Friday, December 9, 2011

Thomas Tscharner DeGraffenried(t), student 1849-1850

At the beginning of the war, DeGraffenried (variantly spelled "DeGraffenriedt") was a physician residing in Texas, where he and his brother William G. DeGraffenried, also a doctor, had moved ca. 1855.  He enlisted at Columbus TX  as a private in Co. B of the 5th Texas Infantry ("Echo Company") on July 10, 1861. The company arrived in Richmond, VA in September 17, 1862. The company saw significant action in the summer of 1862 before DeGraffenried was sent back to Texas where he served as a hospital nurse from September 1862-December 1863. He returned to Virginia, where he was hospitalized himself for much of 1864 before being assigned as  brigade dentist in November 1864.

He surrendered with 8 other remaining soldiers from his company at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865 and was paroled. Dr. DeGraffenried returned to Columbus, TX and practiced dentistry, discontinuing his practice shrotly before his death on August 15, 1875 due to consumption and tongue cancer. He is buried in Clear Creek Cemetery in Colorado County, TX.

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