Home-Woven Blanket Used by Confederate Troops to Wrap Wounded Union Officer Capt. Henry R. Jones Co. C 8^th Connecticut Infantry After the Battle of Antietam – This home-woven, dark and light blue, wool blanket is a typical mid-seam sewn and woven blanket of the mid-19^th century. When we obtained the blanket, it had an old, brown paper note affixed to the blanket via a straight pin; the note, written in ink and seemingly a family created notation, appears to date to the last quarter of the 19^th century. The note reads as follows:

“Blanket in which

Capt Henry R Jones

was wrapped when

exchanged as wounded

Prisoner of War.

                                               

Left for dead on Battle

field of Antietam

taken next morning

by Confederate

soldiers to

near by farmhouse”

The blanket remains in overall, very good condition with a three or four small, minor stress pulls. The above enumerated note also had a small, second note pinned as well, with the handwritten inscription stating: “M Gays notes”. At this posting, we have not been able to discern what this inscription is in reference to. Capt. Jones was significantly wounded during the attack by the 8^th Ct. at a ford across Antietam Creek, near the stone bridge.

 Henry Roger Jones enlisted in early September, 1861, into Co. C of the 8^th Connecticut Infantry, at the rank of 1^st Sergeant. Jones was with the 8^th Ct. during Gen. Burnside’s expedition into North Carolina in early 1862, at Roanoke Island, New Bern and Ft. Macon. By June, 1862, Jones had been promoted to the rank of 2^nd Lt. During the Battle of Antietam, on September 17, 1862, Lt. Jones was wounded in “the breast” and left on the battlefield, where he was captured by Confederate troops and apparently wrapped in this blanket and taken to a local farmhouse. Jones was almost immediately paroled and would recover, although not able to return to active duty; therefore, Jones would become a 1^st Lt. and later a Capt. in the Veteran Reserve Corps, remaining in the U.S. Army until his retirement in 1878.

Henry Roger Jones

Residence New Hartford, CT.
Enlisted on 9/3/1861 as a 1st Sergt.

On 9/25/1861, he mustered into “C” Co. Connecticut 8th Infantry.
He was disch on 1/17/1863

On 7/16/1864, he was commissioned into Field & Staff Veteran Reserve Corps 11th Infantry.
He was disch on 6/30/1865
(Subsequent service in US Army from 07/28/1866 until retiring 06/28/1878)

He was listed as:

• POW 9/17/1862 Antietam, MD (Wounded in breast)
• Paroled 9/17/1862 Antietam, MD

Promotions:

• 2nd Lieut 6/5/1862
• 2nd Lieut 7/16/1864 (2nd Lieut & Adjutant as of 11th RC)
• 1st Lieut 11/11/1864 (As of Co. S 11th Regt VRC)
• Capt 4/30/1865 (As of Co. I 20th Regt VRC)

Member of GAR Post # 78 (Edwin R. Lee) in New Hartford, CT

Name:	Henry Roger Jones
Birth Place:	Connecticut
Enlistment Date:	3 Sep 1861
Enlistment Rank:	1st Sergt
Muster Date:	25 Sep 1861
Muster Place:	Connecticut
Muster Company:	C
Muster Regiment:	8th Infantry
Muster Regiment Type:	Infantry
Muster Information:	Enlisted
Rank Change Date:	5 Jun 1862
Rank Change Rank:	2nd Lieutenant
Imprisonment Date:	17 Sep 1862
Imprisonment Place:	Antietam, Maryland
Imprisonment Information:	Wounded in breast
Muster Out Date:	17 Jan 1863
Muster Out Information:	disch
Side of War:	Union
Survived War?:	Yes
Was Officer?:	Yes
Was POW?:	Yes
Residence Place:	New Hartford, Connecticut
Notes:	1862-09-17 Paroled, (Antietam, MD)
Additional Notes 2:	Muster 2 Date: 16 Jul 1864; Muster 2 Place: Connecticut; Muster 2 Unit: 2550; Muster 2 Company: S; Muster 2 Regiment: 11th Infantry; Muster 2 Regiment Type: Infantry; Muster 2 Information: Commission; Rank Change 2 Date: 16 Jul 1864; Rank Change 2 Rank: 2nd Lieutenant; Rank Change 2 Information: 2nd Lieut & Adjutant as of 11th RC; Rank Change 3 Date: 11 Nov 1864; Rank Change 3 Rank: First Lieutenant; Rank Change 3 Information: As of Co. S 11th Regt VRC; Rank Change 4 Date: 30 Apr 1865; Rank Change 4 Rank: Captain; Rank Change 4 Information: As of Co. I 20th Regt VRC; Muster Out 2 Date: 30 Jun 1865; Muster Out 2 Information: disch

