Jacob Stauff, son of Johannes Stauff and Maria Christina Lenz-Spindler-Stauff, was born on 24 November 1843 in the German village of Dolgesheim in the state of Hesse-Darmstadt south of Frankfurt am Main. Jacob’s father died in 1851 and in 1854 his mother brought her children to a German community in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

On the 12th of August 1862, at the age of 18, Jacob Stauff enlisted as a Private in Company I (Wenze Guard) of the 26th Wisconsin Voluntary Infantry Regiment. He had his picture taken with four other members of Company I shortly after the 26th Regiment was officially mustered into service on the September 17, 1862. With Jacob Stauff in the photograph is George P. Traumer who enlisted in Company I as its First Sergeant on the 20th of August. John Orth was selected as a Second Lieutenant in Company I on the 10th of September. Private Philip Waldorf enlisted shortly after Jacob Stauff on the 15th of August, along with John Koege (Kegie) who enlisted as a corporal. When John Orth was wounded at Thoroughfare Gap, Virginia the next Spring, George Traumer would become a Second Lieutenant.

Private Jacob Stauff saw his first combat action in the ill-fated battle of Chancellorsville in May of 1863 when the 11th Corps, took up positions on the right flank of the Union line. It was here that General Lee sent General “Stonewall” Jackson and 26,000 men to attack the 9,000 men of the 11th Corps. Although heavily out numbered, the 26th Regiment held on in the face of over-whelming odds until General Hooker ordered General Howard to withdraw his 11th Corps. During the battle, on the evening of the 2nd of May 1863, Jacob Stauff was injured when four Confederate regiments from North Carolina overran his position. In the dark, a mounted horseman ran into Jacob and his left knee was struck by the horse’s hoof and dislocated. Lieutenant George Traumer came to Jacob Stauff’s aid and helped him by moving him out of the line of fire and taking him to a doctor to have his knee joint re-set.

On the first of July 1863, upon arrival in the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Jacob Stauff was promoted to Corporal in Company I of the 26th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment for his actions at Chancellorsville. During the next three days of fighting with the Confederates on Cemetery Hill, the 26th Regiment casualty rate was 55%. It was reported that Jacob Stauff might have been wounded during the battle. If he was, his wound may have been slight since there is no record of him having been hospitalized.

On the 15th of May 1864 Jacob Stauff, with General Hooker’s 20th Corps for General Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign, was hunkered down with his regiment before the Confederate lines at the town of Resaca, Georgia. When General Hooker launched his attack, Jacob Stauff raced across the wide field and up the slopes toward the Confederate breastworks of Captain Max Van Den Corput’s four-gun artillery battery. A sudden flash from the rebel lines brought a sheet of musket balls and canister rounds ripping through the advancing 26th Regiment’s lines. One ball caught the color bearer, wounding him severely and throwing the colors to the ground. In the midst of the fury and chaos of the assault, Jacob Stauff rushed forward and picked up the colors and carried them forward in the assault.

On the 26th of May Jacob Stauff was promoted to Color Corporal and Color Bearer for his bravery in picking up the flag at Resaca. He would carry the 26th Wisconsin Voluntary Infantry Regiment flag for the remainder of the Atlanta Campaign, during General Sherman’s “March-To-The-Sea,” and during the Carolinas Campaign at the battles of Averasboro and Bentonville.

On the morning of the 12th of April 1865 word was received that General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomatox Court House. On the 30th, the 26th Regiment began their march north and passed through the defeated Confederate Capital of Richmond, and set up camp in Alexandria, Virginia in preparation for the Grand Review in Washington, DC as part of the mustering out ceremony for the Union Army. On the 24th of May 1865, Jacob Stauff, carrying the tattered and battle-worn 26th Wisconsin Voluntary Infantry Regiment flag, led the regimental formation as it passed in review down Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capital.

After the war, Jacob Stauff became a founding member of the 26th Regiment Association and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). In 1904 he was elected to the position of “Officer Of The Guard” for the year 1905 in Robert Chivas Post Number 2 of the GAR.

Jacob Stauff apparently never fully recovered from his injury at Chancellorsville in May of 1863. In 1897 the State of Wisconsin issued Jacob a Declaration for an Invalid Pension apparently because of his army-related injuries. On the 16th of July 1906, the U.S. Bureau of Pensions granted Jacob Stauff a full disability and increased his pension from $3 to $24 per month. On the 16th of August 1910, Jacob Stauff passed away at the age of 67 as a result of arterio-sclerosis.

The tattered and torn regimental flag Jacob Stauff carried during the Civil War was used during parades, reunions and numerous exhibits until 1887 when Wisconsin Governor Rusk retired all Wisconsin battle flags and placed them in the custody of the State Historical Society.

In 1998, the family of Jacob Stauff’s Granddaughter, Ruth M. Stauff-Kadlec (1908-1998), established a special fund in her memory to honor her Grandfather. This fund was established to restore and conserve the regimental flag carried into battle by Jacob Stauff between 1864 and 1865. The flag will be displayed on a rotational basis at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison, Wisconsin.