Michael Wiedrich was born 23 Sept 1820, to a German family in Hohwiller, Dept du Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France. He immigrated to the US in 1837, settling in the German community in Buffalo, New York. In 1841, he joined the state militia, serving with an artillery company attached to the 65th Infantry Regiment. By the late 1850's, he held the rank of major. He entered politics, and in November 1860, he was elected tax-collector of Buffalo, and became co-publisher of the "Buffalo Freie Presse," a daily German language newspaper.

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     He was mustered into Federal service as captain of Battery I, First New York Light Artillery, on 30 August 1861. He would lead "Wiedrich's Battery" at the battles of Cross Keys, Second Bull Run, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Transferred west, Wiedrich and Battery I participated in the Chattanooga Campaign in October and November, 1863.

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In early 1864, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and transferred to the Fifteenth New York Heavy Artillery Regiment. By June, Wiedrich was commanding the regiment, now an infantry unit, in the trenches outside Petersburg, VA. He was wounded in the back at Globe Tavern on 18 August 1864. At the Battle of Five Forks on 1 April 1865, he was more seriously wounded, suffering a gunshot wound to his right arm and was subsequently discharged for disability. On 13 March 1865, he was brevetted a Colonel, US Volunteers for "gallant and meritorious services in the battles on the Weldon Railroad, Va."

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 Following the war, he entered the insurance business and was re-elected receiver of taxes in Buffalo for two terms:1866 and 1867. He worked for the Germania Fire Insurance Company of New York's Buffalo office beginning in 1866 and later co-managed the branch. In 1869 he was elected local assessor for the Internal Revenue from 1869 to 1873).

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Wiedrich was a Freemason and an influential member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Stuttgart Encampment No. 70 (German) in Buffalo, as well as a prominent member of the Republican Party in Erie County, NY. A member of Bidwell Post No. 9, Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) he was active in veterans’ affairs. Wiedrich died in Buffalo 21 March 1899 at the age of 78.