subject index to the Philip and Rohloff Hacker Papers
Alphabetic index to the Schoff Civil War Collections
| William L. Clements Library
The University of Michigan Schoff Civil War Collection Soldiers' Letters 37-39 Diaries & Journal10 |
Hacker, Philip W., 1835-1863 Rank: Private, Corporal Regiment: 5th Michigan Infantry Regiment. Co. I (1861-1865) Service: 1861 August 6-1863 February 26
Hacker, Rohloff Charles, ca.1843-1863 Rank: Private, Corporal Regiment: 2nd Michigan Infantry Regiment. Co. G (1861-1865) Service: 1861 May 17-1863 November 24
Siblings: Frank, Theodore, Serena, Augusta (married to Alpheus Macomber)
Parents: William (or Wilhelm) and Barbara (Woll) Hacker. William was a native of Germany who arrived in Michigan in 1836. At the outbreak of the war, the family lived on a tract of land in Osceola Township, six miles north of Brighton, Mich.
Rohloff and Philip Hacker were early and enthusiastic volunteers in the Civil War Union army. In May, 1861, 18 year-old Rohloff was working as a laborer in Brighton, Mich., at a mill operated by E. F. Albright, but when news arrived of the first shelling of Forts Moultrie and Sumter, he and several friends banded together and began drilling in the streets. When Co. G of the 2nd Michigan Infantry formed, Rohloff immediately enlisted. His older brother, Philip, joined Co. I of the 5th Michigan Infantry in August.
In early June, 1861, the 2nd Michigan Regiment was rushed to the ring of forts surrounding Washington and posted near Alexandria, Va. During the summer, they were involved in some minor skirmishes and the first Battle of Bull Run. The Bull Run experience deeply affected Rohloff, who claimed to have witnessed Confederate troops bayonetting wounded Union soldiers and remarked that they refused to allow the dead to be removed from the field, but he refused to admit that the Union had been defeated. Throughout the year, despite the lack of clear military success, the poor equipment, sporadic pay, and despite the threat of Confederate troops posted close enough that the pickets could converse, and, as he put it, close enough "that we will save the travelling expenses," Rohloff's morale remained high. He developed a keen animosity toward Confederate soldiers, promising his mother that he would help "heal the wounds of rebellion with blue pills and black powder." His lack of hesitation in firing on Confederates attested to the sincerity of his sentiments.
Once Philip Hacker's regiment arrived in Washington, Rohloff applied for transfer to the 5th Michigan so that the two could serve together. Although he was unsuccessful, the 2nd and 5th Michigan Regiments were often posted in close enough proximity that the brothers were able to visit, and they occasionally wrote joint letters home. Both remained passionately committed Unionists, avid soldiers, and devout Christians throughout their service; and their close relationship with each other and their family members clearly helped to sustain them under difficult circumstances.
After a comparatively calm winter, the Hackers' regiments took part in the Peninsular Campaign, where they were engaged during the Siege of Yorktown, the Battle of Williamsburg, and the Seven Days' Battles. The Campaign seems to have removed not so much the willingness to fight from both Philip and Rohloff, as the pleasure in doing so. In July, 1862, Rohloff admitted "Harvesting Rebels is not a very nice job after all."
The 2nd and 5th Michigan regiments remained posted near Washington until called to Fredericksburg in November. Philip, who had been slightly wounded in September, 1862, was severely wounded in the groin at the Battle of Fredericksburg, affecting his left leg. During his hospitalization, Philip wrote home to describe his wounding and his thoughts on war (believing it was an honor to his mother for him to be wounded). He also wrote, "This cursed war has blighted hopes of being anybody. I look on this war as a wreatched [sic] consern" (1863 February 1). After being transferred to hospital in Alexandria, Philip contracted dysentery and died of the disease and complications from his wound on February 22nd.
