John C. Hilberg

Son of a farm worker, in 1860 he was a 20 year old factory worker living with his parents and 3 younger sisters in Baltimore, MD. He enlisted on 2 October 1861 as a Private in Company F, 5th Maryland Infantry.

He was wounded in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862:

A minie bullet entered the left shoulder one and a half inches above the anterior fold of the axilla [armpit] and one inch from the margin of the glenoid cavity [shoulder socket], passed downward and outward, fracturing the [humerus] bone at the surgical neck, extensively comminuting the shaft, and lodged under the integuments, on the outer aspect of the arm, six inches below the joint.

He was treated on the field then sent to the Camden Street Hospital in Baltimore on 21 September, where Assistant Surgeon E.G. Waters removed the bullet from his upper arm. By February 1863 he seemed largely healed and was sent to Hammond Hospital at Point Lookout, MD on 3 July. In August, though, he developed an infected abscess in his arm. He recovered from that, but his original wound began discharging again to October, when surgeons removed pieces of diseased bone. He was well enough to transfer to the Convalescent Camp in January 1864 and was discharged for disability in April.

He enlisted again on 21 May 1864 for 100 days service in the 11th Maryland Infantry and mustered as a Corporal in Company H. He mustered out with them on 1 October 1864.

In Baltimore in October 1868 a pension examiner reported that his wound was open at the shoulder and pieces of bone continued to work their way out. In 1873 examiners noted he had a lot of scarring adhering to the bone and his arm was "very much impaired."

In 1880 he was working in a cotton mill in Baltimore. He was a carriage maker there in 1900 and had retired by 1910.

His service basics from Wilmer.1 Wound and hospital details from the MSHWR,2 quoted above. Personal details from the US Census of 1860-1910.

He married Mary M (?; 1836-) and they had 5 children between 1867 and 1879.

c. 1840 in GERMANY

05/15/1915; Baltimore, MD