Charles Schroeter


Charles Schroeter was a United States Army soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the American Indian Wars, while serving with Company G, 8th Regiment of the United States Cavalry. A German immigrant, his military career spanned thirty-one years, from 1863 to 1894, during which he also saw action in the American Civil War. He also served a tour of duty in the United States Marine Corps. After retirement from the military, he became a merchant.

Biography

While listed repeatedly as being born in Lindberg and also Hanover both in present-day Germany, it is more likely he was born in Lüneburg in the Kingdom of Hanover in 1837. "Lüneburg" is pronounced "Lümborg" in Low German and influenced by the Germanic umlaut or linguistic mark. English speakers may have heard and written it as "Lindberg" or "Lindbergh". Later records cite July 4, 1837, as his birthday. His parents' names are unknown.
Charles Schroeter came to America in 1860 on the German passenger ship Bremen. The ship had picked up passengers at Hanover and Bremen, in Germany, before arriving in New York City on November 12, 1860. He was listed as a merchant. The ship then proceeded to New Orleans.
He found work in New Orleans then moved upriver to St. Louis before hostilities broke out. After his service in the Civil War and his career in the military, he opened "a retail confectionery and cigar store" with "E.L. Hoopes" after moving to Buffalo, New York, in 1894. He was cited in an 1898 Erie County biography as "a successful and prominent citizen, with a long and honorable career, his worth has been duly recognized."
He was noted about 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighed 135 lb, with light brown eyes, black hair, and a fair complexion. His military records vary from 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet inches in height. His eye color varies from hazel, to light brown in those same records. His complexion was always listed as fair or ruddy. The variations in the records are not uncommon in the 1800s since each individual officer processing the enlistment had no standard manner, place, light or equipment to make accurate measurement.
Charles G. Schroeter reportedly never married or had any children. In 1918, he moved to San Diego, California. He died there on January 27, 1921, at age 83.

Military service

Civil War

On March 15, 1863, Charles Schroeter was mustered into the 1st Volunteer Missouri Cavalry Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company A under Captain Stierlin as a private. His enlistment papers were signed on February 27, 1863. He was mustered out as a private in Company C at Little Rock, Arkansas, on September 1, 1865.
Schroeter and his fellow cavalry soldiers in the 1st Battalion served, conducted operations and fought in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War in the following specific areas as cited in "A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, V. III" by Frederick H. Dyer, 1908, pages 1301–1302.
File:gar medal.png|thumb|175px|right|The Grand Army of the Republic badge authorized by the U.S. Congress to be worn on the uniform by Union Army veterans.
Following the Civil War, Schroeter worked briefly as a clerk, until August 9, 1866, when he reenlisted in the United States Army at St. Louis, Missouri. Being sworn in by Captain Bates as a private, he was assigned to the 8th Cavalry Regiment and Company G. He fought Cochise and the Chiricahua Apaches during a battle at Rocky Mesa in the Chiricahua Mountains on October 20, 1869, earning the Medal of Honor for Gallantry in Action. This engagement was caused by an earlier attack on a stagecoach that killed two civilians and four soldiers traveling as passengers to Tucson, Arizona and an attack on a group of cowboys in the Sulphur Springs Valley by Apache Indians.
A detachment of 66 men of the 1st Cavalry Regiment and 61 men of Company G under Lieutenant John Lafferty of the 8th Cavalry had tracked the Apaches into the Chiricahua Mountains and eventually to an engagement what some called the "Campaign of the Rocky Mesa." The combined troops were led by Captain Reuben F. Bernard of the 1st Cavalry. The cool overcast day became "a miserable day, cold with rain and hail, when the cavalrymen attacked." The Apaches were well entrenched and defending behind rocks and boulders near the top of a ridge. The soldiers had to climb a defile or a steep-sided and narrow passage of loose slick rocks to go over and around as they moved up toward the top of the mesa. More than one fell due to the weather conditions. Under these deplorable conditions Schroeter and his fellow soldiers advanced upwards toward the hostile Indians.
Captain Bernard noted in his report: "These men are they who advanced with me up the steep and rocky mesa under as heavy a fire as I ever saw delivered from the number of men, Indians, say from one hundred to two hundred. These men advanced under this fire until within thirty steps from the Indians when they came to a ledge of rocks where every man who showed his head was shot at by several Indians at once. Here the men remained and did good shooting through the crevices of the rocks until ordered to fall back which was done by running from rock to rock where they would halt and return the fire of the Indians."
As darkness fell, Schroeter with other cavalrymen were ordered to withdraw. They did so in good order individually and in small groups taking their wounded with them down the dangerous slick slopes under enemy fire. Some would provide covering fire while others retreated a short distance, then the process would repeat. Schroeter's commanding officer, Lt. Lafferty, in trying to recover dead soldiers was shot in the mouth destroying his lower left jaw. The entire action cost a likely overestimated 15 to 18 Apache lives and two confirmed soldiers dead with about 4 or 5 wounded troopers.
Schroeter completed his first tour of duty as a private with F Company, 8th Cavalry Regiment on August 9, 1871, while at Fort Selden in New Mexico.

