Vitals: Deaths: The Late Lieut.-Colonel Nauman, 1801-1863, Lancaster County

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ARMY NAVY JOURNAL
Gazette of the Regular and Volunteer Forces Vol. 1, No. 4
New York, Saturday, September, 19, 1863

          THE LATE LIEUT.-COLONEL NAUMAN, 1801-1863

   The late Lieutenant-Colonel GEORGE NAUMAN, U.S.A., was the son of
George Nauman, Esq., of Lancaster, Pa., and was born October 7, 1802.
He lost his father in 1815. His mother's maiden name was HALL. In
1819, he entered the U.S. Military Academy, at West Point, as a
Cadet; in 1821, he was acting Assistant Professor of French in that
institution; in 1823, he graduated and was commissioned Brevet Second
Lieutenant in the Second Regiment of Artillery, and the same year
received his full Second Lieutenancy in the First Regiment of
Artillery; was appointed Assistant Commissary of Subsistence in
March, 1828; was Assistant Instructor of French at the Military
Academy, from September, 1828, to August, 1829; promoted to First
Lieutenant, May, 1832, and again Assistant Commissary of Subsistence,
August, 1835. He served continuously in the Florida War, from
February, 1836, to May, 1838, and was distinguished particularly in
the "Battle of Wahoo Swamp;" Captain First Artillery, February, 1837;
served throughout the War with Mexico, under Generals Taylor and
Scott; Brevet Major for "for gallant and meritorious conduct in the
battles of Contreras and Churubusco," 20th August, 1847, and was
wounded in the "battle of Chapultepec," 8th September, 1847. He
commanded the First Regiment of Artillery and was "Commissioner of
Prize" at Vera Cruz at the close of the war, and conducted the
evacuation of that city by the U.S. Army. He commanded Fort
Washington, on the Potomac, from 1848 to 1852; served on the Pacific
Coast, from May, 1854, to January, 1861, having been promoted Major
of the Third Artillery Regiment, December 24, 1853, which Regiment he
commanded from May, 1854, to March, 1857, and again for about seven
months in 1860; was Inspector of Artillery for the Department of
Oregon and California, from May 9, 1858, to January 11, 1861, and
conducted the Artillery School at Fort Vancouver for some months in
1860; was promoted to the Lieutenan-Colonelcy of the First Artillery,
July 23, 1861; was Chief of Artillery at Newport News, Virginia, in
March, 1862, during the engagement with the "Merrimac," "Yorktown,"
"Jamestown," and other rebel steamers, on which occasion he was
favorably mentioned by General Mansfield, in his report of the
affair; for the last year stationed at Fort Warren, in the harbor of
Boston, engaged in preparing that work for a state of proper defence.

   Lieutenant-Colonel Nauman was on the eve of promotion to a full
Colonelcy of Artillery, and his commission would have borne date
August 1, 1863. He was on his way to Lancaster to visit his children
from whom he had been some time separated, had reached Philadelphia,
and while at the Depot of the Pennsylvania Railroad, 11th and Market
streets, aboaut to take the cars, he was suddenly attacked with
illness, and, notwithstanding that immediate attention was given to
him by most excellent physicians (Drs. Swift and Keating, U.S.A.), he
expired in a short time -- death, effect of heat or "sun-stroke" --
August 11, 1863, in the 61st year of his age. His remains were
brought to this city and interred on the 13th inst., by the side of
his wife, whom he had survived about two years.

Only four of Leiutenant-Colonel Nauman's classmates yet remain in the
U.S. Army. They are Brigadier-General Lorenzo THOMAS,
Adjutant-General; Colonel George CROSSMAN, Deputy-
Quartermaster-General; Colonel Edmund A. ALEXANDER, 10th Infantry,
and Colonel Hannibal DAY, 6th Infantry.

   Lieutenant-Colonel Nauman possessed, in an eminent degree, those
qualities which ever chracterize the truly brave and efficient
officer -- modesty and courage. For forty years he had been an
officer in the Army of the United States, and had been stationed in
every section of the Union, from Maine to Louisiana -- from Texas to
California and Oregon -- and in every station had reflected credit on
himself and his country. He was on his return from the Pacific Coast,
and had but reached his family, who were then residing at St.
Augustine, Florida, when the Rebellion broke out; and, although
offered high rank and command by the rebels, and every inducement
held out to make him a participant in their unholy cause, the spurned
their base offers -- never forgetting for one moment his devotion to
that Constitution which, while yet a boy, upon entering the Military
Academy, he had sworn to support, and that Flag under which he had so
often fought. Totally disregarding his personal interests connected
with property in the South, he immediately hastened to the North and
applied for service. His wife and children, after some delay, reached
his native place, Lancaster, and rejoined him. Soon he was called to
mourn the loss of her who had been for so many years the partner of
his domestic happiness, and who, far away from her immediate
connections, he laid in the tomb. Six children, who survive him, were
left to his widow's care.