Louis Rau, Company H 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Private Louis Rau, Co. H, 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Wedding  photograph of Louis Rau & bride Mary E. Seitz Rau

April 21, 1879

Home of Louis and Mary E. Seitz Rau
626 Mills Street, Sandusky, Ohio

 Spring/Summer 1880

Some weeks back I received information about a Civil War soldier who served in the 72nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry raised by Fremont, Ohio attorney Ralph Buckland. The regiment was made up largely of residents of Sandusky and neighboring counties. 

Jack Smith of South Bend, Indiana shared these photographs of his great grandfather Louis Rau, who was born in Prussia February 25, 1843. He was a farmer and the son of John Rau. At the age of 21, Louis Rau was recruited at Sandusky, Ohio, December 1, 1861 by Captain Anthony Young and served in Company H under Captain Michael Wegstein. Rau fought at the Battle of Shiloh, the Siege of Corinth, and the Siege of Vicksburg. 

At Vicksburg, Rau became so ill with intermittent fever and diarrhea, he was determined unfit for field service. He was given a 30-day furlough and discharged on a surgeon's certificate of disability on December 1, 1864. He then served in the Veterans Reserve Corps. February 25 1865, he re-enlisted in Captain William Fisher's Company F of the 107th  Ohio Volunteer Infantry for one year. He fought at Sumtersville, South Carolina and at Swift Creek. On July 13, 1865, Rau was transferred to Company C. of the 25th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was honorably discharged at Charleston, South Carolina at the end of his term of service on February 24, 1866.

Rau returned to Sandusky, Ohio and married Rosa Bader, whom he divorced in 1875. Four years later, on April 21, 1879, he married Mary E. Seitz. They were the parents of three children: Louis, born Feb. 17, 1880 died August 7, 1880; Anna M. born May 7, 1881; and Laura M. born January 20, 1883.

The family lived at 626 Mills Street in Sandusky. Louis Rau worked in Sandusky's fisheries. Louis Rau died of a heart attack at the age of 72 on March 27, 1916. He is buried in Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery.

                                         Oakland Cemetery
                                       Courtesy of Find a Grave

Louis Rau sparked a strong interest in the Civil War for his great grandson Jack Smith, Smith began collecting original images of Abraham Lincoln in 1959. His collection of more than 750 images was one of the largest known collections. It was acquired by the Indiana Historical Society in 2003. The collection is cataloged and appears online. 

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