Lost Capitol Hill: Allen D. Albert

I have been spending the last weeks researching the houses that will be featured on this year’s CHRS House & Garden tour. Much of what I have been able to find out will not be published in their guide, but before I let the story of another Capitol Hill resident go to waste, I will publish it here.

Allen Diehl Albert was born September 16, 1844 in Pennsylvania. When the Civil War broke out, he was a young lad of 17-1/2 but joined up to fight nonetheless. As a member of the 45th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry he slogged up and down the east coast and further out into the Midwest. On April 25, 1864, while in DC, the 45th Regiment marched in review in front of President Lincoln, who stood on the balcony of the Willard Hotel.

Albert was wounded three times in the course of the war, the third time during the Battle of the Wilderness. The last wound was caused by a bullet to his elbow. The wound was severe enough that the corps’s medical director insisted that the arm be amputated, but Albert argued with him, having been previously told that it could be saved. Sent to Alexandria, Va, Albert received the proper care, and his arm was indeed spared, but the would had impaired his mobility severely enough that he was mustered out a few months later.

After the war, Albert returned to Gettysburg, where he graduated from Pennsylvania College (today Gettysburg College) in 1867. He settled down to the quiet life of a school teacher and headmaster at various schools around Pennsylvania, along the way marrying Sarah Ann Faber — whom he had met during a furlough from the army — and fathering 3 children. In the late 1880s, he was hired by the Pension office — who had been paying him a significant pension as a disabled veteran — as a clerk, and thus moved to DC. Along with many moving to the capital at the time, he found a home on Capitol Hill, at 228 9th Street SE. Although Albert stayed at the Pension office for the rest of his career, he soon moved from Capitol Hill, and ended up living on 29th Street NW, near where he had convalesced after succumbing to “intermittent fever” during his time as a soldier. Late in his life, Albert began working on a history of the 45th Regiment during the Civil War. It was completed and published in 1912. A year later, he also published a second book about his personal experiences in the war. It rolled off the presses just in time for the 50th anniversary of the war.

Allen Diehl Albert in 1912 (Findagrave.com)

In late June, 1913, Albert — along with 50,000 compatriots — went to Gettysburg to mark the 50th anniversary of that great battle. Albert did not feel well enough to join others from his regiment in the enormous encampment, but instead decided to sleep at a local hotel. He did, however, spend all of July 1 amongst his old fellow soldiers, with them reliving the first day of the battle, and arrived late back at his hotel, where he complained of feeling unwell, and succumbed to a brain hemorrhage while still in the hotel lobby.

Allen D. Albert was, as per his wishes, buried in Arlington Cemetery.