George A. Trautvetter’s Civil War Desertion-Part IV

In part III of this series we saw that George A. Trautvetter was not the only man to desert his Civil War infantry unit in July of 1865.

According to the “National Archives and Record Administration’s Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900,” (NARA microfilm publication T289–available with images on Fold3 as “Civil War Pensions Index” or on FamilySearch  in text format only as “United States Civil War and Later Pension Index, 1861-1917“) there are no Civil War pensions for:

  • William Doerges
  • Henry Doerges
  • Adam Enders
  • George A. Trautvetter

Having seen George A. Trautvetter’s compiled military service record, I know that he appealed his desertion discharge and that his appeal was denied. Just because the Doergeses and Enders did not receive a pension does not mean that their dishonorable discharge was not reversed on appeal. They could have appealed and either died before qualifying for a pension or for some reason never applied for one.

That determination will require further research.

Since the Doergeses and Enders apparently deserted with Trautvetter, I’m tempted to obtain their compiled military service record to see what information those files contain. At this point, I know nothing about them other than that they were Warsaw, Illinois, residents (at least by 1860) and that they were in the same unit with Trautvetter.

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