John Henry Libben

He came to America in about 1854. On 27 March 1861, by then a 23 year old carpenter, he enlisted as a Private in Battery M, 2nd United States Artillery in St. Louis, MO.

He was in action with the battery at Antietam on 17 September 1862. Lieutenant Hains later reported:

All the men of the company behaved with their accustomed coolness and courage with one exception, Private Litten [sic], who was not at all remarkable for coolness or courage.

He was discharged on 26 March 1864 at the end of his enlistment. He enlisted in the US Marine Corps on 14 April 1864 and was appointed Sergeant.

By about 1866 he was aboard USS Vanderbuilt, a steam cruiser, and sailed with her around South America to San Fransisco, CA that year. At the end of his enlistment on 14 April 1868 he was discharged at the Mare Island Navy Yard. He went to Seattle, WA and operated a sawmill there to at least 1887.

His service from the Registers.1. Further details from his bio sketch in the Records.2 His gravesite is on Findagrave.

03/27/1837; Freiburg, Prussian Saxony, GERMANY

12/22/1900; in WA; burial in Washington Soldiers Home Cemetery, Orting, WA