MAJOR DAVID ZIEGLER First Mayor of Cincinnati ~ '. By GEO. A. KATZENBERGER, Greenville, Ohio ,f . .. • .'" MaJor DaVld Ziegler BIOGRAPHY OF THE First Mayor of Clncinnati By GEO. A. KATZENBERGER GREENVILLE, 0HIO Reprinted from Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly COLUMBUS, OHlO: THE F. J. HEER PRINTING Co. 1912 MAJQR DAVID ZIEGLER. BY GEO. A. KATZENBERGER. A cllstom has grown up of commemorating the Centennial anniversary of the birth or death of prominent men as well as of other important events, ancl, as it is a hundred years sirice the death of the subject of this sketch, and I fail to find David Ziegler's name in anyof the indices of the riineteen volumes of the publications of the Ohio Archreologicaland Historical Socie­ ty, I have gathered a number (of items concerning the first Mayor of Cincinnati in the belief that some recognition is due the memory of this pioneer and that the above named publication is the most fitting medium. Besides, the share'of the Germans in the wars of the United States has not been 'adequately recognized in the prevailing lan­ guage, near1y aH artic1es of appreciation of their services appear­ ing in German b'ooks and magazines. I have been able to find but two articles of any length 00 the li~e and services of Ziegler, one, a biographical sketch of seven pages by Mary D. Stee1e of Dayton, Ohio, appearing in the Magazine of Western History, May 1885, which artic1e is reprinted in substance in Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio, and the other by the leading Ger­ man-American Historian, H. A. Rattermann of Cincinnati, being an artic1e read by him before the Literary Club of Cincinnati in June, 1883. Mr. Rattermann, at the advanced age of eighty, is stilI gathering material, writing artic1es and editing his com­ plete works which will appear in eighteen volumes, and in one of which appea't's a lengthy 'poem commemorating Ziegler's feats. For centuries our European brothers have entered hearti1y into the piotls duty of bringing to remembrance the character and deeds of their forefathers. But little over a century ago we were but .. three millions of people, huddled together upon the border land of the Atlantic, weak and regarded with scorn by (3) 4 ]}fa.for Da'l,id Z ieqlcr. those to whom we owecl allegiance, with the fear of the Red Man ancl the fear of the unknown West in our hearts; with the fea! ancl the hate of the so-callecl mother country in our breasts. Men still living have sèérithé western Ene of civilization push steaclily forwarcl to the forests of Ohio, sweep beyoncl the Mis­ sissippi ancl strike across the, plains to the west ancl, leap to the Pacifico lVren now living haye seen alI this; have seen a waste ,:VyilclernèSs convértecl into a blooming garclerì clottecl with th~ peaceful hoù1es of rnoi-e than niriety mi11ion people. Whatévei­ "i11ay b'e our pIace in this great woncledaricl we bught not to be ~without a kriowleclge of the causes that t11'acle it what if is. W'e havè ho right to allow the names of th6se great men who won for us {rom the forests, the savages ancl wild beasts, our fàir doniairi oCfertile fieIcls, to facle into oblivion. Olie of the mèn of consiclerable importance in the revohi­ tiòiiary war, ancl prominent in thé conquest ancl clevelopin-érit of ear1y southern ancl western Ohio, \Vas David ZiegÌer. He was born in the city of Heiclelberg, on the N eckar in western Germany, Augusf i6, I 748, accorcling to one authority, but upon inquiry through civil and church authorities at Heiclelberg, I have ascertainecl that one J òhann Davicl Ziegler's name appears recorclecl In a Lutheran register of births in the 'Proviclenz Kirche as having been bo l'n JuIy 13, 1748, has father being Johann Heihi"ich Ziegler, hatniaker, ancl his mother Louise Frieelericka, neeKern. Of his famiIy anel, the younger elays of his life, little is, known. His father, accorcling to Rattermann, was an inn }(eeper, or vintner, whose inn was freq-uented Iargeiy by studenfs of' thé Unlversity who hael their "Paukbòclen" (a room for eluel­ ingor rapier-fighting) there .. Whether these customary fights of the acacÌemicians stimulateel Ziegler;s appetitè for wéir-like pur­ suits' cannot be answereel. However, in his earliest youth he pos­ sessed a liking for military life, anel as the bounel~.ries of the Holy Roman Empire's wine cellar, as Klauprecht calls his immeellatè fàther'ianel, the N èckal~ valley, dìcl not give hini stifficieht play rOon'1 for his ambitions, he is said to have served in the Seve~ 'Year's War {meler Fl~eelerlck the Greaf, of whoni he was an ax'clent ~dmirer. Certain it is that later he wènt tò Rùssia;, atid enlisted under tl1e bannèrs of Empress Catherinè II, whoha:d lIia/or David· Zieglcr. 