Entry #29

July marked the anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. I do not purport to be an expert on this battle or the Civil War in general. In fact, I find it a little intimidating to write about events that are so historically significant; however, I do feel that it is noteworthy to document the involvement of my husband’s ancestor, William Robert Sigmund, in this momentous battle. William Robert Sigmund is Gary’s two-times great-grandfather on his mother’s paternal side of the family.

William Robert Sigmund was born on 4 January 1843 to John Letherman Sigmund and Isabella Morris Heritage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By 1850 the Philadelphia federal census shows that Isabella was not living with her husband, but, rather, she and her two children were housed under the roof of her brother-in-law, Houston Sigmund. John L. Sigmund, in turn, was living with his parents. I see no indication that William’s parents ever lived together again.

At the age of 18, William R. Sigmund joined the Union forces of the 2nd Volunteer Delaware Infantry in Wilmington on 12 August 1861. As far as I can determine, he was residing in Philadelphia at the time. I am not sure what took him the short distance south to Wilmington to enlist, but he signed up for a three-year tour of duty. William was assigned to the Company H of the 2nd Delaware. We are able to track some of his movements through his military records. In January and February of 1862, William Sigmund’s record lists him as detached to service on Hunting Creek. From what I can ascertain, this seems to have been a strategic position on the Potomac River for the defense of Washington.

William was back with his unit by March, although he is marked as “sick at Harper’s Ferry” for September and October 1862. The dates are not specific, but it seems that William may have been present with the 2nd Delaware at Antietam on September 16-17, since the 2nd Delaware did not arrive at Harper’s Ferry until five days later. William may also have seen action at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 12-15 and at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 1-5, 1863.

It is clear that William found himself part of the early fighting at Gettysburg, where on July 2 the 2nd Delaware struggled to take the Rose Farm wheat field.

Monument at Gettysburg to the 2nd Delaware

I have not found a record of precisely what happened to William Sigmund during that battle, but he was wounded to a degree that he was withdrawn to the Army hospital in Wilmington. His service record says that he was “wounded slightly,” but it seems to have been serious enough to keep him from active duty for the remainder of the war.

The story of William Robert Sigmund now turns to romance. Nancy Schanes, a Sigmund cousin who spent years researching the Sigmund family, documented that William met another William while in the hospital in Wilmington. William H. Wilson was William Sigmund’s age and was serving in the 1st Delaware, Company B.  William Wilson hailed from Chester County, Pennsylvania. Although he was confined to the hospital for sickness, William Wilson was no malingerer. On several of the entries in his record, it states, “sick – a fine soldier.” William Wilson and William Sigmund became fast friends, and it was only a matter of time before William Sigmund met his friend’s sister, Martha Margaret Wilson.

(Provided from the collection of Nancy Schanes)

They fell in love and married on 8 November 1864 within weeks of William’s discharge at the completion of his three years’ service.  The rest, as they say, is history…