08/26/2026
🏺ARTIFACT SPOTLIGHT🏺
PHOTO: Waukesha County Historical Society Museum
Dr. Otto Maurer: Looking through the museum’s portrait collection, I found this portrait that was labeled “Dr. Otto Maurer. Enlisted in the Civil War and died in service”. The portrait was donated by Otto’s niece, Mollie (Maurer) Kartak, the daughter of Otto’s brother Francis (Franz) Maurer.
Researching Otto Maurer, he was born in 1827 in Darmstadt, Germany. He graduated with his M.D. around 1851 from Würzburg in Germany and then spent a year as a ship’s physician, traveling between Europe and America. Afterwards, he went to visit his brother, Franz, who had land in the town of Pewaukee and ended up staying and becoming a naturalized citizen.
In 1857, he applied for a passport to return to Germany and in his passport application his physical features are listed. We have no date for the portrait, but it is interesting to compare these details with the portrait: - Age: 30 years old
- Stature: 5’9”
- Eyes: Dark
- Nose: Roman
- Mouth: Medium
- Chin: Round
- Hair: Dark
- Complexion: Fair
- Face: Oval.
A few years later, on the 10th of September in 1861, Otto was appointed to the role of recruiting officer with the rank of Lieutenant. He was highly regarded and would have likely been involved in examining the recruits. Those he recruited served under General Franz Sigel, a German born soldier, who was promoted to his position in part to help recruit German-Americans into the Union. “I Goes to Fight Mit Sigel” is a song inspired by him.
On the 29th of April, 1862, Otto joined the Wisconsin 16th Field and Staff Infantry as the 2nd assistant surgeon. Writings about the roles of the assistant surgeons say that they would have been stationed in field hospitals near the battlefield, ready to help triage the wounded, assist the surgeon, and stabilize any soldiers that needed to be transferred to larger hospitals.
A month later, in May of 1862, Otto married Katharina Friederika Schuchardt.
About a month after that, on the 25th of June, Otto died of typhoid fever in Corinth, Alcorn County, Mississippi after the siege of Corinth. Typhoid fever was a health threat during the Civil War due to poor sanitation practices, close proximity, and a lack of understanding about how germs were spread.
Knowing more details of Otto’s life and death, I was glad for his family and widow that this portrait existed. Otto’s widow, Katharina, never married again. She worked as a teacher and closer to the end of her life lived with her two sisters. Otto’s niece was very active in civic activities and the museum has a few other donations from her.
