Augustus Louis Chetlain


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
Greenwood Cemetery Galena, Illinois