Dethloff Willrodt (January 19, 1840 – June 12, 1932) was an American Civil War veteran, businessman, carpenter, farmer, and politician.
Born in Lütjenburg in the Duchy of Holstein, eight years before the First Schleswig War, he was encouraged to emigrate to the New World by his father, also named Dethloff Willrodt.
After arriving in New York from the port of Hamburg, he found his way to relatives in Macoupin County, Illinois.
Opposed to slavery and the idea of secession, he was a victim of the conscription acts of the Confederacy and was enrolled into Waul's Legion.
Postbellum, Willrodt resumed practicing carpentry, married Elizabeth Waak in 1869, became a farmer, and organized the Mercantile Company of Bellville.
Acting in part on his fathers advice and his own exploratory aspirations, he sailed unaccompanied from Hamburg to the United States.
After his arrival at New York, he found his way to relatives in Macoupin County, Illinois, without knowing the English language.
He worked as a farm hand for a year, then he visited his older brother Ernst who lived in Texas.
He was sent to Fort Defiance in Cairo, Illinois, and was given the opportunity to enlist in the Union Army, which he accepted.
It was then ordered back to Memphis, Tennessee, where it was stationed when news of Robert E. Lee's surrender after the Battle of Appomattox Court House arrived.
The regiment proceeded under general George Armstrong Custer to Alexandria, Louisiana, where they were camped for a time before being sent to Hempstead, Texas.