William Henry Lessig

In 1860 he was a 20 year old mining engineer living with his recently widowed hotel keeper mother and 3 siblings, probably in the American House, in Pottsville, PA. He recruited a company of men as a light artillery battery, but they mustered into service as Company C, 96th Pennsylvania Infantry. He was commissioned their Captain on 23 September 1861.

Colonel Cake wrote of his actions at Crampton's Gap on 14 September:

Captain Lessing[sic], Company C, deserves especial mention for brave conduct. The prospect of a fight in the wood and among the rocks on the side of the mountain stimulated him to great exertions to gain that point, and he cheered on his fine company most bravely.

He was promoted to Major on 15 September 1862, and Lieutenant Colonel on 23 December 1862. He was appointed Colonel on 13 March 1863, but not mustered at that rank. He mustered out with the Regiment on 21 October 1864.

He was in the oil business in northwestern Pennsylvania (with Jacob W Haas). He moved to Denver, CO by 1867 and was the Colorado Territory Surveyor General to 1874. He later ran a hotel and was a real estate developer. He died at the Soldier's Home in Montevisa, CO (now the Homelake Veterans' History Museum).

His service basics from Bates1 and the Card File.2 Details from Colonel Cake’s Official Report. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860, 1880, & 1900. His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture is from a photograph as a Major (c. 1862) in the collection of Doug Sagrillo, kindly provided by David Ward, author of The 96th Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Civil War (2018).

He married, by 1870, Cecelia Richards (c. 1834-1872) and they had a daughter Clara (1867-). By 1880 he had married again, Sarah M. Kimberly (1844-). He married for (at least) the third time, Clara Ann Bell (1867-) in Chicago in June 1895 and they had a son William Lloyd Lessig (1895-1918).

His picture as Lieutenant Colonel is available online among a group of photographs in the MOLLUS Massachusetts Collection now at the US Army Heritage & Education Center in Carlisle, PA.

10/31/1831; Lebanon, PA

07/18/1910; Monte Vista, CO; burial in Charles Baber Cemetery, Pottsville, PA