Arnold Sutermeister (July 11, 1830 – May 3, 1907) was a Swiss-born American businessman, contractor, sculptor, architect and military officer who served as Captain in the American Civil War, where he commanded an artillery battery in the Western Theater."Arnold Henry Sutermeister". Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. 83. American Society of Civil Engineers, 1921. p. 2342.
He established the American branch of the Sutermeister family.
Early life and education Sutermeister was born July 11, 1830 in Zofingen, Switzerland, the third of four children, to Gottlieb Sutermeister (1801–1840) and Anna Margret Sutermeister (née Hemmann; born 1792), into a Protestant family. His surviving siblings were; Frank Sutermeister (né Franz Sutermeister; 1822–1902) and Caroline Zimmerli (née Sutermeister; born 1824).
Sutermeister studied architecture in Bern and Basel. After the death of his father, the family emigrated to the United States in 1846, settling in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1857, Sutermeister made way to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he worked as a mathematics teacher.
Civil War When the American Civil War began Sutermeister joined the Union army as Captain of the 11th Independent Battery Indiana Light Artillery, which he had recruited in Fort Wayne,"Indiana Veteran Dead". The Lake County Times. May 4, 1907. p. 2. on December 17, 1861."A Chronology of Indiana in the Civil War 1861". Indiana Civil War Centennial Commission. p. 20. He commanded the battery for three years. Serving in the Western Theater in 1862 and 1863, he fought in the Siege of Corinth, the Battle of Chickamauga, and in the Chattanooga campaign, specifically at the battles of Orchard Knob and Missionary Ridge. His battery won special distinction at Chickamauga."Death of Capt. Sutermeister". The Evening Republican. May 4, 1907, p. 3.
During the Atlanta campaign in 1864, Sutermeister served on the staff of Major-general George H. Thomas and commanded the siege artillery of the Army of the Cumberland. He also saw action in the following battles: Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain, and Atlanta. He is favourably mentioned in the report of Brigadier-general John M. Brannan to Thomas dated September 14, 1864:
Sutermeister was also a talented draughtsman, and often sent drawings of the battlefield home to his wife. He was mustered out with his unit on January 7, 1865, and returned to civilian life.″Sutermeister, Arnold Papers, 1850–1865″. River Campus Libraries. University of Rochester. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
After the war ended Sutermeister went back to Fort Wayne and then moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where he started a construction business.
Personal life In 1860, Sutermeister married German-born Louisa Johanna Leibnitz (1836–1906), a daughter of Carl Leibnitz and Anna Julianna Leibnitz (née Imhof), at the house of Hugh McCulloch in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Through her paternal family she was a direct descendant of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz after whom Leibnitz Prize was named, while her mother was Swiss. They had eight children;
Louisa M. Sutermeister (1861–1942), married to widower Silas Charles Delap (1846–1931), they had five children. Julia A. Sutermeister (1865–1947), never married and without issue. Charles Oscar Sutermeister (1867–1937), a noted urban planner, married Julia Louise Morey (1870–1957), three children including Robert A. Sutermeister. Arnold H. Sutermeister (1869–1918), an economist, married to Caroline Kreischer (born 1873), had two children. Herman August Sutermeister (1871–1962), married to Anna Letah Holliway (1874–1950), two children. Bertha E. Sutermeister (1874–1952), married Ernest Merritt (1866–1944), five children. Edey M. Sutermeister (1878–1929), never married and without issue. Paul Arthur Sutermeister (1880–1929), married Agnes Holliway (1881–1968), three children. He was the grandfather of Martha L. Ludwig.Matthews, Rowena G. (2011). Martha L. Ludwig 1931–2006. A Biographical Memoir. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences. p. 4.
He died on May 3, 1907, in his seventy-seventh year, and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery."Arnold Sustermeister's Funeral". The Kansas City Times. May 6, 1907, p. 9. He left an estate valued at $15,000 (approximately $550,000 in modern equivalency)."Sutermeister's Estate $15,000". The Kansas City Star. May 10, 1907. p. 16. References
Further reading Conard, Howard L., ed. (1901). Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri. Vol. 4. New York, Louisville, St. Louis: The Southern History Company. p. 143. Hess, Earl J. (2022). Civil War Field Artillery: Promise and Performance on the Battlefield. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. Sauerländer, Remigius (1909). Arnold Sutermeister, Architekt von Zofingen, Batteriekommandant im Amerik. Bürgerkrieg. Joh. Fehlmann. Stevenson, David; Scribner, Theodore T. (1866). Indiana's Roll of Honor. Vol. 2. Indianapolis, IN: A. D. Streight. pp. 529, 530, 533. Whitney, Carrie Westlake (1908). Kansas City, Missouri: Its History and Its People 1800–1908. Vol. 1. Kansas City, MO: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company. pp. 441, 442. Stone, 21. Stone Magazine Review Publishing Company, 1901. p. 463.
External links
″Sutermeister, Arnold Papers, 1850–1865″ at River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester