This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Montville's Participation in the Civil War: Part 2

This story is about Henry H. Kimball and the Andersonville Prison. A young life cut short to serve his country.

Private Henry H. Kimball has two headstones at Comstock Cemetery in Uncasville to commemorate his sacrifice during the Civil War.

The first is an obelisk placed by the family Kimball was staying with when he moved to Montville. The second was issued by the military following the war. 

Although Kimball was a minor figure in Montville’s history, his story illuminates a common man's experiences in extraordinary circumstances during the Civil War.

Find out what's happening in Montvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Kimball was only in his early 20s when he moved to Montville around 1855.

Originally from Worcester, MA, Kimball migrated south to work in Montville’s wool mills. He had several reasons why he decided on our town; first, his father was a shearing machinist, so Kimball was familiar with the trade; secondly, he had relatives who lived in town.

Find out what's happening in Montvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Like many young men of his time, working in the factories gave him freedom from his parents, while allowing him the chance to make money in order to eventually start his own family.

Following the First Battle at Bull Run or Manassas and Union loss, Kimball decided to join the Army.  According to the American Civil War Soldiers database, Kimball enlisted in Company H, 7th Infantry Regiment as a Private on Aug. 26, 1861.  Maybe it was the startling defeat of the Union Army that caused Kimball to enlist, regardless he left for New Haven begin the process of learning to be an army soldier.

The 7th CT Infantry Regiment organized also in August 1861 and called for men to enlist for three year terms.  Captain William H. Pierpont of the 7th Regiment wrote the following:

"The regiment, one thousand and eighteen strong, was mustered into the United States service at New Haven, September 17, 1861, and started next day for Washington, D. C., where it was brigaded with the Sixth Connecticut and Third and Seventh New Hampshire regiments, under command of Brigadier-General Horatio G. Wright.

Kimball's was one of the regiments that eventually moved to Annapolis, MD, leaving Oct. 8, 1861 on a steamer for Fort Monroe, VA.

During the next three years, Kimball fought in 42 battles between Virginia to Florida. However, sometime on June 2, 1864, he was captured by the Confederate Army.

Considering that the 7th Regiment engaged in three different battles on that date, it is difficult to calculate where Kimball was captures. Through the diary of Captain Pierpont, it can be ascertained that Kimball was lost in Virginia at either Hatcher’s Run, Petersburg or Bermuda Hundred battles. 

I am guessing that Kimball’s capture occurred at Bermuda Hundred according to the information provided by the American Civil War Research Database Battle Summaries:

"BERMUDA HUNDRED, VA - JUNE 2ND, 1864
Bermuda Hundred, Va., June 2, 1864. 10th Corps, Army of the James. Cannonading was begun by the Confederates on the morning of the 1st and kept up the greater part of the day. Early on the morning of the 2nd the picket lines, consisting of the 11th Me., 39th Ill. and 7th Conn., were attacked and driven back, the enemy occupying the rifle-pits in which the pickets had been intrenched. Simultaneously the redoubt Dutton, occupied by a portion of the 1st Conn. artillery, was attacked, but the enemy was driven back by a shower of canister with heavy loss. Col. Dantzler of the 22nd S. C. was among the killed, and 23 surrendered rather than attempt to retreat under such a fire. The defeated pickets were reinforced by the 3rd N. H., under Lieut.-Col. J. I. Plimpton, and the rifle-pits were retaken. Union loss: 10 killed 72 wounded and 110 captured and missing. The Confederate loss is not clearly known.”

Additionally, Captain William H. Pierpont wrote in the Regimental History that on,

May 6th the regiment was assigned a position on the Bermuda Hundred front, constantly reconnoitering and skirmishing till the 10th, when it took part in the battle of Chester Station. From the 10th till the 17th it was almost continually engaged at various points in the advance on Richmond, losing two hundred and five men.
June 5th the Seventh was in action on the Bermuda Hundred front, losing ninety-four men, and again on the 17th, with a loss of thirty men.”

