Enlisting as Private in Company C, Second Battalion, Eighteenth U.S. Infantry Regiment at Columbus, Ohio 28 Aug 1861, Henry C. Pohlman saw action in several large-scale engagements in the western theater of the Civil War including Shiloh, Corinth, Perryville and Stones River. The regiment was particularly depleted after incurring major casualties at Stones River (TN) 31 Dec 1862, and in an effort to fill the officer vacancies, Sergeant Pohlman was recommended for promotion to the rank of Second Lieutenant 18 Aug 1863. His regiment was part of a larger body of United States regulars commonly referred to as "The Regular Brigade" - a distinctive fighting unit known widely for its smart uniforms and adherence to an unusually rigid, 'Old Army'- styled code of discipline. Attached to Major General George Henry Thomas'es Fourteenth Army Corps at Chickamauga Creek (GA) 19-20 Sep 1863, the Regulars were surprised and routed during the first day's action, suffering substantial losses. Re-forming the following day, however, the Brigade - although much reduced in strength - performed with unusual determination, stubbornly defending against repeated Confederate assaults in the Kelly Field vicinity, and helping Thomas earn the famous sobriquet, "The Rock of Chickamauga." It is believed Lieutenant Pohlman was captured by rebel forces sometime during a hasty withdrawal toward Ross Gap late in the afternoon. Transported by rail to Richmond, VA, along with thousands of federal prisoners-of-war, Henry was housed in the notorious Libby Prison where his health quickly deteriorated. Lieutenant Pohlman died there 26 Nov 1863 of complications related to "chronic diarrhea"[dysentery]. Initially buried in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery, his remains were removed after the war and reinterred in the new Richmond National Cemetery.

note: this brief narrative was drawn from numerous sources including NARA military service records, Official Records, Department of Veterans Affairs correspondence, Pohlman family correspondence and secondary source material. For those seeking a in-depth account of this remarkable unit of soldiers in federal service, please read "THAT BODY OF BRAVE MEN: The U.S. Regular Infantry and the Civil War in the West," Mark W. Johnson, Da Capo Press, 2003; 750 pp.