Daviess County KyArchives Biographies.....Meinrath, Adam abt.1836 - April 1870 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/kyfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Bob Davidsson robertid@hotmail.com July 26, 2007, 9:44 am Author: Robert I. Davidson. (Meinrath Family Records) ADAM MEINRATH was a Swiss immigrant, farmer and Civil War veteran who survived four years of war fighting as a trooper with the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry Regiment. He lived and died in Daviess County, Kentucky. Adam Meinrath was the second of three sons born to Caspar and Anna Barbara Meinrath of Neunkirch, Switzerland. The Town of Neunkirch is located in the Klettgau Valley of Schaffhausen Canton. It was established in the year 850, and members of the Meinrath family were documented as living in the town in the earliest existing parish records (1610) and in town records dating back to the 1500s. The origin of the name "Meinrath" may be connected to St. Meinrad of Einsiedeln, a local saint who was martyred on Jan. 21, 861. An abbey and shrine for St. Meinrad was establishhed in the neighboring canton of Schwyz. Economic recession in Switzerland during the 1850s forced Adam Meinrath to emigrate to the United States. According to New Orleans Passenger and Immigration Lists, he boarded the ship "John Holland" at Le Havre, France, and sailed across the Atlantic at age 16. His ship arrived in New Orleans on May 8, 1852. He traveled up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and settled near the town of Owensboro, Kentucky. The 1860 U.S. Census records list Adam Meinrath as a single, 22-year-old farm laborer working on the farm of Mitchell Brown outside of Owensboro. With the outbreak of the Civil War a year later, he enlisted in Company "M" of the 3rd Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry, a pro-union militia unit created in September 1861. Four days after his enlistment, the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry was mustered into the Union Army at Calhoun, Kentucky. Adam Meinrath fought as a private with the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry in the second day of fighting at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862 as part of General Crittenden's Division. Later the same year, his unit fought at the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky. The 3rd Kentucky became part of General William Rosecran's army and participated in the bloody Battle of Stone's River in Tennessee. After the battle, Adam Meinrath's unit was sent back to Kentucky for refitting in 1863, but soon itself fighting Confederate partisans in Kentucky. The 3rd Kentucky Cavalry assisted with the capture of Col. John Hunt Morgan of "Morgan's Raiders," and in December 1863 helped drive the cavalry of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest out of western Tennessee. Adam Meinrath reenlisted in the Union Army on Feb. 3, 1864 for a tour of duty that lasted until the end of the war. The 3rd Kentucky Cavalry took part in the Atlanta campaign under Gen. William T. Sherman, where the unit rode completely around the city disrupting Confederate communications and supplies. After the fall of the city, the 3rd Kentucky joined Sherman's now famous "March to the Sea". With the capture of Savannah, Adam Meinrath's unit crossed into the Carolinas for the final campaign of the war. When the war ended in April 1865, the 3rd Kentucky was stationed at Lexington, N.C. Adam Meinrath mustered out of the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry on July 15, 1865 after four years of distinguised service, according to his regimemntal history. He returned to Daviess County, Kentucky, where he continued to work as a farmer. He was married for a brief period of time, and died about five years later of "consumption". The U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules list his place of death as Oakford, Kentucky. He was just 34 years of age and widowed at his time of death in April 1870. ## Additional Comments: Note: Author Robert I. Davidsson is a grea-great nephew of Adam Meinrath. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/daviess/bios/meinrath376gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/