A SOLDIER'S RECORD
Colonel Charles B. Seidel was born in Berlin, Germany, April 10, 1835, and came
 to the United States when he was eighteen years of age.  He at once became an
 industrious citizen in his newly adopted country, working first on a farm in
 Texas, and then as a salesman in New Orleans.  Later he worked at the painter's
 trade in Nashville, Tenn. and then at the carriage business in Columbus, Ohio.

He was living in Columbus when Pres. Abraham Lincoln issued his call for 
seventy-five thousand volunteers.  Immediately Col. Seidel attested his 
patriotism and loyalty, through born in a foreign land, by enlisting April 17,
1861, as a private in Company I, First Regmt Ohio Vol. for ninety days .

From this service he was honorably discharged July 31, 1861, at Columbus, Ohio;
but as a great war was then in progress between the North and South, he re-
enlisted Sept. 7, 1861, and was appointed Captian in the Third Ohio Vol. Cav.,
 and was was mustered into the United States service in that capacity.

His gallantry and ability in camp and field soon won for him a well deserved 
promotion and on the 16th day of January, 1862, he became a Major in his
 regiment.  He was promoted from the rank of Major to that of  Lt. Col., June 7
 1863, and on August 1 1863 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel of the Third,
 in which capacity he served through the great Atlanta campaign and then several
 months later resigned his commission and was honorably discharged.

The Third Ohio Vol. Cav. which he commanded, served with distinction throughout
 the war, and took an active part in the bloody battles of the various campaigns
 mentioned in the following tribute of Dr. Brown.

Col. Seidel, died at his home, Lyndon. Ky., quite suddenly after a day of
 activity, on the 14th day of March, 1916 and on the 17th was laid to rest in
 the family lot of beautiful Cave Hill Cem., in Louisville,  Ky.

A large number of sympathizing friends attended the funeral services; among them 
was Dr. Charles O. Brown, of Chicago, who was the youngest member of the regmt,

 and who was appointed by Col Seidel as Chief Buglar of the regmt, when he was
 sixteen years old.

Dr. Brown was the only member of his old regmt who was present and he paid an
 afectionate tribute to his former commander.  At the grave, he assisted in the
 burial service and closed the exercises by sounding "Taps" on his bugle.


A COMRADE'S TRIBUTE

Dr. Brown spoke as follows:

" I am here today to bring the tribute of my respect and affection to the memory
 of our beloved Colonel, and every survivor of our regiment would say with me
 that all who commanded the old Third Ohio Calvary, Colonel Charles B. Seidel 
had our respect, affection and enthusiastic obedience in a greater degree than 
any other.

" Nay more, if it were possible to call back from the shadows of the past the 
entire regiment of twelve hundred men, they would all say the same.  I knew him 
as no other person here present knew him, for none of you ever served with him 
in camp, on the march, and in battle.  It is to me a matter of intense and 
pathetic interest that of all of the hundreds who obeyed him as our commander, I
 am the only one who has found it possible to be present at this last sad rites 
of respect.  Not a surviving member of the regiment but would have been here to
 express his sympathy and affection if it had been possible.

" No braver man ever drew his sword in the defense of his country.  He was a
 gallant officer, and when he rode at the front we followed with confidence
 that, because Colonel Seidel was there, everything would be right.  I was his
 Chief Bugler, appointed by him to that position when the guns of seige of 
Atlanta were sounding in our ears.  Honorable G. M. Saltzgaber, who served with 
the regiment thoughout its career with bravery and honor, and is now United 
States Commissioner of  Pensions, was at that time Colonel Seidel's Orderly.

" I saw the Colonel daily and almost hourlyfrom that time on, for it was my duty 
to in close touch with him and sound his commands on my bugle, whether on the 
march or in battle.  I learned to catch his meaning by the glance of his eye, by 
his quick movement, almost before the word was uttered.

" In my mind's eye I can see him now sitting on his horse with such perfection 
as if he and horse were one, in the glow and power of his young manhood, his
 hair jet black, his eye with lightning glance, taking in the whole field, and 
his alert mind forming its decisions with such rapidity that thet often seemed
 like rashness but in fact in such a way as justified itself in the event, as if
 it were the result of deliberate reasoning,  His orders were given in sharp and 
deciisive tones and with such rapidity that in the shortest possible time,
 formations were made and results of action were attained.