The 5th Michigan was transferred to Kentucky in March, 1863, and in May, they joined Grant's Army for the final phase of the siege of Vicksburg. Rohloff was briefly, but apparently acutely, ill in late June and July, and it is unclear whether he was present with his regiment at the Battle of Jackson. In August, the regiment were withdrawn to Crab Orchard, Ky., and in September, to Knoxville, Tenn. In November, Rohloff was killed in action after falling behind Confederate lines. When the area was retaken, Rohloff's body was reclaimed from its Confederate grave by friends, and reinterred in the cemetery of the 1st Division, 9th A.C. at Knoxville.
The Hackers' letters appear to be a nearly complete record of their service from enlistment to just after the death of Philip in January, 1863. These letters, 114 from Philip and 149 from Rohloff, plus two diaries of Rohloff's (for 1862 and 1863), provide an excellent picture of life in the Union Army during the opening stages of the war and during the campaigns of 1862.
Among the most valuable letters in the collection are Rohloff's written during the summer of 1861. These provide an excellent sense of life in the camps defending Washington, going beyond descriptions of the routine of camp life to discussions of morale, officers, and the preparedness of soldiers on both sides. Rohloff describes the equipment and uniforms issued to his Regiment -- late and in poor condition -- in great detail, and their involvement in skirmishes and in the 1st Battle of Bull Run. He displayed an unusual zeal in soldiering, remarking that he did not hesitate in firing at Confederate soldiers, even the first time, and making a number of caustic remarks about Confederate soldiers. The amusing rivalry he and Philip carried on through their correspondence with home over their regiments and relations with friends and women decreased after the First Battle of Bull Run, and seems to have ended altogether after the Peninsular Campaign, when both their moods turned darker and more serious. The brothers both wrote informative letters during the Peninsular Campaign, particularly during the siege of Yorktown, the Battle of Williamsburg, and the Seven Days' Battles. The letters describing the Battle of Fredericksburg are also absorbing, particularly Philip's account of his own wounding. Somehow, through their experiences, which included a number of disasterous defeats at the hand of the enemy, both brothers unwaveringly maintained their faith in their country and their religion.
Neither Rohloff and Philip were highly educated, but both wrote clearly and succinctly, and both were sensitive to the larger issues of the conflict and to the effect of war on the participants and civilians. Both commented occasionally on strategy and the leadership of the Union Army. Philip's letters are somewhat more polished than Rohloff's. The majority of the brothers' letters were written to family members, with most addressed to their father and mother, their younger siblings, Serena and Theodore, or their sister and brother-in-law Augusta and Alpheus Macomber in various combinations. Rohloff also wrote more than 30 letters to his former employers, E.F. Albright and C. Thomson, or Mrs. Albright.
The collection contains letters of several other Michigan soldiers, most of whom served with the Hackers, or were friends of the Hacker family from Brighton. Among these are four letters from Peter Smith (Co. G, 2nd Michigan), reminiscing about his friendship with Rohloff and describing visits to his grave; five from Newton J. Kirk (Co. E, 26th Michigan Infantry); four from Capt. John C. Boughton (Co. G, 2nd Michigan), two letters of Edward R. Bliss (4th Michigan Infantry), and six letters written in February and March, 1863, by W. H. Pratt, a Sergeant in the hospital in which Philip Hacker was dying (probably William H. Pratt, Co. E, 26th Michigan Infantry).
Finally, there is an important series of 16 letters written between 1863 and 1866 by Julia Susan Wheelock (b. 1833), an agent for the Michigan Soldiers' Relief Association in Washington and northern Virginia. Wheelock's letters contain excellent descriptions of the activities of a woman in a soldiers' relief society, and she is mentioned appreciatively in the letters of several soldiers in the Hacker Brothers' Collection for her efforts. Her letters to Mrs. Hacker are particularly interesting in that Mrs. Hacker appears to have been a home-front coordinator for the charitable activities of the Soldiers' Relief Association. In 1870, Wheelock published a memoir of her war-time experiences,The boys in white; the experience of a hospital agent in and around Washington., a copy of which is available at the Graduate Library.
The Hacker Brothers Papers were donated to the Clements Library in 1988 by the estate of George F. Hacker.
subject index to the Philip and Rohloff Hacker Papers
Alphabetic index to the Schoff Civil War Collections
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