Andersonville National Historic Site maintains a database of prisoners of war from all American wars. Many of the entries contain additional information kept in physical files in the research library. These files, often donated by prisoner families or their descendants, contain a variety of information such as copies of military records, photos, letters, pensions, newspaper articles, and census records.

Recently, Jeanne Carper, the 2nd great granddaughter of Andersonville prisoner Samuel Gerhart sent copies of documents in an email. She wrote, “For years we thought he (Samuel) died in Libby Prison, but then I found a scrap of paper with the grave number and his name in an old shoebox on the attic stairs while cleaning up an aunt’s estate and that led to finding out more.”

Jeanne’s research led her to discover a photo of Samuel Gerhart, a copy of his muster roll, and a newspaper article with his name on the regiment’s list. This is Samuel’s story:

Corporal Samuel Gerhart was born in 1841 in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, to German immigrant parents. On Christmas Day 1861, he married Rachael Phillippi and, the following year, they had a daughter named Alice. A few weeks after Alice was born, Samuel enlisted into Co C, 142 Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. According to his enlistment papers, he was 5’9” with brown eyes and brown hair and his occupation was listed as a farmer.

Samuel fought with the 142nd Pennsylvania at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville before being listed as missing during the Battle of the Wilderness. Later, his entry in the Pennsylvania muster rolls was updated to “Captured at Wilderness, Va., May 5, 1864; died at Andersonville, Ga., September 17, 1864; grave, 9,005.” He was twenty-three years old.

Jeanne wrote, “He was so young, looks so earnest, and then left to go to war, leaving an 18-year-old wife with a baby he probably never saw again. Samuel fought for what he believed and died too young, but his lineage lives on because of Alice, who married in 1882 and had seven children.”

Samuel Gerhart’s database entry has been updated with the information Jeanne sent us, and he now has a physical file in our research library. There are thousands of stories like Samuel Gerhart’s and Jeanne’s, and helping people make family connections is just part of what makes Andersonville National Historic Site special.