From my study of the various companies that were predominately Pittsylvania men, I found over 100 men in those companies came from Henry County. The Henry County men who traveled to Pittsylvania to enlist were most prevalent in Company K of the 38th Virginia Infantry and Company F of the 57th Virginia Infantry. A dozen or more were scattered throughout the Danville Artillery, the 18th Virginia, the 21st Virginia and the 53rd Virginia Infantries. The 9th, 14th, 38th, 53rd, and 57th Virginia Infantries would be in Lewis A. Armistead's Brigade as of May of 1862, so three of five regiments had Henry County men. Battles would include Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Gettysburg, Chester Station, Drewry's Bluff, Five Forks, and Appomattox. The 18th Virginia Infantry would participate in the same battles, but were also present at the 1st Battle of Manassas.In previous books, I worked on finding Civil War soldiers primarily from Pittsylvania County. My strategy was to go through every page of the 1860 Pittsylvania County census, making note of all men born between 1818-1846. There would be a small percentage of soldiers that did not fit the age range that I planned on searching for later. I apply the same strategy here. There were 178 pages of the 1860 census of Henry County, with room for 40 names per page, so nearly 7,200 people. I listed my interpretation of the names of men in Henry County in 1860 who were born between 1818-1846. That number was 1,426 men. The next step would be to search, man by man, for matching records in the service records.

History of Patrick and Henry Counties, Virginia by Lewis G. Pedigo is a comprehensive account of the rich history and development of these two counties in the heart of Virginia. Drawing from a wide range of historical sources and records, Pedigo traces the counties' growth from their early settlement through the 20th century. This detailed chronicle provides valuable insights into the social, economic, and political forces that shaped Patrick and Henry Counties over the centuries, making it an essential resource for anyone interested in the history of this region.

After an illuminating account of the history of Patrick and Henry counties, which occupies the first third of the book, the authors turn their attention to genealogy, providing authoritative histories of no fewer than 110 families. The genealogies generally begin with the first settler in either Patrick or Henry County and proceed to enumerate descendants in several generations, providing incidental detail according to the materials available. In addition to the remarkable collection of genealogies, the book also contains transcriptions of important genealogical source materials, such as the Patrick and Henry land grants and patents registered in the old Land Office in Richmond.

Henry County, Virginia Civil War Records of 1861-1865

General John A. Wickham, commander of the famous 101st Airborne Division in the 1970s and subsequently Army Chief of Staff, once visited Antietam battlefield. Gazing at Bloody Lane where, in 1862, several Union assaults were brutally repulsed before they finally broke through, he marveled, "You couldn't get American soldiers today to make an attack like that." Why did those men risk certain death, over and over again, through countless bloody battles and four long, awful years ? Why did the conventional wisdom -- that soldiers become increasingly cynical and disillusioned as war progresses -- not hold true in the Civil War? It is to this question--why did they fight--that James McPherson, America's preeminent Civil War historian, now turns his attention. He shows that, contrary to what many scholars believe, the soldiers of the Civil War remained powerfully convinced of the ideals for which they fought throughout the conflict. Motivated by duty and honor, and often by religious faith, these men wrote frequently of their firm belief in the cause for which they fought: the principles of liberty, freedom, justice, and patriotism. Soldiers on both sides harkened back to the Founding Fathers, and the ideals of the American Revolution. They fought to defend their country, either the Union--"the best Government ever made"--or the Confederate states, where their very homes and families were under siege. And they fought to defend their honor and manhood. "I should not lik to go home with the name of a couhard," one Massachusetts private wrote, and another private from Ohio said, "My wife would sooner hear of my death than my disgrace." Even after three years of bloody battles, more than half of the Union soldiers reenlisted voluntarily. "While duty calls me here and my country demands my services I should be willing to make the sacrifice," one man wrote to his protesting parents. And another soldier said simply, "I still love my country." McPherson draws on more than 25,000 letters and nearly 250 private diaries from men on both sides. Civil War soldiers were among the most literate soldiers in history, and most of them wrote home frequently, as it was the only way for them to keep in touch with homes that many of them had left for the first time in their lives. Significantly, their letters were also uncensored by military authorities, and are uniquely frank in their criticism and detailed in their reports of marches and battles, relations between officers and men, political debates, and morale. For Cause and Comrades lets these soldiers tell their own stories in their own words to create an account that is both deeply moving and far truer than most books on war. Battle Cry of Freedom, McPherson's Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the Civil War, was a national bestseller that Hugh Brogan, in The New York Times, called "history writing of the highest order." For Cause and Comrades deserves similar accolades, as McPherson's masterful prose and the soldiers' own words combine to create both an important book on an often-overlooked aspect of our bloody Civil War, and a powerfully moving account of the men who fought it.

In October 1864, in the mountains of southwest Virginia, one of the most brutal acts of the Civil War occurs. Brig. Gen. Stephen Burbridge launches a raid to capture Saltville. Included among his forces is the 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry. Repeated Federal attacks are repulsed by Confederate forces under the command of Gen. John S. Williams. As the sun begins to set, Burbridge pulls his troops from the field, leaving many wounded. In the morning, Confederate troops, including a company of ruffians under the command of Captain Champ Ferguson, advance over the battleground seeking out and killing the wounded black soldiers. What starts as a small but intense mountain battle degenerates into a no-quarter, racial massacre. A detailed account from eyewitness reports of the most blatant battlefield atrocity of the war.

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