Immigrant Served Twice in Wartime

John C. Koch, a corporal in the Confederate army, was born in 1842 in Wehldorf, a province of Hanover Germany. It is not known when John arrived in Wilmington, but he enlisted in Company A, 18th North Carolina Infantry, on April 15, 1861. He was mustered in as a corporal at age 22 and listed his occupation as merchant. John was present or accounted for until his discharge in April 1862 at the expiration of his term of service. He then re‐enlisted in May 1862 in Company A, 1st Battalion, North Carolina Heavy Artillery. John returned to Wilmington after the war and married Rebecca Grotheer on April 20, 1868. They had one child, Catherine Anna, who was born on June 6, 1869. John C. Koch died of apoplexy (a stroke) on Nov. 18, 1877. At the time of his death he was one of the magistrates of the Township of Wilmington, past president of the Howard Relief Fire Engine Company and a charter member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. He is buried in Oakdale cemetery in Wilmington.