Luther Mendenhall
Era: Civil War
Military Branch: Army
When the Civil War broke out, Mr. Mendenhall was a university student. He obtained permission to leave college and join the Union Army. Mr. Mendenhall served in the Civil War from 1861 until 1864.
Mr. Mendenhall enlisted as a private in Company A, First Regiment, Pennsylvania Reserves and served in the 30th Pennsylvania Infantry. He was a Quartermaster. He was detailed on special service in the ordnance department in the Union Army. He served here for the greater part of his term of service but was with his regiment in many famous battles, including the Second Battle of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Antietam, and Gettysburg. He was mustered out in 1864.
Mr. Mendenhall was born on August 7, 1936, on a farm near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (now the town of Mendenhall, Chester County, PA). He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Mendenhall. Isaac Mendenhall was a leader in the Quaker settlement in which he resided and a farmer.
Mr. Mendenhall was one of the people who envisioned a future Duluth when it was still just a settlement of seven families in 1868. He was a business pioneer. He worked in real estate and helped establish the railroad, banks, street railway, and businesses in Duluth. He was a member of the Gorman-Culver Post of the Grand Army of the Republic in Duluth. “Mr. Mendenhall came to Duluth forty-four years ago, and coincident with his arrival came progress,” stated the Duluth Herald in 1912.
Mr. Mendenhall died on September 26, 1929, in Duluth, Minnesota.
Source: Biographical summary copied from The Americans, Biographies 1930; Biography of Minnesota (pp. 272-3); Duluth Herald, July ?, 1912; Duluth newspaper (News Tribune or Herald), September 27, 1929.
