Carl Heinrich Schnauffer (1822-1854) was a German political poet, soldier, and editor who emigrated to the U.S. in 1851.

Due to his father's premature death, young Schnauffer was not able to complete his education; however, an employer in Mannheim, Germany did allow him time to further his education. In 1846, Schnauffer entered the University at Heidelberg, where he associated with liberal student groups and published his first volume of poems, Gedichte.

In 1848, Schnauffer left the staff of the "Mannheimer Abendzeitung" and joined in the abortive uprising of the German liberals. He fled to Switzerland, but returned for the renewed fighting of 1849. Captured in battle, Schnauffer escaped from prison and fled again to Switzerland, where he wrote his Todtenkranze, a "call to battle for freedom in the name of those executed by the reactionaries." Shortly thereafter, Schnauffer was forced to leave Switzerland.

Schnauffer fled to London, where he joined Gustav Struve. They found asylum on the estate of Thomas Fothergill, a friend from Heidelberg. Schnauffer and Struve supported themselves through manual labor. In 1850, Schnauffer renewed correspondence with his fiancee, Elise Wilhelminia Moos, whose family had immigrated to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1847. In 1851, Schnauffer joined her in Baltimore, and they were married.

Also in 1851, Schnauffer identified himself with the "Turner" movement and founded a German daily newspaper, Baltimore Wecker, which championed popular education, freedom, and enlightenment. In 1854, at the age of thirty one, Schnauffer died from Typhoid Fever.