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Records say he died at age 47 of malaria, but some suspect he was killed by decompression sickness — also known as the bends.

JEEZE! EITHER WAY, HE CAME TO A ...Kroehl END

Later, he was assigned to work with the U.S. Artillery of Lauman's division during the siege of Vicksburg (June 6, 1863) until the end of the siege on July 4, 1863. During this time, he contracted malaria, and was honorably discharged on August 8, 1863 after being sent back to New York City by way of Cairo, Illinois. He recuperated at his brother's home. He recovered well enough to continue his civilian occupation as a submarine engineer, but was still suffering from it when he left for Central America. Kroehl died on September 9, 1867 in Panama City, Panama, United States of Colombia, with death being attributed to "fever," and was buried there. It has been speculated that he died of decompressionsickness, during experimental dives with the Sub Marine Explorer. However, the symptoms of decompression sickness do not match that of malaria.. His widow, Sophia, argued that his death was from service-related malaria, citing witnesses who knew him during the Vicksburg campaign as well as medical statements .... Sophia was in a financially desperate situation. With over $40,000 tied up in a submarine that was left on Isla San Telmo, there was essentially no income. Any royalties from patents were expiring. She wrote to Admiral Porter for assistance. He provided her a letter of introduction, which probably resulted in her employment with the U.S. Department of the Treasury. However, attempts to collect on a pension for widows were thwarted by the circumstances of Julius' death.
The Pension Bureau assumed that the death was a result of the Panamanian environment. Sophia had to prove that the death was malaria, and that the malaria resulted from his military service. Attempts in 1880 and 1890 generated much paperwork, with sworn statements from neighbors attesting to their marriage and that she had not remarried, from Henry Kroehl about Julius' condition upon his discharge, a doctor's statement that he was diagnosed with malaria, and a statement from Alexander Strausz who served with him at Vicksburg. On top of that, she even had Archbishop John Ireland of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul, Minnesota, to lobby personally with the bureau. At first, the Bureau turned down the appeals. However, a few months before she died, her pension was increased substantially, indicating that she at one time proved her case