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Emigrants arrival

Belgians in America

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C.W. Soldiers

Belgian REGULARS in the U.S. ARMY

§ John Hentgen   25 y. o., from Erlon(Arlon), a tailor, enlisted 1 March 1862 in New York in the 5th Artillery Co. L and deserted July 21 1862. No other information found.
Note : Hentgen families from Belgium/Luxemburg settled in Iowa before 1860. Jacob Hentgen in Prairie Springs, and Theodore and Bernard Hentgen in Tête des Morts, both places in Jackson County.

§ John Deper (Draper ?) from Brussels. 20 y. o. enlisted 3 March 3, 1862 in Harrisburg in 5th Artillery Co. L. and was discharged March 8, 1865 by expiration of service at Pleasant Valley, Maryland, a Corporal. No other information found.

§ Bruno Decaluwe A farmer from Antwerp, 29 y. o. Enlisted 27 May 1861 in New York in the 5th Artillery Co. A, discharged 20 june 1864, expiration of service. No other information found.

§ Peter Bohardt 29 y. o., from Brussels, a mason, enlisted 7 December 1862 at Brookes Station, Virginia in the 5th Artillery Co. C for 3 years. He deserted at the end of the war on June 15, 1865. Apprehended September 7, 1865 he deserted anew September 29, 1865. No other information found.

§ Hermann De Reiffenberg   from Louvain, Belgium. 29 y. o. A soldier. Enlisted 31/12/1862 at New York in the 5th Artillery, Co. B, deserted February 2, 1864. 

His father Frédéric Auguste Ferdinand Thomas de Reiffenberg, born in Mons, Belgium on November 14, 1798, was professor of philosophy in the Belgian Louvain University. In 1835, due to the modification brought in this university, he was sent to occupy the chair of History n Liège University. He was soon called in Brussels as chief conservative of the Royal Library, whom the government had just created.

De Reiffenberg, died in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode April 18th, 1850. He had married, in Louvain, August 29th, 1827, Marie-Adèle-Félicité Frantzen, and had two children:
1) Fréderic-Guillaume-Eméric-Philippe-Cuno-Marsilius, born Louvain on August 28th, 1830;
2) Hermann - Frederick - Lothaire, born in the same city on May 14th, 1832.  

What became of Hermann De Reiffenberg after the Civil War ? I found the response in the New York Times, December 15, 1880: An impoverished Baron’s Estate. 

Annie de Reiffenberg and Israel Minor, Jr., were granted letters of administration yesterday on the estate of the late Baron Herman F. C. de Reiffenberg, who died here last September. The estate consists of personal property, said to be worth S 2,400. Baron de Reiffenberg was a native of Belgium, and, having quarreled with his family, came to this City 16 years ago. After making a tour of the country, and spending considerable time at fashionable resorts, he returned to this City and married a pretty Irish girl named Annie Swenney, assuming the name of De Laurie. The Baron and his Irish wife becoming impoverished lived for some time in the tenement-house at No. 38 Mulberry-street. On June 11 last he disappeared from his home, and his wife on searching the Police records ascertained that he had been convicted of petit larceny and sent to the penitentiary for one year. He died in the penitentiary hospital on Sept. 3.

 more has been said in The Wheeling daily intelligencer in September 24, 1880

§ Leon Portelange  was one of the Belgians recruited in Belgium by Louis Dochez for entering service in the regiments raised by the State of Massachusetts in 1864. He embarked on the Peter Godfrey and arrived in Boston on September 19, 1864. 203 passengers out of the 222 passengers of the Peter Godfrey enlisted in the 30th and 32d Massachusetts Infantry. Leon was not one of them. Enlisted twice in the Regular army and was twice discharged for disability. He first enlisted on September 20, 1864 in New York, an upholsterer, 19 years old, in the 5th Artillery, Co. L. One week later, on September 29, he received his discharge. Two weeks later he enlisted, anew in New York, in the 7th Infantry, this time a paper monger. There, he remained more than one year but was at last discharged for disability at Tallahasee, Florida on May 26, 1866.

I found no Portelang(c)e from Belgium[1] in the USA, between 1850 and 1900 except three. A Maximilien Portelange who is registered as having bough land in Menasha, Winnebago Co. Wisconsin in 1858. Maximilien emigrated from Pietrain, Belgium, arriving in New York on September 19, 1855. He enlisted in the 24th Illinois Infantry, Co. K, on June 27 1861 and died at Andersonville, a prisoner, on July 24, 1864 (grave 3879). In the 1880 census, there is another Belgian: Victor Portelance living in Brooklyn, New York with occupation "upholsterer" with wife and a daughter. No Portelange from Belgium in the 1900 census.

From information received from Louis Portelange[2] in Brussels he can be, but it's only a guess, Edouard Leon Portelange born Brussels on 16 September 1845, son of Victor Jean Baptiste Portelange born Ath, Belgium in August 1801 and Anna Buurer (or Van Buuren), All is know is that Edouard Leon deceased in Paris, France, on January 24, 1869. From the same source, Victor was his brother.