William Henry Anshutz was born in 1822 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the youngest son of Johann George and Anna Eva Pithin Anshutz. In the census of 1860 he is listed as an unmarried "Gentleman", living with his older brother A. P. Anshutz (although his service record gives his occupation as "Stove Fitter". He was obviously engaged in the family business since his grandfather had established the first iron furnace in Pittsburgh.) William was 38 years old when he enlisted on May 15, 1861 in a company forming in Pittsburgh to serve in the Civil War. An excerpt from Linda Cunningham Fluharty's web page history of the 5th West Virginia Cavalry describes the initial formation of the company that William joined:

This company was raised in Pittsburgh, Pa., by Chatham T. Ewing, J. D. Owens, H. A. Evans and others, and was composed of residents of Allegheny and surrounding counties of Pennsylvania, and a few from Wheeling, Va., bearing the name of the "Plummer Guards." John D. Owens was elected captain and Chatham T. Ewing first lieutenant, and the company began to drill. The organization was completed fully on the 15th of May. Joseph Plummer, at the time a prominent shoe dealer on Wood street, in return for the honor of having the company named after him, bought uniforms for the men, consisting of a suit of grey cloth pants, and jackets trimmed with black, very neat and pretty. The quota of Pennsylvania being full, Gov. Curtin declined to accept the company, and the men chafed under their inability to get to the seat of war. At this time the confederates were becoming active in Western Virginia, and Major Oakes, at Wheeling, came to Pittsburgh to get some troops. The Plummer Guards at once accepted service, going to Wheeling on the steamer John T. McCombs, making their first "camp" on the steamboat Courier, and afterward in Camp Carlisle. They were mustered into the United States service by Capt. Craig, with the following officers: Captain, Chatham T. Ewing; first lieutenant, Alfred Sickman; second lieutenant, Jacob G. Huggins, Capt. J. D. Owens being appointed major of the regiment of which this company was to be a part.

The company became Company G of the 5th West Virginia Cavalry. Upon the conclusion of his three year term of enlistment, on January 2, 1864 William reenlisted for the balance of the war in Battery D, Carlin's 1st West Virginia Light Horse Artillery. During the retreat from the battle of Lynchburg, VA on June 18, 1864 William was taken prisoner with a number of others in his battery at Mason's Cove, Virginia near Salem on June 21. He was taken to Camp Sumter, in Andersonville, Georgia where he remained until December when he was exchanged in Charleston on December 17. He was then taken to the Naval Hospital at Annapolis, Maryland where he died ten days later on December 27, 1864.

In 1866 the West Virginia legislature voted to issue medals to every soldier who served in one of their regiments during the Civil War. Initially there were 26,000 of these medals issued, and most found their way to the soldiers or their families. William's did not. Since the medals were issued two years after his death, and his family did not live in West Virginia, it could be that they never heard about the medals. William's medal remained in the keeping of the West Virginia state archives for 140 years, waiting for a relative to step forward and claim it.

In early 2005 I learned of the existance of these medals and found William's name on the list of unclaimed medals. I immediately undertook to prove my relationship to William. Although I had my Great Uncle's genealogy in which his name was listed, and I knew how I was related to him, I did not have primary evidence - and this was required to claim the medal. My direct ancestry was through Oliver R. Anshutz, third child of Johann George and his first wife, Martha Simpson Anshutz. When Martha died in childbirth in 1816, George remarried and William was the third child of that second marriage. I was able to document each link all the way back to Oliver, but proving the connection between Oliver and his half-brother William posed a big challenge. In an archive in Philadelphia I finally located some letters written by George and his children to the parents of his first wife just prior to and following Martha's death. One of the letters mentioned William's birth and another included a short note from Oliver to his grandparents. I submitted my claim to the medal in December 2005, waited six months, and it arrived in late June 2006.

I am a huge Civil War buff. William is my only Civil War soldier relative (in the past I have "borrowed" my wife's soldier ancestor), so this medal means a lot to me!

Here is how I am related to William Henry Anshutz.

 

This is what I got....