Sent to prison

Upon his capture, Kimball was sent to Camp Sumter or, as it is now known, Andersonville Prison in Sumter County, GA.  The National Park Services described Andersonville as

only in operation for fourteen months, however, during that time 45,000 Union soldiers were imprisoned there, and nearly 13,000 died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding, or exposure.
The prison site initially covered approximately 16 1/2 acres of land, which was enclosed by a fifteen foot high stockade wall. The prison was enlarged in June 1864 to 26 1/2 acres to compensate for overpopulation. The stockade was constructed in the shape of a parallelogram that was 1,620 feet long and 779 feet wide. Approximately 19 feet inside of the stockade wall was the "deadline," which the prisoners were not allowed to cross. If a prisoner stepped over the "deadline," the guards in the "pigeon roosts," which were roughly thirty yards, apart were allowed to shoot them.
The first prisoners arrived at Camp Sumter in February 1864. Over the course of the next few months approximately 400 prisoners arrived daily. By June 1864 over 26,000 prisoners were confined here. The stockade was only designed to house 10,000. The largest number of prisoners held at one time was 32,000 in August 1864
.”

It was here, in this pit of despair and human depravation that Henry Kimball, age 25, died on Sept. 7, 1864.

Kimball did not leave a diary of his experience at Andersonville, yet a fellow prisoner, John Ransom, did compile his experiences in his autobiography, Andersonville Diary. The day Kimball died of dysentery, Ransom placed this entry into his diary:

Sept. 7.—Anxiously waiting the expected summons. Rebels say as soon as transportation comes, and so a car whistle is music to our ears. Hope is a good medicine and am sitting up and have been trying to stand up but can't do it; legs too crooked and with every attempt get faint. Men laugh at the idea of my going, as the rebels are very particular not to let any sick go, still Battese say I am going. Most Dark.—Rebels say we go during the night when transportation comes. Battese grinned when this news come and can't get his face straightened out again.

Henry Kimball did not survive to be transferred from Andersonville prison.  His body is buried at the prison cemetery in Lot #8065

The battles Kimball fought

Nov. 4, 1861, at USS "Union," wrecked on NC coast.
Feb. 6, 1862,  at Stoddard's Plantation, SC.
June 7, 1862, at James Island, SC.
June 9, 1862, at James Island, SC.
June 14, 1862, at James Island, SC.
June 15, 1862, at James Island, SC.
June 16, 1862, at James Island, SC.
June 28, 1862, at James Island, SC.
Oct. 22, 1862, at Pocotaligo, SC.
Feb. 10, 1863, at Gloucester Point, VA.
July 10, 1863, at Morris Island, SC.
July 11, 1863, at Morris Island, SC.
July 11, 1863, at Fort Wagner, SC.
July 13, 1863, at Morris Island, SC.
Aug. 12, 1863, at Morris Island, SC.
Aug. 13, 1863, at Morris Island, SC.
Aug. 16, 1863, at Morris Island, SC.
Aug. 20, 1863, at Charleston, SC.
Aug. 22, 1863, at Morris Island, SC.
Sept. 4, 1863, at Fort Wagner, SC.
Sept. 5, 1863, at Fort Wagner, SC.
Sept. 7, 1863, at Morris Island, SC.
Sept. 18, 1863, at Fort Wagner, SC.
Sept. 23, 1863, at Morris Island, SC.
Oct. 8, 1863, at Morris Island, SC.
Oct. 10, 1863, at Fort Sumter, SC.
Oct. 14, 1863, at Morris Island, SC.
Oct. 22, 1863, at Pocotaligo, SC.
Feb. 20, 1864, at Olustee, FL.
Feb. 22, 1864, at Olustee, FL.
Feb. 24, 1864, at Olustee, FL.
May 10, 1864, at Chester Station, VA.
May 10, 1864, at Bermuda Hundred, VA.
May 13, 1864, at Drewry's Bluff, VA.
May 14, 1864, at Drewry's Bluff, VA.
May 14, 1864, at Chester Station, VA.
May 14, 1864, at Bermuda Hundred, VA.
May 15, 1864, at Drewry's Bluff, VA.
May 16, 1864, at Spotsylvania Court House, VA.
May 16, 1864, at Drewry's Bluff, VA.
May 16, 1864, at Bermuda Hundred, VA.
May 31, 1864,  at Bermuda Hundred, VA.
June 2, 1864, at Hatcher's Run, VA.
June 2, 1864, at Petersburg, VA.
June 2, 1864,  at Bermuda Hundred, VA.
June 2, 1864,  at Drewry's Bluff, VA.
June 5, 1864, at Bermuda Hundred, VA.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?