Gustav Tafel Gustav Tafel ( October 13 , 1830 – 1908 ) was a German - born colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War , and the mayor of Cincinnati , Ohio , from 1897 to 1900 . Biography . Tafel was born in Munich , Germany ( München ) . He was one of the Forty - Eighters , meaning he fled Germany after the Revolution of 1848 . He started in Cincinnati as a printer , and later became a newspaper editor . He resided in a house at the northeastern corner of 14th and Walnut streets from 1848 - 1870 . At the time , Cincinnati had a large German population and a number of German language newspapers , and Tafel quickly became a leader in that community . When war erupted and Governor William Dennison called for volunteers to join the army , Tafel enlisted with the Cincinnati " Turnverein " and served as a lieutenant in Company A , 9th Ohio Infantry , a mostly German regiment . In June 1862 he was assigned to command the 106th Ohio Infantry ( aka , " The 4th German Regiment " ) , one of the last German regiments raised in the state . However , because the organization was forced to take the field in September with only eight of its companies filled , Tafel ' s commission was modified to that of lieutenant colonel on November 11 , 1862 . After the Perryville Campaign , Tafel ' s battalion was merged into the hard - luck Thirty - ninth Brigade , which was captured intact by Confederate General John Hunt Morgan at the Battle of Hartsville on December 7 , 1862 . The 106th was thereafter paroled and sent to Columbus , Ohio , being formally exchanged on January 12 , 1863 . Tafel superintended the unit ' s re - organization at Camp Dennison . On March 24 the unit left for Lexington , Kentucky , to relieve the 103rd Ohio Infantry in suppressing guerrilla activity in Owen County . Tafel effectively brought an end to the depredations , earning " praise from the citizens and State authorities , for the good conduct and soldierly bearing of both officers and men . " The regiment arrived in Nashville on May 4 , and four weeks later took up guard duty along the Louisville & Nashville Railroad , from Nashville north to the Kentucky border , operating out of Gallatin , Tennessee . At this time the unit had been formally assigned to the Third Brigade , Second Division , Reserve Corps , Army of the Cumberland . The guerrilla s of the area suffered so consistently from the ambuscade tactics of the 106th that their leader , Captain Ellis Harper , offered a reward for Tafel ' s head . Harper ' s band was badly mauled on December 4 , 1863 , at Dry Fork in Sumner County , Tennessee , Harper himself escaping . The growing skill and hardened reputation of the 106th Ohio under Tafel ' s leadership caused it to be reassigned to the garrison of Bridgeport , Alabama , on May 4 , 1864 , where it quickly displayed its refined " scouting " abilities in hounding the local guerrilla band of Rebel Captain Caperton throughout the Racoon Mountains . Caperton was killed by mounted scouts of the 106th on June 10 . In October 1864 , the 106th was finally recruited up to its full strength , officially attaining the status of a full , volunteer regiment . Tafel and the 106th Ohio became cut off from all communication for a four weeks with Thomas ' s main army at Nashville when Confederate Lt . Gen . John B . Hood brought what was left of the Army of Tennessee back into Tennessee that same winter . In January 1865 the 106th fought one of its last actions of the war at Mud Creek , Tennessee , encountering a portion of the Rebel cavalry forces under Brig . Gen . Hylan B . Lyon . In June , the regiment was ordered back to Nashville for muster out , which occurred on June 29 , 1865 . Tafel ' s commission was never upgraded to that of a full colonel . Tafel was a Democrat in his political views , and served three years as mayor of Cincinnati around the start of the 20th century . He died in Cincinnati and is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery .