fifth Regiment on June 10, 1865 in Montgomery, Alabama signed by the acting assistant adjutant general (June 21, 1912).
Obituaries clipped from German language newspapers provide biographical data about Bachmann and describe his emigration to the United States and to Minnesota, his military service, his work as a carpenter, and his founding membership of the men's choir in Young America.
A scrapbook presented to Bachmann by his friend and choir member
Ferdinand Enderlin contains newspaper clippings, a photograph, and committee
ribbons commemorating the 25th anniversary of the M.G.V. "Arion," a men's
choral society (
Accession number: 5806; 5910; 6582; 7573; 15,430
Processed by: Lydia Lucas, 1976; Monica Manny Ralston, June 2001.
Catalog ID number: 09-00025275