Munch, Emil, 1832-1887.

Emil Munch was born in Halberstadt, Prussia on December 12, 1832. He immigrated to the United States in 1849, settled in Taylors Falls, Minnesota in 1852, and then moved to Chengwatana in Pine County in 1857. He served in the Minnesota House of Representatives (1860-1861), but enlisted in the First Minnesota Artillery Battery on October 16, 1861 and was chosen captain the following month.

As a result of wounds received at the battle of Shiloh, and subsequent exposure while on march, Munch resigned his commission in December 1862. During May-July 1863 he served in Minnesota during the U.S.-Dakota War. In August he accepted an appointment to the Veteran Reserve Corps (also known as the Invalid Corps) and remained with that unit, at Camp Douglas, Illinois, until the war's end, despite an abortive attempt in 1865 to recommission him as a major in the First Minnesota Battery of Heavy Artillery. His duties there largely involved serving on courts martial and guarding military prisons.

Munch returned to St. Paul, married Bertha Segar in 1865, and served as deputy state treasurer and treasurer (1868-1872). He then moved to Lakeland (Washington County), Minnesota, where he engaged in the lumber business until 1872 when he took charge of a flour mill in nearby Afton. He died on August 30, 1887.

Biographical information was taken from the papers and from an article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, April 7, 1907.

From the guide to the Emil Munch Civil War papers., 1861-1865., (Minnesota Historical Society)