Carl Schmidt

Carl Heinrich (Henry) Schmidt (September 30, 1835January 7, 1888) was a German American immigrant, newspaper publisher, and Democratic politician. He was a member of the Wisconsin State Senate and the State Assembly, representing Manitowoc County during the 1870s. Early life Schmidt was born on September 30, 1835, in the Province of Westphalia, Prussia, in what is now western Germany. He was trained as a printer in Prussia and emigrated to the United States in 1854 with his family. They resided briefly at Milwaukee before moving to Manitowoc, Wisconsin. In Milwaukee, he worked in the printing office of Der Seebote, a German language newspaper. He was then hired as foreman in the printing office of the Wisconsin Demokrat and the Manitowoc Tribune newspapers. But within a few months, with backing from his father, he purchased materials to establish his own newspaper. He established Der Nord-Westen, a German language paper, in July 1855 and published it through 1860, after which time he sold his company and joined up with a militia company for service in the American Civil War. Civil War service Schmidt joined up with a company of German-speaking volunteers, which were organized into the mostly German-speaking unit, the 9th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. During the organization of the regiment, Schmidt was appointed first sergeant in Company B. The 9th Wisconsin Infantry mustered into service in January 1862, and were sent to Kansas. They were assigned to the Army of the Frontier, operating in the trans-Mississippi and western theaters of the war.