5 just then dec1ared war against the Ottoman Empire, 1768. Zieg­ ler served under GeneraI Weissmann in the Campaign of this Celebrated Marshal in Wallachia, the lower Danubian' Provinces, and the Crimea, during which time he participated, among other minor engagements, in the battles of Tulcza, Maczin and Babadag. After the conquest of the Crimea on the part of Russia when the peace of Kutschuk was conc1uded July 21, 1774, and after the larger part of the Russian army was disbanded, Ziegler resigned" his commissiono He had served for almost six years with meritorious dis­ tinction, and been promoted to an officership. He had shown b'fp,very on the field of battle, and_ was wounded on the head by a Turkish sabre, ancl as a mark of appreciation was awarded a badge and an honorable discharge. A soldier from crown to feet he feh lonesome in the then peaceful Europe. At about the age of twenty-seven he emi­ grated to Americ~ settling in Lancaster County, Pa. Klaup­ ~'echt says that he arrived in Philadelphia in 1775. It is not certain just when Ziegler· cameto this country, but it is certain that he was in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, when the news of the Battle of Lexington reached there. When the cry for resistance to British tyranny sounded over the land a meeting was helcl at Carlisle to deliberate upon the raising of volunteers, to resist by clint of arms the usurpations of the mother country, at whiclì lneeting David Ziegler was present. In June, 1775, he wa~ commissioned 3rd Lieutenant in Captain Ross's Company which was recruited in Lancaster County, Pa., and immediately sent to escort an ammunition wagon, of which Washington's army was desperately in need, to Cambridge. This duty he carriecl out with such satisfaction that on June 25th he was advanced to Adjutant in Colonel William Thompson's Battalion of Sharp, shooters. Colonel Thompson the more gladly accepted his ser­ vices,. as he. was aware of the fact that Ziegler was an experienced soldier andofficer of a great European confiict and therefore familiar with the art of war. This Battalion consisted almost whol1y of Germans· ancl was, with the assistance of Zieg!er so qùickly and efficiently formed as to be the first organization out­ sicle of a Massachusetts regiment that appeared upon the scene 6 1I1ajor Da.7)id Ziegle1' of war. After the first of January, 1776, it became the first reglment "of the army of the U nited Coloni es commanded by his Excellency, George Washington, Esquire, GeneraI and Com­ mander-in-Chief" A return dated headquarters at Cambridge. August 18th, 1775, shows that ihere were three field officers;. nine captains, twenty-seven lieutenants, the adjutant, quart~r­ master, surgeon and mate, twenty-nine sergeants, thirteendrums ancl fife and seven hùnclrecl ancl thirteen rank ancl file present flt for duty This Battalion formecl a picket guarcl of two thousancl provincials, who, on the evening of the twenty-sixth of August took possession of an'cl threw up entrenchments on t'loughed Hill, and on .the morning of the twenty-seventh 1l1et with its first 10ss, private Simpson of Smith's Company, who was wounclecl in the leg ancl di ed therefrom. Other interesting details of the services of this Battalion can be founcl in "Penn­ sylvania in the War of the Revolution" VoI. I, pp. 3-24. That Zieglei-, who believed in discipline, had his troubles with men unaccustomed to obedience, the prime requisite in a soldier, is evidenced by a cotempora~-y letter from which we quote: "The rel11issness of discipline and care in our young officers has rendered the men rather insolent for good soldiers. They had twice be-: fore broken òpen our guard house and released th~ir companions who. were confined there for sl11all crimes, and once it was with tbe utmost dìfficulty that they were kept from rescuing an offender in the presehce of alI their officers. They openly damned' them and behaved with gre,at insolence. However, the Colonel was pleased to pardon the men and all remained quiet; but on Sunday last the Adjutant having confilled a Sergeant for neglect of duty and murmuring the men began again and threatened to take him out. The adjutant, being a Inan of spirit, seized the principal rriutineer and put hil11 in also, and cOl11ing to report the matter to the Colonel, where we \Vere alI sitting after dinner were alarmed with a huzzaing and upòn going out found they had broken open the guard house. and taken the man out. I. The insubordination ab'ove cletailecl dicl not subside until Generals Washington, Lee ancl Greene came ancl orclered the mutineers surroundecl with 10adecl guns and the ring Ieaders bound.