David Christian Steiner was born around 1814 in Maryland to Henry and Susan Steiner. His father was a farmer. He married Elizabeth Wiest, and they had at least four children: Valetta, born around 1842; Alice, born around 1845; Grace, born around 1853; and Mollie, born around 1855. They lived in Baltimore, Maryland, and Steiner worked as a butcher. A decade later, he was working as a merchant, and he owned $5,000 of real estate and $2,500 of personal property.

 

He remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War, and he received a commission as a 1^st lieutenant in Company of the 1^st Maryland Cavalry on August 7, 1861. He became quartermaster on February 1, 1862. The regiment took part in the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the siege of Petersburg, and Steiner mustered out on December 22, 1864.

 

Steiner moved to Queensbury, New York, after the war, and he earned a living as a soda maker. By 1870, he owned $500 of personal property. They returned to Baltimore in the 1870s. He applied for a federal pension in February 1889 and eventually secured one. He died in Maryland around 1892.

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