Henry Hartmann

Henry Hartmann was born in 1809 in Hanover, Germany.

Henry immigrated to the United States sometime before the war broke out, and eventually settled in western Michigan.

He stood 5’7” with blue eyes, sandy hair and a dark complexion, and was a 52-year-old gardener possibly living in Muskegon County when he enlisted in Company C on May 13, 1861. (Company C was made up largely of German and Dutch immigrants, many of whom lived on the west side of the Grand River in Grand Rapids. This company was the descendant of the old Grand Rapids Rifles, also known as the “German Rifles,” a prewar local militia company composed solely of German troopers.) He was missing in action on June 30 or July 1, 1862, “in front of Richmond,” Virginia, probably at White Oak Swamp, and was absent sick in the hospital in August. He was discharged on September 4, 1862, at Fairfax Seminary hospital, Virginia for “hemorrhoids internal and external.”

After his discharge Henry returned to Muskegon County where he worked as a carpenter in Norton in the late 1860s. He was probably the same Henry Hartman, age 60 who in 1870 was working as a laborer in Norton, and living with his wife German-born Mary (b. 1820) and two children: George (b. 1854) and William (b. 1858). (If so they had probably been married in Germany and were living in Württemberg in 1854, settling in Michigan by 1858.) By 1877 “Henry” was farming on 160 acres near Little Black Lake in Norton, and spent most of his life working as farmer or laborer. In 1890 there was one Henry Hartman who had apparently served in the Fourth Michigan (infantry or cavalry is not reported) and who was living in Norton and Muskegon, Muskegon County in 1890.

In 1882 he applied for and received pension no. (308236).

Henry died on November 10, 1891, presumably at his home in Norton, and was buried in Norton cemetery: Grand Army of the Republic section, G-1 grave no. 127.

In 1892 his widow Anna (?), received pension no. 354110.