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1266……(Born N.
Y.)
Henry B. Clitz*
(Ap’d at
Large)……36
Military
History. --- Cadet at the Military Academy, July 1, 1841, to July 1, 1845,
when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to
Bvt. Second Lieut., 7th
Infantry, July 1, 1845.
Served: in
Military Occupation of Texas, 1845-46; in the War with Mexico, 1846-48,
being engaged in the Defense of Ft. Brown, Dec. 3-9, 1846, -- Battle of
Monterey, Sep. 21-23, 1846, -- Siege of
(Second Lieut., 3d Infantry, Sep. 21, 1846)
Vera Cruz, Mar. 9-29,
1847, -- Battle of Cerro Gordo, Apr. 17-18, 1847, -- Skirmish at Ocalaca,
(Bvt.
First Lieut., Apr. 18, 1847, for Gallant and Meritorious Conduct in the
Battle of Cerro Gordo, Mex.)
Aug. 16, 1874, -- Battle
of Contreras, Aug. 19-20-1847, -- Battle of Churubusco, Aug. 20, 1847, --
Storming of Chapultepec, Sep. 13, 1847, -- and Assault and Capture of the
City of Mexico, Sep. 13-14, 1847; at the Military Academy, as Asst.
Instructor of Infantry Tactics, Sep. 15, 1848,
(First Lieut., 3d Infantry, Mar. 5, 1851)
to Sep. 27, 1855; on
frontier duty at Santa Fe, N. M., 1856, -- Ft. Union, N. M., 1856, -- Santa
Fe., N. M., 1856-57, -- Cantonment Burgwin, N. M., 1857, -- and Albuquerque,
N. M., 1857-58; on Recruiting service, 1858-59; on leave of absence in
Europe,
(Captain, 3d Infantry, Dec. 6, 1858)
1859-60; and on frontier
duty at Ringgold Barracks, Tex., 1860-61; and Ft. Brown, Tex. 1861.
Served during
the Rebellion of the Seceding States, 1861-66: in Defense of Ft. Pickens,
Fla., Apr. 19 to June 27, 1861; in Organizing 12 Infantry
(Major, 12th
Infantry, May 14, 1861)
at Ft. Hamilton, N. Y.,
July 7, 1861, to Mar. 10, 1862; in the Virginia Peninsular Campaign (Army of
the Potomac), Mar. to June, 1862, being engaged in the Siege of Yorktown,
Apr. 5 to May 4, 1862, where he was wounded, -- and Battle of Gaines’s Mill,
June 27, 1862, where he was twice wounded and made Prisoner of War; in Libby
Prison,
(Bvt.
Lieut.-Col, June 27, 1862, for Gallant and Meritorious Services at the
Battle of Gaines’s Mill, Va.)
at Richmond, June 28 to
July 17, 1862, when he was Paroled for Exchange; at the Military Academy, as
Commandant of Cadets and Instructor of Artillery, Infantry, and Cavalry
Tactics, Oct. 23, 1862, to
(Lieut.-Colonel, 6th
Infantry, Nov. 4, 1863)
July 4, 1864; and in
garrison at Bedloe’s Island, N. Y., July, 1864, to May, 1865, -- at
Savannah, Ga., May 22 to July 3, 1865, -- Hilton Head, S. C.,
(Bvt. Colonel, Mar. 13,
1865, for Gallant and Meritorious Services During the Rebellion)
(Bvt. Brig.-General, U. S.
Army, Mar. 13, 1865, for Gallant and Distinguished Services in the Field)
July 3 to Dec. 9, 1865, --
and at Charleston, S. C., Dec. 9, 1865, to June 21, 1866.
Served: as
Member of Tactics Board, June 25, 1866, to Feb. 4, 1867; in command of
regiment, Mar. 21 to June 167, 1867, -- of post of Charleston, S. C., Mar.
21, 1867, to June 15, 1868, and Oct. 24, 1868, to Apr. 6, 1869; on leave of
absence, June 15 to Oct. 24, 1868; in command of regiment and Ft. Brown,
Tex., Apr. 24, 1868, to May 14, 1871; on leave
(Colonel, 10th
Infantry, Feb. 22, 1869)
of absence, May 14, 1871,
to Sep., 1872; as Member of Board for revising Army Regulations, Sep., 1872,
to may 26, 1873; awaiting orders, May 26 to July, 1873; in command of
regiment and Ft. McKavett, Tex., July 14, 1873, to June 10, 1876, and Oct.
23, 1876, to Aug. 29, 1877; on leave of absence, June 10 to Oct. 10, 1876;
on sick leave of absence, Aug. 29 to Dec. 31, 1877; in command of regiment,
Ft. McKavett, Tex., and District of North Texas, Jan. 22, 1878, to May 11,
1879, -- and at Ft. Wayne, Mich., to Sep. 19, 1879; on Court Martial duty to
Nov. 27, 1879; in command of regiment at Ft. Wayne, Mich., to June 2, 1884;
on leave of absence and on delay, to July 1, 1884; and on sick leave of
absence, to July 1, 1885.
