John Jacob See was born in New York in October 1843. Much of his early life is unknown.

At the start of the Civil War, See enlisted in Captain Colley B. Holland’s Company, Missouri Home Guard, at Springfield on June 7, 1861, and was mustered out on October 5, 1861.

See joined Company K, 8th Missouri Cavalry, at Springfield, Missouri, on September 24, 1862, and was mustered into service the same day, as a private. He was promoted to regimental commissary sergeant in December 1862, to second lieutenant of Company B in July 1863, and to first lieutenant in February 1865.

The 8th Missouri Cavalry fought in the Battle of Prairie Grove, the Little Rock campaign, and the 1864 operations against General Joseph Shelby north of the Arkansas River.

After the war, See worked as a brick mason in Texas and Washington State, and died on April 28, 1934, in the Pacific Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Los Angeles, California. He is buried in the Los Angeles National Cemetery with a headstone that reads, “Jacob John See.”

Carte-de-Visite by unknown photographer.

Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 11991