98th Pennsylvania Infantry
“Ballier's Dutch Regulars”
Four Men of the 98th Pennsylvannia Infantry who died at the battle of Fort Stevens are buried at Battleground National Cemetery. (Click on a name below for more information.)
The word “Dutch” in this unit's nickname means German, many of the men in the regiment were German immigrants, including the 4 men buried here.
The History of Pennsylvania Volunteers has this discussion of the 98th Regiment's role in the battle of Fort Stevens, on page 468.
In the operations in front of Petersburg, the regiment was engaged on the 18th in an unsuccessful charge, in which it had two killed and eleven wounded, and on the evening of the 21st, with the corps, moved upon a raid to the Weldon Railroad, which it partially destroyed. The enemy having made his appearance in force in front of Washington, on the 9th of July the Sixth Corps started for the Capital, where upon its arrival, the brigade, now under command of Colonel Ballier, marched to Fort Stevens, and the Ninetyeighth was ordered to establish a picket line in front of the fort. The enemy kept up a rapid fire, and before the line could be formed the regiment had five wounded. On the following morning the enemy made a serious attempt to force the line, which was defeated, and the regiment held its ground during all that day and the following night, with a loss of eight killed and twenty-eight wounded. Colonel Ballier and Lieutenant Colonel Kohler were wounded, the former seriously. He was soon after promoted to Brigadier General.
In 1891, a “monument to the men killed and wounded” was placed in the Battleground Cemetery, the first unit monument in the cemetery. See Fought at Fort Stevens, The Washington Post, July 13, 1891.
In Memory
of
Our Comrades
Killed and Wounded
On This Field
July 11th & 12th 1864
98th Reg't. P.V.
1st Brig., 2nd Div., 6th Corps
The monument lists 8 men killed at Fort Stevens: Frederick Walter Co. B, Bernard Hoerle Co. C, Srg't George Marquet Co. E, Corpl. Henry Poelser Co. F, Michael Bruner Co. F, Charles Sehaus Co. K, George Merkle Co. K, and Joseph Schnitzler Co. K.
Poelser, Bruner, Merkle and Schnitzler are not buried at Battleground National Cemetery. Poelzer (Peltzer) and Merkle are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Wounded in Battle
July 11th & 12th 1864
Col. John F. Ballier
Lt. Col. John B. Kohler
Capt. Wm. Wilson Co. K
Lt. Geo. Schuler 〃 C
Samuel Thompson 〃 A
Corpl. Charles Veneman 〃 A
Sergt. Frank Reiner 〃 C
Frederick Denker 〃 C
Corpl. William Aberle 〃 D
Jacob Reiner 〃 D
George Klump 〃 D
William Gaus 〃 E
Daniel Kirsch 〃 E
Wounded in Battle
July 11th & 12th 1864
Corpl. J. Schweitzer Co. E Corpl. I. Fred Loeble 〃 E
William Frank 〃 G
Frederick Fratz 〃 E
1. Sergt. Christian Brandt 〃 G
Frank Maier 〃 G
Sergt. John Wagner 〃 G
Sergt. John G. Greul 〃 H
Arthur Corvan 〃 H
Sergt. Jacob Goetz 〃 K
Sergt. William Bayer 〃 K
Frank Weingartner 〃 K
Christian Wurster 〃 K
Sergt. John G. Kaiser 〃 K
John Gress 〃 K
Virtue, Liberty and Independence
A history and roster of the 98th Pennsylvannia is available here.