Brigadier General Jasper A. Maltby Traditional Cache

This Cache is part of the Galena Generals Series. During the Civil War 9 men from Galena earned the rank of General. This series is dedicated to them. Each General has his own cache.

There is a Bonus Cache for this series. Inside the plastic lid of each General’s inner cache container you will find a letter and a corresponding number. Put them all together to get the coordinates for Abraham Lincoln – Commander in Chief.

This cache is located in Buehler’s Preserve. It can be found at the end of the trail that continues from the east end of the Meeker Street Walk Bridge.

Brigadier General Jasper Adalmorn Maltby was born in 1826 in Kingsville, Ohio. Maltby fought in the Mexican-American War as a Private in the 15^th U.S. Infantry from 1846-48. He was wounded in action on September 20, 1847, during the Battle of Chapultepec. He was discharged on August 3, 1848 and settled in Chicago. During the mid-1850s, Maltby moved to Galena to establish a gunsmith shop on Main Street. He was a talented gunsmith and was the inventor of one of the first telescopic sites. He lived above the shop with his wife and one son.

When the Civil War broke out, he helped organize the 45th Illinois Volunteers with John E. Smith and was elected Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment. His military and gunsmith experience was valuable in the formation of the unit. After being wounded in the 1862 attack at Fort Donelson, Maltby returned to Galena to recover. On November 29, 1862 he was promoted to Colonel. He returned to the battlefield and participated in the Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Maltby led the 45^th as it charged into the crater in the battle of Fort Hill on June 25, 1863. In that battle he received severe injuries to his head and right side from artillery shells and never fully recovered.

Maltby was promoted to Brigadier General on August 4, 1863. He remained primarily in Vicksburg until the end of the war. Maltby’s brother, William H. Maltby, captain of a confederate artillery battery, was taken prisoner during a skirmish on Mustang Island along the Texas Gulf Coast. Maltby used his influence to have his brother transferred to Vicksburg until he could be exchanged. After the war ended, Maltby engaged in some business ventures in Vicksburg. He was appointed the Military Mayor of Vicksburg on September 6, 1867 and stepped down on December 12th of the same year due to illness. Maltby died 10 days later, on Dec. 22, 1867. He was held in a temporary tomb in Vicksburg. His body was returned to Galena in March of 1868 and he is buried in Greenwood Cemetery.