Friedrich Schambeck

He was Captain of a small Chicago militia unit, the Washington Light Cavalry, before the war. He enrolled with them for war service in Chicago on 18 April 1861 and was commissioned Captain of the independent cavalry Company afterward known as the Chicago Dragoons on 3 July.

He commanded his Company in Maryland.

His dragoons became Company C of the new 16th Illinois Infantry in June 1863 and he was commissioned First Major of the regiment (to date from 17 April 1863). He was killed by a gunshot to his head - "by an estray ball" - in camp near Atlanta, GA on 3 August 1864.

His service from the Adjutant General,1 as Frederick Schambeck, the Register,2 which says he was killed in action, and T.M. Eddy's The Patriotism of Illinois (Vol. II, 1866). Personal details from family genealogists, Alfred Theodore Andreas's History of Chicago (Vol. II, 1885), and from his widow's 1864 pension application, online from fold3. He's also seen as Frederick Schaumbeck. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Susanna "Susan" Ewald (b. Hesse 1836-1885) in Louisville, KY in April 1854 and they had 3 children between 1855 and 1860. She received a Federal widow's pension after his death.

c. 1827; Baden, GERMANY

08/03/1864; Atlanta, GA; burial in Marietta National Cemetery, Marietta, GA