Civil War diary of Herman Salomon

              Documents 205
had built a mill at Menasha and planned great things in making flour
and shipping it by boat to Buffalo without re-handling. In the
spring I gave up my place and visited my brother at Menasha. He
had built a mill a mile from water and must wait the completion of
a canal from Lake Winnebago to Lake Buttemore [Butte des
Morts]. My vision was prophetic. My brother was.dead before
the milling business was begun.
(To be continued)
CIVIL WAR DIARY OF HERMAN SALOMON1
Herman Salomon was born in Halberstadt, Prussia,
January 1, 1834. He emigrated to Manitowoc in 1853,
whither his brothers had preceded him. His parents followed two years later. He was a cabinet maker and conducted a furniture store in Manitowoc for several years,
later removing to St. Louis. There he was employed in the
United States arsenal at the outbreak of the Civil War.
He enlisted in Company I, First Regiment Missouri Engineers, for three years, then reënlisted and served until the
end of the war. At its close he returned to Manitowoc to
take care of his aged parents, who celebrated their golden
wedding in 1869 and died within three years thereafter. At
Manitowoc he married and continued at his trade as long as
his health permitted. He died September 21, 1881, leaving
a widow and four children; two of his daughters now occupy
the old homestead. The hardships of war had sapped his
strength and for several years prior to his death he was an
invalid. He was of a modest, retiring disposition, but intensely patriotic. He declined a commission offered him by
his brother, Governor Edward Salomon, because he did not
deem himself qualified. At the close of his three years' enlistment he wrote his aged parents: "Forgive me for not
returning home, as you request; but it is my sacred duty to
fight for the Union as long as it is in danger."
Emil Baensch
1 Translated from the original German by Miss A. B. Ernst, of the University of Wisconsin.