Soldiers Biographical History of the Fifty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers 1861-1865: A Condensed History Worth Preserving
by
Brian R. Mathias & Anthony J. Ream

EHLER, William # Musician, William Gilbert Ehler, was born in March 1831. At the time he enlisted for service in the war, William was a 30 year old painter from Lancaster County. He mustered in as a Musician for three month service in Company E 15th Pennsylvania Volunteers on May 1, 1861, at Harrisburg, and was discharged on August 8, 1861. He again enrolled on October 11, 1861, in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, and mustered in as a Musician in Company F 54th Pennsylvania Volunteers on December 2, 1861, at Harrisburg. He deserted on July 22, 1864, at Winchester, Virginia, and was not on the muster-out roll, at the end of the war. William then went to Morgan County, West Virginia where he married Rebecca Jane Smith (1843-1921). They eventually moved to Missouri and then later moved to Kansas where he applied for a war pension on September 11, 1889. He remained at painting houses for all his life. William Ehler died on an unknown date in 1909, and is buried at Wamego City Cemetery, Pottawatomie County, Kansas. His obituary appeared in the local newspaper in Shawnee County, Kansas on December 3, 1909. His wife, Rebecca J. Ehler applied for a Widows Pension on December 9, 1909.

# 1900 Census, Wamego, Pottawatomie, Kansas SD: 1 ED: 154 SHEET: 5B