Background
Kaltenbach was born in Germany but immigrated to the United States at the age of one or two.
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Luther Kaltenbach
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Most of his childhood was taken up by helping work on his family"s farm. He joined the 12th Iowa Infantry near the start of the Civil War in 1861. On April 6, 1862, during the Battle of Shiloh, Kaltenbach was shot in the right hand.
The injury gave him two crooked fingers that would continue to pain him throughout his life.
Kaltenbach was captured by Confederate forces the same day he was injured. However, he returned to active service with his unit after being paroled by his Confederate captors.
During the Kaltenbach and the 12th Iowa Infantry attacked entrenched Confederate positions. On December 16, 1864, Kaltenbach participated in a final charge against several Confederate regiments.
During the attack, the color bearer of the 44th Mississippi Infantry was incapacitated.
Kaltenbach advanced ahead of his unit over Confederate barricades and captured the regiment"s flag. Two days after the battle, a special field order was given to allow Kaltenbach and sixteen other soldiers who had captured enemy flags during the and the Battle of Franklin to journey to Washington, District of Columbia While there, they presented flags they had captured from Confederate forces to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
In 1868, Kaltenbach attempted to find a warmer climate to lessen the pain caused by the hand wound he received during the Battle of Shiloh. He moved to Colorado, then Utah, then California and lastly into Mexico.
Several years later, he moved to Arizona where he worked as a Justice of the Peace.
In 1903, he moved to California again. In 1905, Kaltenbach was granted a pension of twenty-four dollars a month by an Acting of Congress. Kaltenbach died in 1922 after being hit by a car.
Achievements
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Born
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Died
September 1, 1922 (aged 79)
Awards
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Medal of Honor Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the United States of America's highest military honor, awarded for personal acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty.The Medal of Honor is the United States of America's highest military honor, awarded for personal acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty.