Peter Fries

His father "abandoned" the family in about 1848, and was afterward deemed a "worthless and dissolute man." By 1858 he was supporting himself, his mother, and his siblings working in the coal mines of William Carter at Tamaqua in Schuylkill County, PA. At age 22, on 9 September 1861, he enlisted in Tamaqua and he mustered in Pottsville on 23 September as a Private in Company H, 96th Pennsylvania Infantry. He was unmarried and had no children.

He was wounded by a gunshot to his thigh, probably in action at Crampton’s Gap on South Mountain on 14 September 1862.

He was admitted to the US Army General Hospital at Camp B in Frederick, MD on 12 October and was sent back to his company on 17 January 1863. He was mortally wounded at Salem Heights, VA on 3 May 1863 and died later the same day.

His mother Catherine applied for a pension based on his service in June 1863.

His service basics from Bates1 and the Card File.2 Wound and hospital details from the Patient List.3 Personal details from family genealogists, also as Peter Friess, and his mother Catherine's pension application, as Peter Friece, online from fold3; his brother William apparently spelled his surname Fries. He may be buried as an unknown in Fredericksburg National Cemetery, but is not listed by name there.

c. 1839; Schuylkill County, PA

05/03/1863; Spotsylvania County, VA