Augustus Dedrickson was born around 1831 in present-day Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. He immigrated to America around 1854 and settled in Rockford, Illinois.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on September 23, 1861, and he mustered in as a musician in the 11^th Illinois Infantry on September 30. The regiment took part in the Battle of Fort Donelson, the Battle of Shiloh, and the siege of Corinth. After the Battle of Fort Donelson, he wrote, “I never want to go through such hardships again nor never do I want to see the horrible sights after such a battle again. As long as a battle last, you have no time to think, but when you see the dead & wounded laying on the field after the battle, then is the time when you feel.” He mustered out on July 9, 1862.

 

He returned to Rockford after the war, and he married Dora L. Hinge. They had at least two children: Martha, born around 1866; and Eliza, born around 1870. He was naturalized on October 6, 1868. He worked as a musician, and by 1870, he owned $500 of personal property. A local writer described him as a “German dealer in musical instruments, and leader of the Forest City band.” In 1879, his wife reportedly “ran away…with a man by the name of Bradford Reck, a piano tuner, who had been living with Dedrickson for some time.” She took their daughter Eliza with her, and she wrote a letter telling Dedrickson “that she should not be back.”

 

A marshal tracked her down in Utica, New York, and persuaded her to return home. According to one writer, Dedrickson “met his recreant spouse at the Palmer [House], and there was a tearful reconciliation.” By 1900, he was living in his daughter Eliza’s household in Rockford. He died in Rockford on February 1, 1902.

 

Image: Augustus Dedrickson (courtesy Veterans Memorial Hall and Museum Collection)

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