Augustus Louis Chetlain

Born Dec. 26, 1824, St. Louis, MO to Swiss parents; family settled in Galena in 1826
Educated in local schools; established a successful mercantile business
Married Emily Tenny in 1847; she died during the birth of their first child. Married Annie Smith of Rockford, IL 18 year later
Assisted in raising Galena’s first volunteer company, the “Jo Daviess Guards,” April, 1861
Commissioned Captain, Company F, 12th Illinois Infantry, April 1861; promoted Lieutenant Colonel, May 1861
Promoted Colonel, for Gallantry at Fort Donelson, April 1862; Commanded Federal Post at Corinth, Mississippi
In charge of raising 17,000 black troops in Tennessee and Kentucky, for which given rank of brevet Major General, June 1864
Commander at Memphis, Tennessee and Talladega, Alabama, 1865-1866
Appointed Assessor of Internal Revenue for the District of Utah, 1867
Appointed U.S. Consul to Belgium, 1869; returned to Chicago, 1872; engaged in banking business
Died in Chicago, March 15, 1914; buried in Galena’s Greenwood Cemetery