b. Ueckermuende, Prussia, October 5, 1825
d. Juneau, Wisconsin, September 2, 1878

Henry Bertram was a Prussian immigrant who served in both the Mexican-American War and the Civil War. Following his many years of service, he returned to Wisconsin and held various elected offices in Watertown and Juneau, Dodge County, Wisconsin.

Early Years

Bertram was baptized Emil Gustav Victor Beeger. He arrived in the United States about 1840 after serving as a cabin boy aboard a Prussian ship. At the age of 20, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and fought in the Mexican-American War. He was promoted to sergeant on August 21, 1846, yet was charged with desertion on January 20, 1851 (a charge posthumously removed from his record).

After his Mexican-American War service, Beeger sailed to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he married his first wife. In 1856 they returned to New York and eventually relocated to Watertown, Wisconsin, where he enlisted in a local militia called the Watertown Rifles.

Civil War Service

Beeger enlisted in Co. A, 3rd Wisconsin Infantry on April 18, 1861 — less than a week after the attack on Fort Sumter. He enrolled under the name Henry Bertram, perhaps to Anglicize his German surname.

Bertram was promoted to 1st lieutenant of the 3rd Infantry on May 1, 1861, before it left Wisconsin, and to captain on September 24, 1861, after it reached the front near Washington, D.C. Over the next nine months, Bertram's company fought in nine battles in Virginia.

On July 1, 1862, Bertram was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 20th Wisconsin Infantry. When the regiment fought at the Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, on December 7, 1862, Bertram's horse was shot from under him and he was wounded. He was promoted to full colonel later that month.

In June 1863 his regiment participated in the Siege of Vicksburg. In October it sailed to the mouth of the Rio Grande and blockaded a shipment of Mexican goods intended for Confederate soldiers. Near the end of the war, Bertram was brevetted a brigadier general for his meritorious services during the war. He was mustered out of service on July 14, 1865.

Postwar Career

Bertram returned to Watertown on August 1, 1865, and entered politics. He was elected mayor of Watertown in 1870 and served as Dodge County Sheriff until 1872. He later moved to Juneau, Wisconsin, where he was a merchant and hotel keeper. He died suddenly on September 2, 1878, and is buried in the Juneau city cemetery.

Links to Learn More

• "Gen. Henry Bertram"

  An affectionate memoir by a fellow officer, Watertown Times, Oct. 10, 1914

• View Original Documents Related to Henry Bertram

[Source: "Adventurer Called Juneau Home", Beaver Dam Daily Citizen, Nov. 29, 2010); Quiner Scrapbooks: Correspondence of the Wisconsin Volunteers, 1861-1865, Volume 3; "Gen. Henry Bertram," Watertown Times, Oct. 10, 1914]