CORPORAL ANTON STEFFENS
20th Massachusetts Volunteers
1843-1862
PARENTS: Joseph and Petronella Steffens (nee Schmitz)
EMIGRATED: 1852
RESIDENCE- 1852-1861: Suffolk St., Boston, Mass.
CHURCH: Holy Trinity Church, Boston,
Mass.
OCCUPATION: Brass finisher
MUSTERED IN SERVICE: Readville, Mass. July 1861
CAMPAIGNS: Ball's Bluff, Yorktown, West Point, Fair Oaks, Peach Orchard, Savage's Station,
Glendale, Malvern Hill, Chantilly, Antietam, Fredericksburg.
KILLED IN BATTLE: December
11, 1862, during gallant charge of the 20th Mass. in the streets of Fredericksburg,
Virginia.
EPITAPH: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (later the hero of Gettysburg), referring to the
unusual occurrence of "Northern lights" on the night following the battle, said
this of the Union dead at Fredericksburg:
" Who would not pass on as
they did- dead for their country's life- and lighted to burial by the meteor splendour of
their native skies."
Steffens Family History
Descendants of 20th Massachusetts soldiers
(c) 2000 by Bob Dame. All rights reserved.
