Martin Hildebrandt

Hildebrandt immigrated to the United States from Germany. He enlisted in the United States Navy and served aboard the USS United States from 1846 to 1849, where he learned tattooing from another sailor. Sailors tattooing each other at sea was common in the mid-19th century. In the 1850s, Hildebrandt traveled to Japan as part of the Perry Expedition. He traveled from camp to camp tattooing other soldiers and sailors. Another Civil War veteran, Wilbur F. Hinman, wrote that many regiments at the time had tattooers who applied "flags, muskets, cannons, sabers and an infinite variety of patriotic emblems and warlike and grotesque devices." Soldiers often asked for tattoos of their names and initials, which served as identification if they were killed in action. While Hildebrandt was a Union soldier, some claim he tattooed Confederate soldiers as well, but a tattoo historian who researched this story could not find any evidence for it. == Work ==

After the end of the Civil War, Hildebrandt made tattooing his full-time profession. This was probably the first American tattoo shop. He tattooed a wide range of people, including mechanics, farmers, and ladies and gentlemen. In 1882, Hildebrandt tattooed Nora Hildebrandt, one of the first "tattooed ladies" to perform in the US. She was often presented as his daughter, but she was actually his common-law wife. He died in 1890. ==References==