Adolphus Gustav Thut (Gustav Adolf Thut) was born March 14th 1839 in Oberentfelden AG, Switzerland. He was the son of Doctor Melchior Jacob Thut (04/28/1814 – 01/06/1883) and Anna Maria Walther (08/18/1816 – 09/01/1900).
He emigrated as a young man from Oberentfelden to St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Because he didn’t need fincancial support by municipal administration for his emigration, they did not noticed any reason why he left his home country.
His journey must have taken place between 1857 and 1860, because in 1861 the United States civil war begann.
Adolphus G. Thut fought as a Corporal in Company A of the 36th Indiana Infantry Regiment, with the Union.
It’s unproved if he really reached his destination «St. Louis», because Missouri was a confederate state, and he fought with the Union.
Probably wounded in war, he died on May 5th 1862 in hospital at the age of 23.
His grave can be found at Rich Square Cemetery in Henry County, Indiana, USA.
American Civil War
The American Civil War, widely known in the United States as simply the Civil War as well as other names, was a civil war fought from 1861 to 1865 to determine the survival of the Union or independence for the Confederacy. Among the 34 states in January 1861, seven Southern slave states individually declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy, often simply called the South, grew to include eleven states, and although they claimed thirteen states and additional western territories, the Confederacy was never diplomatically recognized by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal and did not declare secession were known as the Union or the North. The war had its origin in the factious issue of slavery, especially the extension of slavery into the western territories. After four years of combat, which had left around 750,000 Americans, Union and Confederate, dead and had destroyed much of the South’s infrastructure, the Confederacy collapsed and slavery was abolished. Then began the Reconstruction and the processes of restoring national unity and guaranteeing civil rights to the freed slaves.
References:
- American National Park Service, http://www.nps.gov/
- Wikipedia, https://www.wikipedia.org/
- Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com/