Theodore Greenawalt was born on December 11, 1820, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; he worked as a clerk for various businesses. While working as the manager of a transfer business, Greenawalt assisted in conveying President-elect Abraham Lincoln secretly from his hotel to a train to take him to Washington.

With the start of the Civil War, Greenawalt enlisted in May 1861 as a private for three months under Captain Henry McCormick, although he already held the rank of captain in the Pennsylvania State Militia. At the end of that term of service, Greenawalt was appointed an assistant paymaster by Secretary of War, Simon Cameron; on November 26, 1862, he was appointed paymaster. His first duties were with the Army of the Potomac, then was transferred to the Department of the Missouri, with headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri.

In August 1863, accompanied by his nephew and clerk Theodore Fisher, Greenawalt was tasked with transporting three million dollars on the steamboat Ruth from St. Louis to Vicksburg. Greenawalt went ashore at Cairo, Illinois, and did not return by the time the Ruth departed. Taking the next boat, he found the Ruth twelve miles downstream, on fire; Fisher perished along with 52 others.

Greenawalt was mustered out of the service on November 15, 1865; during his tenure as paymaster he disbursed over three and a half million dollars. Following the war, he received an appointment as a Deputy U. S. Marshall, and became a successful businessman. He died in 1897.

Carte-de-Visite by N. Brown & Sons, St. Louis, Mo.

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 31949