" I well recall a spontaneous tribute paid by my honored father, Major O. M.
 Brown to this quality of his genius when the regiment was commanded by his
 successor, a brave and honored officer, but one who was much more deliberate in
 his movements.  It was at a critical moment calling for instant action which
 was not forthcoming, and I was near enough to hear my father say, as if to
 himself, " I wish Colonel Seidel was at the front this minute."

" I n the sketch of his life just read by the pastor, Rev. M P Schoepile, it was 
said that he was appointed Captain in our regiment, because of his military 
training in the land of his birth.  But that is not the only reason nor the
 chief one.  He served in the ninety-day service at the first battle of Bull Run, but not with our regiment, which was never in the Eastern army.  His
 conspicous bravery there in holding his ground and serving his gun, when all 
but two or three others that were with him were in the stampede, came to the
 ears of Senator John Sherman, who commeneded him to the Governor of Ohio, and 
forthwith commissioned him Captian, and he was assigned to our regiment.

" From that position he passed through all the grades of promotion with 
distiction and honor, becoming Major, then Lt. Colonel and then Colonel.  He 
came to the position of commander of our regiment just before the great Atlanta 
campaign, at a time when the regiment was recruted to nearly or quite its full 
strength.  We were in most of the hard marching and fighting of that great and 
history making campaign.  Through allof it Colonel Seidel was our brave and 
efficient commander.

"  Before that time he had servred with our regiment in the Pittsburg Landing 
and Corinth campaigns; then at Perrysville and Stone River; then in the 
Tullahoma and Chickamauga campaigns.  And in every campaign as also in every 
action, he served with bravery and distinction.

"  We loved him because he was not only brave and efficient in battle, but 
because he was good to the men in the ranks and always had their interest at 
heart.  He never told us to go where he was not willing to lead us.  If we were 
hungry, so was he; if we slept without tents often in the rain, so did he.  He 
did not ask and would not have exemption from the hardships which were necessary 
to his men.  He asked for no luxury unless his men could share it with him, and 
we were never irritated when passing his mess tent to find his spread abundant 
when ours was scanty or lacking.  His endurence was that of a true and seasoned
 soldier.

"  Through it all I never knew him to ride in an ambulance a single hour during 
the war.  He fought not as a mercenary who loves gold, nor under the impulse of
 any fierce instinct which called for blood; but because he loved the country of
 his adoption and had a just conception of the worth of its free instatutions.
  He loved the Union and freely pffered his life that its blessings might be 
perpetuated.  For this he endured all the privations of camp and the march; for
 this he was often in battle and always with honor.

"  I saw him often in battle, I saw him with drawn sword at the head of our
 regiment in that fierce fight at Lovejoy Station, Georgia, where, surounded by
 three times our number, we drew our swords, charged, and cut our way out.  In
 
those days, now more than a hafe century behind us, I knew him well and knew him
 worthy of the high responsibility of leadership.

"  Be it mine today to speak this word of affectionate tribute and cherishing 
memory; be it mine also today to speak for the twelve hundres who served under 
him, the larger part whom preceded him to the unseen land, but for a few of whom
 white-haired and for the most part feeble, still survive and affectionately
 greeted him at our regimental reunion last August in Chicago Junction, Ohio.
  It was my privilege two years ago last summer to visit him in this beautiful
 home surrounded by his loved ones and the comforts which his industry and 
frugality had provided.  In our visit we lived it all over again.


" We marched as in the days gone by,

We camped 'neath the Georgia pines,

We saw our flag afloat on high,

We heard the shout go down the lines


Ah me! the army fades away,

The shouts of camp and battle cease,
A half hundred years have seen,


the better victories of peace


But for a while we waited reveille,

From out yhe un-sunned spaces blown,

When 'ere we met we still could see,

The thrilling vision all our own,
Mayhap 'neath fronded palms that rise

Beyond the strife of race and clan,

we'll know the worth of sacrifice

Where comrades died for fellow-man.


" And now at length he sleeps well.

Lo! that which must soon come to us all, has come to him and he has gone out to 
return no more.  The home will miss him; the loved ones will hear his cheerful
 voice no more; no more shall we of the old Third Ohio greet him at our reunions
 with the shout of affection which always went up as soon as he appeared.  My 
Colonel, my friend, my beloved commander of the Old Third, at length at rest in 
the camp at the end of the long march, farewell."