Schuetzenfest at Carthage

Today is the 146th anniversary of my family's first contact with Schuetzen. There was a shooting contest a few miles north of Carthage, MO in 1861. It was a team event and the visitors, "The Yankee Dutch" were from the Schuetzen Corps of the St. Louis Turner Verein. They were captained by Franz Sigel, the St. Louis Superintendent of Schools and a well-known figure amongst the German communities for his participation in shooting events in Germany in 1848 and 1849. The Home Team was drawn from the local lads, including my great-grandfather and was captained by Sterling Price, an imposing figure and a local hero. It was a tough match but in the end, the Home Team prevailed and the match has gone down in history as "The Battle of Carthage," one of the first fights of the War of Northern Aggression. Unfortunately, one of the points scored by the Dutch was on the ancestor and required, on his part, a lengthy convalescence.

Both captains went on to greater glory. Sterling Price as a general in the Army of the Confederation and Sigel as a general with the opposition. Sigel has a permanent place in history due to his forces being routed by the teenage cadets from VMI at the Battle of New Market in 1864. Ur-grampa also did well. Upon returning home from his convalescence, he learned, to his dismay, that he had been indicted by the Feds. He immediately found ranching in Colorado convenient and then farming in Utah. Along the way he gained a new religion and a number of female relatives and prospered until the federal marshals chased him (it was the excess of female relatives) into Mexico in the 1880's. He died there in 1918.