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Louis A. Gratz – Died On Train Between Louisville & Knoxville, 1907
Posted By Norman Gasbarro on March 16, 2019
Louis A. Gratz is often associated with the Gratz family of Philadelphia and its connections to the Lykens Valley. However, no evidence has been seen that he was descended from or closely related to that family.
Louis, an immigrant, first appears in the area around Pottsville as a peddler just prior to the Civil War. Then, he served as a recruiter for the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry, attracting enlistees for Company B, from the Pottsville area after he himself was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant in that same regiment and company. During the Civil War, he transferred to the 6th Kentucky Cavalry as a Major, and finished the war in that regiment and at that rank.
After the Civil War, Louis A. Gratz moved to Kentucky.
The following short notice of death appeared in the National Tribune, 28 November 1907:
While enroute from Louisville, Kentucky, to Knoxville, Tennessee, suddenly, on September 19, L. A. Gratz. Comrade Gratz was born in Prussia, November 11, 1843; immigrated to the United States in 1860; entered the
9th Pennsylvania Cavalry as Lieutenant; was promoted to Major and assigned to the 6th Kentucky Cavalry; was eminent for many years in the Knights of Honor, the only man ever elected thrice to the office of Supreme Dictator of that Order.
While serving in the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry , Louis A. Gratz accidentally killed another man, Frederick Metzger. This accidental death was the subject of a previous blog post. See: Frederick Metzger – Accidentally Killed by Louis A. Gratz.
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News clipping from Chronicles of America.
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