While we were doing our company drill a couple of weekends ago at Hopewell Furnace, the rangers there brought us some information about the relationship between the Civil war and the community.  

One of the articles in the stack of papers we were given contained an obituary for Henry F Care.  He was a civil war vet who died in 1936.  The article gives a brief account of his life (I will try to scan it to post it.)

It says he enlisted in the 11th Penn Cav Co D at the age of 15.  Also that he "rode" with McClellan and marched with Sherman in 2 enlistments.  He at some point enlisted in the 124th PA Infantry.

It claims he was captured and taken to Andersonville and released after 15months there.  That he fought in the battles of Reed's Station, Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville and was among the troops at Appomattox when Lee surrendered.

One line reads "Eventually, more dead than alive, he was turned loose by Confederate officers seeking to conserve diminishing food supplies for their own men."

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How did he spend 15 months in Andersonville (opened Feb 64) and still get to Appomattax for the surrender (April 65)??

Here is the obituary..

IMHO I doubt if he could have spent 15 months at Andersonville and then be in the final campaign. After 15 months at Andersonville he would have been quite emancipated and weak and the timing, just does not work.

It says he was in "Andersonville S.C." South Carolina?

If you're one of the last veterans left alive in the area, who's going to be rude enough to challenge you face to face and claim you're lying? So he got to say whatever he wanted, right, wrong, true, lie.

He's listed in the NPS database for those two regiments, so his service record exists. Now it would be possible to get it and see a more accurate picture of what really happened, than when he was alive in his old age.

For what it's worth, Bates' History of Pennsylvania volunteers says Henry Care was mustered into service Feb. 1, 1864 in the 124th PVI, and was a prisoner from June 29, 1864 to Feb. 17, 1865--mustered out with company, Aug. 13, 1865.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net