| Shortly after the Civil War began, James Henderson joined the
35th Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Company C "Campbell Rangers" on 17 September
1861. He was later joined in the same unit by his father, Samuel Henderson, (enlisted
February 19, 1862). The elder Henderson, who was 49 years old at the time died while in
CSA service on April 11, 1862 at Antietam, Maryland (less than 3 months after he left his
Georgia Farm.) Note- The famous Battle of Antietam (known as the Battle of Sharpsburg in
the South) occurred much later than this on 17 September 1862. James continued to serve in
the 35th GA seeing extensive combat duty including being one of the units that attempted
to breach the Union center on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the infamous
Pickett’s Charge. He is listed as having deserted at Petersburg and subsequently
being paroled at Chattanooga, TN on 21 October 1864. I have no information about him after
that point. The Henderson Family struggled through the Civil War. There were shortages and hardships. Anne White Whitaker recalled a story that Alfreta told her, that after the family had run out of salt…they dug up the dirt from underneath an old smoke house and boiled it to skim off the curing salt that fallen from the hanging meat during the pre-war years. She also told me that Alfreta was still resentful of the treatment her family endured during the Civil War even late in her life and held the Union responsible. |
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