1871–1876

He was reenlisted by Captain Brown on October 7, 1871, at St. Louis, Missouri as a soldier. He is listed as being born at Hanover, Germany, now age 34. He description was noted as Hazel eyes, black hair and fair complexion with his height as 5 feet inches. The 1st Infantry Regiment campaigned against the Sioux in the 1870s while Schroeter was with them. He completed his second enlistment as a sergeant with C Company, 1st Infantry Regiment, while stationed at Fort Sully, Dakota Territory on October 7, 1876. His character was listed as "excellent."

1877–1881

Schroeter traveled to Washington, D.C., and on November 2, 1877, he was sworn into the United States Marine Corps.
Private Schroeter reported aboard USS Alliance in March 1877. He was one of the 26 Marines aboard that screw gunboat. Deployed in Mediterranean Schroeter with his shipmates called at many ship ports for the next three years. Corporal Schroeter was discharged from the Marine Corps on November 2, 1881.
When Marine Private Schroeter went aboard the USS Alliance, she was a new ship built in 1875. She had been commissioned on January 18, 1877, with Commander Theodore F. Kane as captain. On March 9 she sailed to join the European Squadron with the mission of protecting American lives and property, and showing the American flag. The Alliance was based at Ville-franche, France, where, with the permission of the French Government, the United States maintained a supply depot.
Soon after arrival in Europe, the Russo-Turkish War broke out, and Schroeter and his fellow shipmates were sent to Salonika, on the Greek coast, and thence to Smyrna. The duty was tedious and boring and discipline was maintained through a strict training regime. Close order drills, abandon ship drills, fire drills, repel boarder drills and cleaning and repairs occupied most of Schroeter's time over the next ten months. "Spit and polish" was often the mantra aboard such US Navy ships.
Image:USS Franklin.jpg|right|thumb|220px|USS Franklin
In February 1878, the Alliance became Rear Admiral William E. Le Roy's flagship. The Alliance then sailed for Piraeus in Greece, the port for Athens. During ex-President Grant's stay in Greece the Alliance "rendered honors" to him on March 13. A few weeks later while at Piraeus, the ship received the King and Queen of Greece. They "remained a considerable time on board" aboard the Alliance which was the flagship for the US Navy flotilla. The King and Queen on their departure were "honored with the usual ceremonies as upon their arrival" on March 26. Whether Schroeter and his fellow Marines were impressed by such honored company is open to debate.
The Alliance sailed from the Eastern Mediterranean to beyond the Western end into Algiers and back to Villefranche visiting ports along the way. She then repeated the process and such was the routine until late 1879. She reached Boston on December 8, 1879, then sailed for Norfolk the following day, arriving there on the 14th. For the next five months, the ship lay under repairs at Norfolk. Schroeter and the other Marines were sent ashore for other duties.
Schroeter became a hospital guard until being assigned to the USRS Franklin. The Franklin had been a Civil War screw frigate until retired from active service on March 2, 1877. She was then recommissioned as a receiving ship, which was also known as a "barracks ship." He was transferred to the Marine Barracks in Norfolk on October 24, 1881, where he was honorably discharged November 4, 1881, from the USMC.
Schroeter was promoted to corporal on April 26, 1881, while aboard the USRS Franklin.