Retired from Active
Service, Upon his own Application, July 1, 1885, after 40 Years’ Service.
Died, Oct. 30, 1888, at
Niagara Falls, N. Y.: Aged 64.
*Son of Captain John Clitz,
2d Infantry.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
Bvt.
Brig.-General Henry B. Clitz, was born, July 4, 1824, at Sachett’s Harbor,
N. Y., then the headquarters of the Second Infantry, of which his father,
already distinguished at the Sortie from Ft. Erie, Sep. 17, 1814, was the
noted adjutant.
With a military
parentage, born on Independence Day, bred in a garrison, and familiar with
all the paraphernalia of war, it is not surprising that young Clitz chose
the profession of a soldier. At the age of seventeen he became a Cadet in
the Military Academy, from which he was graduated July 1, 1845, and promoted
to the Infantry, the arm with which he was already familiar. He at once
joined the Army of Occupation in Texas, and soon after was engaged in the
Defense of Ft. Brown, and Battle of Monterey, following which he was
transferred to General Scott’s army, and participated in all of its
operations from the Siege of Vera Cruz to the Capture of the City of Mexico,
receiving for the gallant and meritorious conduct, in the Battle of Cerro
Gordo, the brevet of First Lieutenant.
On the
termination of the Mexican War, Clitz was detained as an Assistant
Instructor of Infantry Tactics at the Military Academy, continuing there for
seven years, after which, till the outbreak of the Rebellion, he was on
frontier duty, recruiting service, and on leave of absence in Europe.
Captain Clitz
accompanied the expedition to Fort Pickens, and, after two months’ service
there, joined the Twelfth Infantry (of which he had been promoted Major) at
Fort Hamilton, N. Y., where he re-organized, drilled, and disciplined it for
active service, in which it was engaged with the Army of the Potomac in the
Virginia Peninsular Campaign. In command of his regiment he took part in
the Siege of Yorktown, where he was wounded, and, in the subsequent Battle
of Gaines’s Mill, he showed conspicuous and dashing gallantry, being twice
wounded, and in that condition was captured. As a Prisoner of War he was
confined in Libby Prison till paroled for exchange, July 17, 1862.
As soon as
sufficiently recovered from his wounds, Clitz was placed on duty at the
Military Academy as the Commandant of Cadets, in which position, by his
soldierly bearing, devotion to duty, uniform courtesy, and kindly
consideration for all with whom he had official or private relations, he won
all hearts of both sexes and of all ages. From the time of being relieved
from this duty, which he had so graced, till the conclusion of the Civil
War, he was engaged in the ordinary duties of his arm of service. For his
“gallant and meritorious services during the Rebellion” he was brevetted a
Colonel, and for “gallant and distinguished services in the filed,” a
Brigadier-General.
After the Civil
War, he became Colonel, 10th Infantry, Feb. 22, 1869; was in
command of various frontier posts, on several important boards, and, after
forty years’ duty in the army, was retired, July 1, 1885, upon his own
application, from active service. He then took up his residence in Detroit,
Mich., where he was a universal favorite among his fellows, and the devoted
son of an aged mother. Without any apparent cause, he suddenly left his
home and was last seen, Oct. 30, 1888, at Niagara Falls.
Clitz had a
personal magnetism and charm of character which won all who came within the
sunshine of his genial nature. He was one of the kindest and most
affectionate of men, and, though of almost feminine gentleness, it did not
detract from his true manliness. His attention to the little amenities of
life, his bouyancy of spirits, and his cheerful joyousness in conversation,
always made him a welcome guest. He lived unmarried, but had a perpetual
bride in the love of companions, and all of the beauties of nature were his
idolized children.
The following
tribute to his memory was paid by the Michigan Commandery, Military Order of
the Loyal Legion of the United States: --
“Companions, --
Your committee selected to prepare a memorial page to the memory of our
loved companion and Commander, Gen. Henry B. Clitz, beg to submit the
following: --
“The forty years
of army service of General Clitz, full of the most important military events
in the nation’s history, embracing the War with Mexico and the Rebellion of
the Seceding States, in which he took an honored part without a stain upon
his escutcheon, is the highest tribute we can pay to his patriotism,
gallantry, and fidelity to duty.
“His
warm-hearted, genial disposition won and retained the love of his companions
and associates, to whom his loss is a personal one.
“We can see him
in our mind as a he stood upon the shore of the mighty Niagara. There came
to his ear the familiar bugle-notes, ‘lights out,’ and he answered the call,
and closed a life crowned with honors.
“With no
monumental pile to mark his resting place, the stars his sentinels, he
sweetly sleeps until the ‘reveille’ shall call him forth on the resurrection
morn.”
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