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Amand (Albert) J. Gritzner
Amand J. Gritzner,
resident at Watertown, Wis., was born
In 1856 he went to
Watertown and learned the business of a druggist. In 1858 be went to Chicago
and entered upon the business of a barber in which he was occupied until his
enlistment as a soldier.
Five tribes of hostile
Indians infested that region and the musicians were assigned to infantry
companies and drilled, in order to be qualified to assist when attacked by the
redskins. No one was permitted to go more than a mile from camp, where five
companies of the 3d U. S. Infantry were stationed. Two companies of U. S.
dragoons were stationed at Fort Inge
about 50 miles distant. (Known now as “Old Fort Inge.")
About the first of 1861
a massacre of settlers occurred with the loss of their cattle. February 18th,
General Twiggs surrendered the U. S. property in Texas to the rebels and soon
after the Texas Rangers raised the confederate flag above Fort Clark. The
troops were marched to Indianola, shipped on the “Star of the West," went
to Havana, Cuba, and thence to be incorporated with the army of the North in
defense of the flag.
The roster of battles
of Mr. Gritzner includes the deathless names of Bull Run, Siege of
Yorktown, Gaines' Mills, Malvern Hill, 2d Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville, and the
Siege of Petersburg from February, to the close of the war April 9th, 1865.
This list will tell to
all generations the character of the, service in which he was a participant,
and he needs no other meed of honor.
At the first Bull Run,
where he fought under General Sykes, his canteen and clothing were riddled with
balls and he narrowly escaped capture by the "Black Horse Cavalry."
He ran the same chances at Chancellorsville, Mine Run and Aquia Creek. He endured all the vicissitudes of war on
every field and skirmished countless times from Bull Run to Appomattox,
veteranizing in 1864 after four years of service, enlisting in the regular
service for three years more.
He was assigned to frontier
and post duty, after the close of the war, and received final discharge at Fort
Leavenworth, Kansas, June 3d, 1867. During his period of service on the Potomac
and the Peninsula, he was detailed commonly to the "Stretcher Corps"
and performed the duty of bearing the wounded, dead and dying from the battle
fields, exposed to all the dangers of active warfare, without the satisfaction
of returning compliments in lead. He was also detailed to dress wounds and
became so expert that he was in frequent demand as assistant at the amputating
tables. He suffered severe sickness from typhoid fever at Fort Hamilton in 1864
and nearly lost his life.
After leaving the army
he went to Watertown and opened his business as a barber in which he has since
continued, assisted by his only son, Max William. He was married Feb. 20, 1868,
to Mrs. Bernardina (Baurichter) Seeburg,
widow of Peter Seeburg. He is a member of O. D. Pease
Post No. 94, at Watertown.
Soldiers’ and Citizens’
Album of Biographical Record, Chicago, Grand Army Publishing Co, 1890, pp
353-4.
Barber
shop at 1 E. Main (1889 Watertown City Dir)
__________________________________________
AMAND
GRITZNER,
proprietor of barber shop; came to America from Silesia, Prussia, in 1854,
where he had been a musician, but learned the barber trade, after he came to
the United States and has since followed it.
He married Miss Berdener Seaberg,
of West Farland, Germany, in 1868, by whom he has one
child, whose name is Max, now 9 years of age.
He, his wife and son, are members of the Catholic Church. Mr. Gritzner has
been a member of the Temple of Honor since 1877; was in the 3d United States
Regulars for seven years, from 1861 to 1867; was mustered out of the service at
Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in 1867, when he returned to Watertown and continued
his trade.
The History of
Jefferson County, Wisconsin, Chicago: Western Historical Company. 1879.
__________________________________________
Watertown Gazette, 08 03 1916
Albert Gritzner
Albert Gritzner, aged 75 years, died on Thursday of this week at
his home on
Saturday morning his
funeral took place from St. Henry’s Church.
The interment was in St. Henry’s Cemetery.