Hermann
Muehlberg
Photos of Hermann Muehlberg on
this page
available to view and purchase at the Minnesota
Historical Society web site. Click on the image to go directly to
it.
Name: Hermann Muehlberg
Company: E, D, F&S
Enlisted February 19, 1862; appointed Sergeant April 2, 1862; Sergeant
Major April 30, 1862; promoted Second Lieutenant Company D May 4, 1863;
Captain May 6, 1863.
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Birth
- Date: May 3, 1833
- Place: Gross
Floethe, Hannover
(Germany)
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Mustered In
- Date: February 19,
1862
- Rank: Private
- Age: 28
- Residence prior to
military service: Waconia, Carver County, Minnesota
- Vocation prior to
military service: Surveyor
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Death
- Date: March 27,
1911
- Place: Carver,
Carver County, Minnesota
- Burial: Mount Hope
Cemetery, Carver, Carver County, Minnesota
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Mustered Out
- Date: May 15, 1865
- Rank: Captain
- Age: 32
- Residence following
military service: Carver, Carver County, Minnesota
- Vocation following
military service: Publisher and Editor of the Carver Free Press
(1884-1897); Adjutant General of the State of Minnesota (1893-1899)
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Hermann Muehlberg in the Civil
War
Franz Otto "Hermann" Ehrenfried
Muehlberg was born in Gross Floethe, Hannover (Germany) on May 3, 1833.
His parents were Frederick and
Dorethea (Schroeter) Muehlberg.
The Muehlbergs were distant relatives of John Peter Gabriel Muehlenberg
who served with distinction in the Revolutionary War. Hermann and his
parents came to the United States in 1846, settling in
St. Louis, Missouri. While in St. Louis, Hermann learned the printer's
trade. In 1851, he moved to Dubuque, Iowa, and while there he married
Clara Freese (1854), born September 1834 in Prussia
(Germany). Clara had immigrated to America in 1850.
In 1856, Hermann and Clara moved on
to Carver, Carver County,
Minnesota, and about
1857, Hermann and Clara had a son, Albert. In 1860,
Hermann, Clara, and Albert were living in Waconia, Carver County,
Minnesota, where Hermann worked as a surveyor. Much of his work was
government land surveying
in the southwestern part of Minnesota. During the winter of 1861-1862,
he
taught public school in Waconia, Carver County, Minnesota. In 1863,
Muehlberg sold
property at 121 Third Street, Carver, Minnesota, to Enoch Holmes.
Muehlberg enlisted as a private in Company E of the Fifth Minnesota on
February 19, 1862, and quickly moved up in the ranks of the regiment:
April 2, he was
appointed sergeant, and April 30, sergeant-major of the regiment. In
this capacity he served till May 4, 1863, when he was appointed to the
office of second lieutenant of Company D, of the same regiment. Two
days later he was commissioned captain of the same company. [Shutter,
Marion Daniel: Progressive
Men of Minnesota, Minneapolis, The Minneapolis Journal, 1897.]
Sergeant-Major Muehlberg participated in the Battle of Farmington, the
Siege of Corinth, the
Battle of Iuka, the Battle of Corinth, and Grant's Central Mississippi
campaign while serving in Company E. After being promoted and
transfered to Company D, Captain Muehlberg led his company during the
Siege of Vicksburg, the Meridian Campaign, the Red River Campaign, the
Battle of Pleasant Hill, the defeat of Marmaduke at Old River Lake, the
march and pursuit of Price through Arkansas and Missouri, the Battle of
Nashville, and the assault and capture of Fort Blakely. Captain
Muehlberg was honorably discharged from the service while in a hospital
at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, in July, 1865. He returned to his
family in Carver County, Minnesota.
In 1878 Hermann Muehlberg became the editor of "Pionier am Wisconsin,"
a Republican German newspaper in Sauk City, Sauk County, Wisconsin. The
Muehlberg family was living in Sauk City
when the 1880 US Census was taken. At that time the household
consisted of Hermann (age 47, working as a printer), his wife Clara
(age 45), sons Albert (age 23, working as a harness maker, born in
Minnesota) and Hermann (age 15, apprentice to printer, born in
Minnesota),
and daughters Dorette (or Dora, age 12, at
school, born August 1867 in Wisconsin), Elise (or Elsie, age 10, at
school, born February 1870 in
Wisconsin), and Hermine (or Minnie, age 7, at school, born October 1872
in Wisconsin).
Muehlberg returned once again to
Carver County, Minnesota in 1881. In
1884, Muehlberg bought the building at 121 Fourth Street, Carver,
Minnesota, and until 1897 published and edited the Carver Free Press
from the building. He was appointed Carver County surveyor in 1883, and
served as chairman of the board of county commissioners for two terms.
In 1892, the Republicans nominated Muehlberg for the legislature, but
he was defeated by a small majority.
On February 1, 1893, Minnesota Governor Knute Nelson appointed Hermann
Muehlberg to the office of Adjutant General of the State of Minnesota.
During his service as Adjutant General, Muehlberg moved his family to
St. Paul. In 1897, Muehlberg sold the Carver Free Press building to
Anna M.
Bredenhagen, whose family had previously published the newspaper.
At the time of the 1900 U. S. Census, Hermann and Clara Muehlberg were
again living in Carver, Carver County, Minnesota. Three daughters lived
with them: Dora (age 32), Elisa (age 30), and Minnie (age 27). All
three daughters worked as milliners (hatmakers).
Son Albert married Lizzie Johnson in November 1887. In 1893 another
daughter, Clara, married M. Conner in Montana. In 1901, daughter Elsie
married William Goetze, and daughter Hermine married John E. Fitzgerald.
Hermann and
Clara celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in
February, 1904. Clara Muehlberg died July 4, 1909, in Carver County,
Minnesota and was buried in Mount Hope
Cemetery, Carver, Carver County, Minnesota. Hermann died less
than two years
later on March 27, 1911, in Carver, Carver County, Minnesota. He was
also buried in Mount Hope
Cemetery, as were their son, Hermann, and daughter, Doretta.
This page is maintained by Tim Bode (timbode@juno.com ). Last modified
on 7/26/08.
