William DeGress was born in Prussia and immigrated to the United States from Cologne, Germany, in the mid-1850s. He enlisted in the U. S. Army as a private in 1856, and presumably was mustered out in 1861, although he claimed to have been wounded in the 1862 Battle of Valverde, New Mexico. He was later commissioned a first lieutenant in the 10th Missouri Cavalry, but resigned his commission in December 1862 due to ill health.

In February 1863, DeGress was retained as a scout in southeast Missouri by General John W. Davidson; on or about February 15, 1863, he went to arrest a man who had shot a Union express rider. According to DeGress, “He started to run, I ordered him to halt, he did not, so my men shot him.” DeGress was arrested in Newport, Kentucky and charged with murder, defrauding the government, and appropriating government property for his own use. In March 1863 he was sent to Myrtle Street Prison in St. Louis to await trial. The records are unclear, but it appears that he was either acquitted or the charges were dropped.

DeGress was re-commissioned a captain in Company B, 10th Missouri Cavalry in August 1864. In March 1865 he was charged with disobedience of orders and neglect of duty. He was found guilty and sentenced to forfeit three months’ pay and be reprimanded in general orders.

DeGress died on December 30, 1905, in Mexico, and is buried in the Mexico City National Cemetery, Mexico City, Mexico.

Carte-de-Visite by A.J. Fox, St. Louis, Mo.

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 11806