The son of farmer Lewis and Maria Newton Gatch, he enlisted into Company G, 89th Ohio Volunteer Infantry on July 29, 1862. He was six feet in height, with a dark complexion, dark blue eyes and light hair. In August 1862, he was promoted from First Sergeant to First Lieutenant, to fill a vacancy. Lieutenant Gatch was treated at the Regimental Hospital for influenza between March 21, 1863 and May 1, 1863. On May 1, 1863, he was promoted to Captain, to replace Captain William Haight, who had resigned his commission. On September 20, 1863, during the Battle of Chickamauga, he was captured and taken by train to Richmond, Virginia, where he was confined in Libby Prison. He remained in Libby Prison of seven months, and then was transferred to Camp Asylum, in Charlotte, North Carolina. He escaped from Camp Asylum with two other officers on February 16, 1865, and after four weeks of travel through enemy held territory, during which his two companions were recaptured, he reached Knoxville, Tennessee, which was in Union hands, on March 20, 1865. He was ordered to Washington DC for further reassignment, and after a short furlough to visit his family in Ohio, arrived in Washington DC on April 14, 1865, accompanied by his brother, Dr. Charles D. Gatch. That evening, the two brothers decided to see a play, and were present at Ford's Theater during the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. On May 15, 1865, he was honorably discharged from the Army, following the end of the Civil War. Following his release from military service, he returned to Milford, Ohio, where he lived for the next five years. On September 11, 1865, at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, he married Susan Spiedel at the Methodist Episcopal Church. They would have two children: Katherine (born June 21, 1866) and Willis (born October 27, 1877). In 1882, he applied for a pension due to ill health, which plagued him until his death in 1914, and he received a pension of $30.00 per month for the remainder of his life. His wife, Susan, following him in death on May 19, 1919, and is buried next to him. (Bio by Kit and Morgan Benson)