Arnold Sutermeister

Arnold Sutermeister (July 11, 1830 – May 3, 1907) was a Swiss-born American businessman, contractor, sculptor, architect and military officer who served as Captain in the American Civil War, where he commanded an artillery battery in the Western Theater.

He established the American branch of the Sutermeister family.

Early life and education Sutermeister was born July 11, 1830 in Zofingen, Switzerland, the third of four children, to Gottlieb Sutermeister (1801–1840) and Anna Margret Sutermeister (née Hemmann; born 1792), into a Protestant family. His surviving siblings were; Frank Sutermeister (né Franz Sutermeister; 1822–1902) and Caroline Zimmerli (née Sutermeister; born 1824).

Sutermeister studied architecture in Bern and Basel. After the death of his father, the family emigrated to the United States in 1846, settling in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1857, Sutermeister made way to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he worked as a mathematics teacher. on December 17, 1861. He commanded the battery for three years.

During the Atlanta campaign in 1864, Sutermeister served on the staff of Major-general George H. Thomas and commanded the siege artillery of the Army of the Cumberland.

Sutermeister was also a talented draughtsman, and often sent drawings of the battlefield home to his wife. He was mustered out with his unit on January 7, 1865, and returned to civilian life.

After the war ended Sutermeister went back to Fort Wayne and then moved to Kansas City, Missouri,

He died on May 3, 1907, in his seventy-seventh year, and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery. He left an estate valued at $15,000 (approximately $550,000 in modern equivalency).