Henry H. Cutler was born around 1843 in Massachusetts. By the early 1860s, he was living in Grant, Illinois, and working as a farmer.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on August 15, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company C of the 96^th Illinois Infantry on September 5. According to his service records, he was 6 feet, 2½ inches tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. The regiment took part in the Battle of Chickamauga, the Atlanta campaign, and the Battle of Nashville. He eventually earned a promotion to corporal.

 

Confederate forces captured him near Chattanooga in September 1863, and he spent the following month imprisoned in Richmond, Virginia. He was paroled in October 1863 and detained at Camp Dennison in Ohio. He fell ill that winter and travelled home to Grant in January 1864. He assured his commanding officer later that month that “as soon as I get a little stronger and am exchanged I am willing and anxious to come to you” and “do my duty as I did before I was captured.” He insisted that he “despise[d]” deserters and remained faithful to the “good cause I am engaged in.”

 

He rejoined the regiment later that year, and he was mortally wounded in the Battle of Nashville. He died in Nashville on December 17, 1864.

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