Capt. Christian Essig

It is seldom that a genuine war hero becomes lost in history. However, such is the case of Capt. Christian Essig. Capt. Essig was a Civil War Union officer who died about 1863 in a drowning accident in the South. He was a native of Cape Girardeau. Elizabeth Christine Walther, of Cape Girardeau, was his granddaughter. Mr. John Walther, who died in 1975, in Cape Girardeau, was his grandson. Captain Essig was one of the heroes of the Battle of Carthage, Missouri, but few people remember him. Any information about Capt. Essig, perhaps through family descendants who may have kept files or old pictures, will add to the process of restoring him to his rightful place in Civil War history.