Saturday, January 10, 2009

Soldiers of the 48th: Captain Daniel B. Kaufmann

Daniel B. Kaufmann was among the ten officers chosen by Colonel James Nagle in the summer of 1861 to help recruit volunteers to serve in what would become the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry. A resident of Port Clinton, Kaufmann had served under Nagle during the first three months of the war, as captain of the Port Clinton Artillery in Nagle's 6th PA Infantry. When the call thus went out again for volunteers, this time to serve for three years, Kaufmann had little difficulty in getting his artillerists (converted to infantry) to re-enlist. Additional recruits came from the townships of southern Schuylkill County, near the Berks County line, as well as Tamaqua. Most of his volunteers were canal laborers or boatman on the Schuylkill Canal; Kaufmann was himself a dispatcher. Mustered into service of Company A, 48th PA, on September 17, 1861, Kaufmann was then 29 years old, stood 5'9" in height, had a dark complexion, gray eyes, and black hair.
Captain Kaufmann faithfully led his company throughout the war's first three years, emerging unhurt from the various campaigns and battles. Then, on August 1, 1864, Captain Kaufmann was dismissed from service.
I cannot recall the circumstances that led to Kaufmann's dismissal, though I do know that that information is available at the Pennsylvania State Archives. I am thinking it may have had something to do with the fiasco at the Crater, since his dismissal came just two days after the explosion of the mine. I am not sure, however, so when next in Harrisburg, I will be sure to look it up.

4 comments:

Charity said...

Hi there - I'm new to genealogy and recently learned about my 3rd great grandfather Daniel Kaufmann - as luck would have it, my family has his journal from when he was in the service. In paperwork another family member filed, a historian hypothesized that Daniel's dismissal may have had something to do with the crater and mine situation, but from our reading of his journal a few months back, it looks like that isn't actually the case. He and his men had a planned dismissal that had been delayed at some point, but it was not sudden or seemly caused by any particular event. He does go over some of the details of the mine explosion, but it seemed unrelated.

John David Hoptak said...

Hello Charity
Many thanks for your comment and for your information pertaining to Captain Kauffman.
I would love to read that journal, if possible. Can you kindly contact me at johnhoptak at hotmail dot com

Many thanks!

LGerber6 said...

Hello Charity, I am a relative. Daniel B Kaufmann is my 2nd Great Grandfather. Would love to connect via email if that would be okay with you. I’ve been back to PA, Schuylkill County Archives and have not found a lot on him other than his Civil War service. I’m on Ancestry as well. I just found tonight the pictures of the journals you mention above. Thank you. Look forward to learning more about our connection.

Charity said...

Hello, I will write to both of you. @lgerber6 can you send me your email address