Heinrich Wilhelm Kummer, Jr.

A 24 year old sawyer in Reading, MA, he enlisted on 20 April 1861 and mustered as Private, Company A, 12th Massachusetts Infantry on 26 June 1861.

He was reported as killed in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862, but actually deserted his unit there.

He may have gone to sea from Baltimore or other nearby port, having had previous experience as a ship's carpenter, and went to Port Townsend in Washington Territory. He was a partner there in a log hauling business, Kummer & Logan by 1865.

He died relatively young of an unknown illness, at age 36, in Port Townsend.

His service from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,1 which has him as Henry W. Kummer, age 18, and says he was killed at Antietam. He's listed in the 1871 Territorial Census living in Port Townsend, his birthplace as Connecticut. Details from his obituary in the Port Townsend Weekly Argus of 23 October 1875. His gravesite is on Findagrave; his stone has his age at death as 36.

His name is on the Civil War Memorial in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Reading, MA.

See a lovely piece about the mystery that was the apparent death of Henry Kummer, from family genealogist Brian Best on WickedLocal, source also of some details here.

c. 1839 in CT

10/16/1875; Port Townsend, WT (now State); burial in Laurel Grove Cemetery, Port Townsend, WA