1st Lieutenant Jacob Sigmund, Company E 7th PA Cavalry

By Christopher Miller

To commemorate Memorial Day 2021, The Record/therecord-online is looking back at some of our hometown heroes who were lost in battle throughout Clinton County history. These military personnel may have passed on so many years ago, but they will never be forgotten. Each Thursday during the month of May, we will honor one person who made the ultimate sacrifice throughout our nation’s history and conflicts.

On October 2, 1861 Jacob Sigmund was mustered into service with other men from Clinton and Centre Counties. Company E of the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry consisted of men recruited primarily from these counties. Two years after being mustered Sigmund was promoted from 1st Sergeant to 2nd Lieutenant to 1st Lieutenant. Upward movement throughout the ranks seemed like something that Sigmund was not afraid of.

1st Lieutenant Jacob Sigmund was killed in battle leading the Company in a charge of fortification at Selma, Alabama on April 2, 1865. Unbeknownst to anybody, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, only 7 days after Sigmund’s death.

The 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment lost a total of 292 men during service; 8 officers and 94 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 5 officers and 185 enlisted men died of disease.
But Jacob Sigmund’s story is very far from being over.

After the battle, official documents (now made digital and online) show that Sigmund was buried in what was known as the “City Cemetery.” He was buried directly from the battlefield, not the hospital, which leads the investigator to believe that his life ended instantly. However, the list of deceased show up in a burial register for the Montgomery National Cemetery.

Then, in 1868, the federal government decided to move the remains of all Union soldiers at Montgomery to a National Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia. An original “inspection report” document outlines the quantity of bodies that were originally buried in “City Cemetery:”

“About 400 of the bodies were originally buried here…of the 400, there were about 150 brought from Selma, Ala., about 160 brought from Cahawba, about 40 brought from Demopolis, about 27 brought from other places, for a total of 400.” (I did the math and it appears to come up a bit shy of 400, but I won’t argue with historical documents).
Jacob Sigmund, having died on the field of battle in Selma, Alabama, and being removed to a grave somewhere in Montgomery, Alabama, and then again to Marietta, Georgia…can no longer be found in Marietta, Georgia. He did not go missing. In fact, the rest of this story is as heartwarming and touching as a soldier’s surprise homecoming YouTube video.

“Dornblazer relates that he and four others of Company E went back in the night to find and remove to a place of shelter – as the night promised to be stormy – the body of Lieutenant Sigmund. On their trip they heard groaning in the buses, and found a Confederate soldier with a shattered leg. He said a Yankee boy had, to his surprise, left a canteen of water with him – that he had been conscripted a few hours before the battle, and rushed into the breastworks as the battle opened. “We proposed,” says Dornblazer, “to carry him to the nearest shanty, and have his wound dressed, for which he was very grateful. We attempted to lift him on a board, and finding him heavier than we had calculated, asked him his weight. He said his average weight was three hundred and twenty, but that he had lost some since he had joined the army.”

“They succeeded, notwithstanding his avoirdupois (weight/heaviness), in carrying the giant to a shanty, and subsequently, when on the march to Montgomery, were able to assure his family that the husband and father had not been killed, as had been reported to them. Next day they buried Sigmund on the field where he fell, but a few days’ later the Masonic fraternity of Selma re-interred him in the public cemetery, with all the honors of war.“

“The losses of the Seventh in this battle were: Lieutenant Sigmund and one man killed; Col. McCormick and forty-seven percent of the men wounded.”

Finally, at some point in the past (most likely prior to 1878 as the grave headstone says it was erected within that year), Jacob Sigmund was moved yet again, but this time he found his way home to Clinton County. He was removed from his grave at Marietta National Cemetery in Georgia, to a grave at Cedar Hill Cemetery. He is buried there with 20 or so members of his family, home at last.

Jacob Sigmund was very much a family man. He wrote his sister Sallie back in Clinton County often. This is evident from a trove of transcribed letters located online. Below is one such correspondence between Jacob and Sallie:

Block House No. 10
Oct. 25th 1864
Dear Sister Sallie,

I received a letter from you some time since & I believed I have not answered it yet. I will try and do so now but I don’t know as I will be able to tell you much news, for news are scarce around here. We don’t get any mail for the past week. I was up to Nashville last week to look around a little & see the sights & hear the news & get a few green back & c. We went up on Monday & came back on Thursday. Capt. Garrett & Lt. Rice went along. We had a fine time of it but suppose you know all about it.

I am still in the old place yet which I suppose you are aware of. I don’t think I will get off front as they say the regiment is coming back to this place. They as on there way when Hood made his flank movement & the mounted men of the regiment were ordered back & I see by the papers they had several fights & licked the Rebbles badly. The dismounted men are at Chattanooga. I think they will be back here before long. I seen some of the boys of our regiment in Columbia yesterday. They came from Marietta, Geo. John Wolf of Co. E among the number. The train just passed here. I seen the Quarter Master of our Regt. (Ricketts) on the train. I suppose he will know all about them. I must go to town tomorrow & see.

The weather here is clear & cool and rather cold at nights. I see by your letter that Pap is not very well, which I am sorry to hear. But hope he may soon get better. I also see that you done a day work boiling apple butter & c. I am glad to see that you are still able to work but don’t think it necessary to work so hard. Try to take it as easy as possible. That what I am trying to do. You say you wish the war was over. That is my fix exactly. It can’t end to soon to suit me.

I see by your letter that the Copperheads had quite a big time in Lock Haven. But I am glad to hear that you think youans can beat them. I hope you may. S. B. Darrah & all the regt. of Co. E boys around here are well. Doe Stoner & the others of the recruits that came with him are all well. Isacc Shenker from Flemington came to our Block House yesterday evening to stay. He came all the way out here himself to join our regiment. I suppose you heard all about the Nixon affair. Or suppose you heard enough of it. It is something I don’t care about saying much about. The least sayed the better. I have not heard anything from them since. Hope they may come out all right in the end. I can’t think of anything of importance to write about. I have no easy times there time nothing to do & plenty to eat. So I guess I can get along. I will close hoping this may find you all well & enjoying yourselves.
Give — best respects to Father, Mother, ___ and all inquiring.

Jake Sigmund
Lt. Co. E, 7th P. V. Vol. Cavalry
To Sister Sallie, Please let us hear from you soon again.

Please remember and honor the fallen.