John Troth

In 1860 he was a 23 year old farmer living with his recently widowed mother Else/Elsey and 8 siblings at Vandalia in Owen County, IN. He enlisted and mustered on 7 June 1861 as a Private in Company H, 14th Indiana Infantry.

He was wounded by a gunshot to his head in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862.

He was admitted to US Army General Hospital #4 in Frederick, MD on 22 September and returned to duty on 16 December 1862. He was promoted to Corporal and Sergeant, dates not given, and was killed at Gettysburg, PA on 2 July 1863. His Captain later wrote:

Two of our very best men, Corporal Isaac Norris and Sergeant John Troth were killed, both instantly ... Troth was shot through the heart, and never spoke. I could have laid my hand on him when he fell ... I cannot say too much in praise of the two brave men who fell, nor have I time to say what I would like. None ever fell more nobly, none were ever mourned more by surviving comrades. They were buried by their friends as decently as possible under an apple tree and headboards suitably inscribed ...

Service basics from the Adjutant General.1 Wound and hospital details from the Patient List.2 The Gettysburg quote from a 5 July 1863 letter Captain David E Beem wrote his wife, now online from the Indiana Historical Society. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

03/09/1837 in OH

07/02/1863; Gettysburg, PA; burial in Vandalia Methodist Cemetery, Vandalia, IN