AN INCREDIBLE ACT OF BRAVERY

An unidentified Confederate,
most likely a P.O.W.
(CDV, M.D. Jones collection)

I thought that with Mel Gibson's new movie, Hacksaw Ridge, coming out on Medal of Honor recipient, Cpl. Desmond Doss, who saved 75 of his fellow soldiers on Okinawa, people might be interested in knowing the story of a Confederate with a similar story, in the Battle of King's School House (Oak Grove), Va. on the first day of the Seven Days. This is excerpted from the Richmond Daily Dispatch, June 27, 1862, Page 1:

“We would conclude by mentioning the heroic conduct of Private James Henderson, Company A [Caddo Rifles], First Louisiana. This brave fellow had undergone the severe fiery ordeal with his regiment in the morning, and when it was ordered to fall back he voluntarily moved to the front to assist the wounded, as there were neither surgeon nor stretcher bearers with his regiment. Henderson brought off Col. [William] Shivers from the field on his back, returned and recovered the same officer’s sword and other equipments, and whenever finding a wounded man sufficiently strong to be removed, he carried him from the field on his back, despite the repeated vollies [sic] which the cowardly enemy fired upon him.—More than this—when the enemy had posted their pickets, this fine soldier stole through the grass upon his hands and knees, and actually stole our wounded men from under the enemy’s guns! We always delight to record the deeds of privates, but can any words of ours add to the honor of such a brave fellow as Henderson?”