Gustavas William Buhmann,
Hero of the Battle of Bethel
By John Brown
Gustavas William Buhmann, who is buried at the crest of the hill in the old section of Oakwood Cemetery in Siler City, has the following inscription on his grave stone:
Gustavas William Buhmann
Born in Germany Sept. 14, 1832
Died Jan. 6, 1894
He was First Lieutenant
in Co H of the 1 Regiment
in the Civil War
He is Mentioned in History
for his bravery in Battle of Bethel
Though the inscription isn't altogether correct, it does serve to illustrate the problem sometimes experienced by family members who never fully understand the role their fathers and brothers played in a war. Gustavas Buhmann was a war hero, not as a lieutenant, but as a private in Co. H of the 1st Regiment, North Carolina Infantry (6 months-1861). After the six month enlistment ended, he reenlisted and became a first lieutenant, in Co. D of the 41st Regiment, North Carolina Troops (3rd Regiment, North Carolina Cavalry), and served with that regiment until the end of the war.
There seem to be few records available telling of Pvt. Buhmann's life before he enlisted in state service in the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry on April 17, which was to become Co. H of the 1st North Carolina Infantry Regiment. The company formed on the first day after Mr. Lincoln's proclamation was received in most of the towns of the state. It showed that Lincoln's profession of peace was a delusion and that peaceful intentions had been abandoned. Thus the state which had declared for the Union two to one in an election on February 28 began arming for resistance to the Union on April 17, fewer than fifty days later.
The 1st Regiment was not only first in name, but first in state service, first in Virginia, the main Confederate force in the first battle (Bethel) of the War Between the States, contained the first soldier killed in battle on the Southern side--19-year-old Pvt. Henry L. Wyatt from Edgecombe County--and inflicted the first casualties and first defeat on the Union army.
Twenty-eight-year-old Pvt. Buhmann was indeed mentioned in history being especially noted by his company commander for bravery and included in Col. Daniel Harvey Hill's Official Report of the Battle of Bethel. One news dispatch from the field to the Western Democrat on June 11 gives this account: "Lieutenant-Colonel Waldrop, of the New York regiment was killed. Private Buhmann, of the Fayetteville Independent Infantry and Private Mclver, of the Charlotte Greys, contest the honor of having killed the abolition leader."
Col. Hill, in his official report, gives high credit to this Union officer: "Captain Winthrop, while most gallantly urging on his men, was shot through the heart, when all rushed back with the utmost precipitation. So far as my observations extended, he was the only one of the enemy who exhibited even an approximation to courage during the whole day." (Note the inconsistencies in identifying the Union officer, Major Winthrop.)
A more accurate account was given in the Richmond (Va.) Dispatch, October 13, 1901:
"[T]he Federals several times attempting to carry the Confederate works by assault, but in every instance they were met by such a deadly fire they fell back. During one of these assaults a gallant young officer, Major Theodore Winthrop, of New Haven, Conn., who was General Butler's private secretary, and who volunteered as an aide É, while attempting to rally a wavering column, drew his sword, waved it aloft, leaped on the trunk of a fallen tree, and shouted to his men: 'one more charge, boys, and the day is ours!' Alas, for poor Winthrop. It was his last charge. A North Carolinian sent a bullet crashing through his heart, and he fell dead at the head of the column, which retired in great confusion. This practically ended the battle, after four or five hours of fighting, and the Federals returned to Fortress Monroe."
The 1st Regiment was formed from the cream of the state's uniformed militia and included in the ranks men of the highest character. Among the privates, according to the Charlotte Democrat. were editors, lawyers, doctors, even a chaplain, who enrolled themselves as a matter of local pride.
Co. H, known as the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry, had been in continuous existence since its organization on August 23, 1793. It enrolled (including Pvt. Buhmann) in state service in Fayetteville on April 17, 1861, and was ordered to occupy the Federal Fayetteville arsenal on April 22. It moved to Raleigh and was assigned to the 1st Regiment on May 13. Without waiting for the form of legal secession, which occurred one week later on May 20, North Carolina, at the request of the Virginia governor, began sending troops to Virginia. Co. H was one of the first three companies of the regiment that arrived in Richmond by special train on the 18th. The other companies quickly followed.
It is interesting to note that Virginia did not transfer her military establishment to the Confederacy until June 7; North Carolina troops were for some days in the position of allies of Virginia. As such, they were under the command of Gen. Robert E. Lee, Commander-in-Chief of the Virginia forces. If the transfer had been delayed three days, the 1st Regiment would have been the first regiment in battle under command of Lee. What an honor that would have been for North Carolina!
The regiment was quickly rushed first by rail to City Point and then by river boat to Yorktown. They were ordered to establish an outpost at Big Bethel Church, on the Peninsula formed by the York and James Rivers, about 13 miles from Yorktown and eight miles from Hampton.
Gen. B.F. Butler, later to become known as "Beast" Butler, commanded the Federal Department of Virginia, with headquarters in Fortress Monroe, was determined to break up this observation post of the Confederates and organized an expedition of 4,400 men for that purpose under Gen. Pierce, commander at Hampton.
The Confederates had assembled about 1,400 men under Col. John Bankhead Magruder, consisting of Hill's North Carolina regiment with 800 troops, six Virginia companies, one Howitzer battalion and two companies of Virginia cavalry. There was a hurried erection of breastworks at Big Bethel Church and masking of them with sassafras bushes that were growing wild in the vicinity.
Gen. Pierce's command broke camp at 1 a.m. on June 10, marched on two roads with the intention of forming a junction about three miles below Big Bethel and continuing in solid column on the Confederates. However, when the two Federal columns met, they mistook each other for Confederates, swung into battle line and opened fire, killing two and wounding nineteen of their friends before the mistake was discovered.
At about 8 o'clock in the morning, the Federal line of battle came up and was formed about 800 yards in front of the Confederate breastworks The battle began by direct assault. The final charge ended with the death of Maj. Winthrop.
Eighteen Federals were killed and 58 wounded or missing, for a total of 76 casualties. The Confederates lost one dead and nine wounded. The small loss of Confederates was probably due to the fact that they were fighting for the most part behind works.
The first engagement of the war has been barely mentioned in history and is comparatively a small affair when considered in light of subsequent events; but, at the time of its occurrence, it was thought to be a great battle. It was flashed all over the country and was the subject of comment in every household.
It was seized upon in the South as a sign that God was surely on the Southern side. Col. Hill in his dispatch on June 11 to the Hon. J.W. Ellis, governor of North Carolina, ended with the paragraph: "Our Heavenly Father has most wonderfully interposed to shield our heads in the day of battle. Unto His name be all the praise for our success."
Many beliefs and ideals were due for drastic change when the real fighting began.
References
Clark, Walter. (1901). Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalion in the Great War 1861-'65, Vol. 1. Raleigh, N.C.: E.M. Uzzle, Printer.
Confederate Veteran. (1926). Nashville, Tenn.: S.A. Cunningham.
Manarin, Louis H., Ed. (1968). North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster, Vol. 2. Raleigh, N.C.: State Division of Archives and History.
Manarin, Louis H., Ed. (1971). North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster, Vol. 3. Raleigh, N.C.: State Division of Archives and History.
Southern Historical Society. (1977). Southern Historical Society Papers, Vols. 19, 20, 21 and 29. Millwood, N.Y. : Kraus Reprint Co.
United States War Department. (1880). The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Vol. 2. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
