Peter Schaefer in the Prussian Army

After Napoleon's defeat in 1815, Rhineland became Rheinprovinz, part of the Kingdom of Prussia where all men were required to serve in the Prussian army.

"...law for universal conscription, by which men would successively serve in the standing army, the Landwehr and the local Landsturm until the age of 39."

Our gg-grandfather, Peter Schaefer, arrived in New York in May, 1867 at the age of 23. At that time and at that age, Peter needed to get permission to emigrate from Prussia or he simply fled illegally. Which was it? Peter got permission.

Thanks again to the extraordinary efforts of an experienced and generous German genealogist, we received from the Landeshauptarchiv in Koblenz a record dated December 1866 which indicated Peter Schäfer's service in the Prussian military. Although I still need a better understanding of the details of this record, we can determine that Peter had served in the 8th Army Corps, which had headquarters in Koblenz, and was the home of the 2nd Infantry Regiment (IR) from Rheinprovinz, No. 28 (28th infantry unit in the Prussian army). I cannot yet confirm that the 2nd IR was Peter Schäfer's unit, but it's a reasonable guess.

Based on my research, the uniform that Peter would have worn was called a Waffenrock. Here is an image that shows such a uniform at the time that Peter was in the army:

And what about Peter's military service? We know that the 2nd IR No. 28 fought in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 (this conflict was known by several names). That unit was part of the 15th Infantry Division, Army of the Elbe, numbering 39,000 troops. The Army of the Elbe was present at the following battles in 1866:

• 26 June - Hühnerwasser
• 28 June - Münchengrätz
• 3 July - Königgrätz

Königgrätz was the decisive battle of the conflict, won by Prussia.  History tells us that it was the largest battle fought in Europe during the 19th century with over 450,000 soldiers on the field. And yet, the Army of the Elbe, lost only 356 soldiers, with 1,234 wounded in action.  Possibly Peter was one of the wounded, or perhaps his service was simply complete by December, 1866.  Whatever the reason, Peter's military obligations were apparently discharged, and his emigration application was approved in January, 1867.

By April, 1867, Peter Schäfer departed from the port in Antwerp, Belgium aboard the ship called Maria S., leaving behind his parents and nine siblings.  He was a Catholic Prussian veteran who had helped defeat the Austrian Empire, which shortly thereafter lead to unification of the German Empire in 1871.  But Peter was also a carpenter, probably more accurately, a joiner.  Peter married in Brooklyn in 1870, started his family, and together with his brother, Philip, who had also emigrated in 1868, he headed 1,200 miles due west to settle in the rolling hills of Murray, Iowa.  Whatever Peter's reasons for leaving Prussia, he apparently did not look back, and the story of his life as a soldier was lost with his presumed death in Iowa before 1885.  But now we know more about the history that Peter Schäfer lived in Prussia before coming to America, and now we won't forget.