8th CT Infantry

Organized: Hartford, CT on 9/21/1861

Mustered out: 12/12/1865

CONNECTICUT EIGHTH REGIMENT C. V. INFANTRY. (Three Years.) WRITTEN BY J. H. VAILL, LATE QUARTERMASTER-SERGEANT EIGHTH CONNECTICUT VOLUNTEERS. THE Eighth Regiment was organized at Camp Buckingham, Hartford, in September, 1861. It was commanded by Colonel Edward Harland of Norwich, who had recently returned from a three months’ service in the field as a Captain in the Third Regiment. The regiment left Hartford October 17th, and for a fortnight was in camp of instruction at Jamaica, L. I. November 1st it proceeded to Annapolis. Early in January, 1862, the Eighth sailed with the Burnside Expedition. The Confederate forces on Roanoke Island were attacked February 7th, where the Eighth suffered no loss, being held in reserve. After a month’s stay at Roanoke Island, Burnside’s forces moved toward Newbern, by transports to Slocum’s Creek (about eighteen miles below the city), thence marching up the south bank of the Neuse to the city’s line of defense. The attack upon the defenses of Newbern (March 14th) was made at an early hour, and the Eighth assisted in the capture of about five hundred Confederate troops. This was the regiment’s first baptism of blood. Its killed were privates Phelps of Company B and Patterson of Company I, with four wounded. The personal bravery of Colonel Harland amid the whistling bullets at Newbern, together with his skill and cool- headedness as a tactician, and his evident desire to shield his men from harm whenever possible, gave them a confidence in him which was never afterward shaken. The next move of the regiment was March 19th–to engage in the siege of Fort Macon; by steamer to Slocum’s Creek, thence marching down the railroad. The siege of Fort Macon terminated during the last week in April by the surrender of the Confederate garrison–forced to such decision by the bombardment of Union batteries, which were supported by the Eighth. During the greater portion of the siege–Colonel Harland being prostrated by typhoid fever–the regiment was under command of Major Appelman, who received a painful though not dangerous wound from a canister-shot. Soon after the surrender of Fort Macon the Eighth returned by steamer to Newbern, where it enjoyed two months of rest and recuperation. On the 2d of July the regiment went by rail to Morehead City, thence by steamer “Admiral” to Newport News, Va., where it encamped during the remainder of the month. On the first of August, in company with the Eleventh Connecticut, the Eighth went by transport to Aquia Creek, thence by rail to Fredericksburg, going into camp in front of the Lacey House, across the river from the city, where the month of August was spent, the regiment doing picket duty every other day to the westward of Fredericksburg. With the first of September came the evacuation of Fredericksburg by the Union troops, which were ordered to Washington, where the Eighth arrived on the 3d. The regiment rested in bivouac on Capitol Hill until the 8th, when commenced the march which led to the battle of Antietam (September 17th), by which was brought to the Eighth a severer loss than was occasioned by any other action during the war. Its total loss in that engagement was one hundred and ninety-four in killed, wounded, and missing. Its death-roll included Lieutenant Marvin Wait of Norwich, son of Connecticut’s honored citizen, John T. Wait. Enlisting as a private soldier when but eighteen, the story of his heroic fortitude amid the carnage of battle will be preserved upon Connecticut’s historic page along with that of Nathan Hale, the youthful martyr spy. Though severely wounded in his right arm Lieutenant Wait refused to go to the rear, and seizing his sword with his left hand, encouraged his men to press on, until he fell riddled by bullets. Of the officers wounded at Antietam were Lieutenant- Colonel Appelman, Captain McCall, 1st Lieutenants Henry E. Morgan and Russell, Lieutenant Eaton, Captains Ripley, Main, Jones, and Nelson Bronson. Conspicuous among the enlisted men killed were the brave and broad-shouldered Whiting Wilcox, George H. Marsh (killed by a cannon-ball early in the day), George F. Booth, Harvey E. Elmore, David Lake, Oscar W. Hewitt, Robert Ferris, Elijah White, and Charles E. and William G. Lewis–most if not all of these last named the color-guard, who fell on the line of battle while defending their trust. Six weeks later came the movement of the Army of the Potomac toward Fredericksburg, where it arrived November 19th. The Eighth pitched its shelter tents in front of the Lacey House again, within a stone’s throw of its camp of the previous August. The fruitless attack upon the enemy’s entrenched positions brought a loss of more than twelve thousand men to the Union forces, but Harland’s Brigade, of which the Eighth formed a part, was fortunate in not getting into the hottest portions of the field. Its loss was one killed and two wounded. The laying of a pontoon bridge across the Rappahannock was the most hazardous of the first day’s tasks, the fire from Confederate sharpshooters, entrenched on the opposite side of the river, being disastrous. An hundred men from the Eighth responded to the call for volunteers, and, led by Captain Marsh and Lieutenants Morgan and Ford, went down to the river bank to assist in the terrible ordeal–as brave a band as rode into the “Valley of Death” at Balaklava–but they came back alive only because the chief of the engineer corps decided that it was useless to slaughter an hundred brave men in the vain attempt: the sharpshooters could only be silenced by artillery. Early in February (1863) Harland’s Brigade (Eighth, Eleventh, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Connecticut) went down the Potomac and spent a month at Newport News, quartered in comfortable barracks. About the middle of March a move was made to Suffolk, where the brigade was assigned to Peck’s Division. Here the Eighth had little to do of an exciting nature, except when six companies, under Colonel Ward, made a dash upon a Confederate battery on the Nansemond River, which was captured without firing a shot, so complete and daring a surprise was the movement to the enemy. The regiment remained in the vicinity of Portsmouth during the summer of 1863, occasionally being called out in various directions on short raids. In December, 1863, three hundred and ten of the original members of the Eighth re-enlisted as veterans, and in January, 1864, went to Connecticut on veteran furlough. March 1st found the regiment returned to the field for duty. On the 13th it was ordered to Deep Creek; April 21st it went to Yorktown; and May 7th participated in the battle of Walthall Junction–Lieutenants Bingham and Goddard being among the killed, and Colonel Ward, Captain Moore, and Lieutenant Vorra among the wounded. The regiment had now been transferred to the First Division of the Eighteenth Army Corps. May 13th the corps moved up the south side of the James, and on the 16th the Eighth suffered severely by a repulse in the fog at Drewry’s Bluff, losing in killed, wounded, and prisoners upwards of sixty. Among the killed were two of the bravest and most efficient soldiers in the regiment–Captain John McCall, and Sergeant Edward Wadhams. June 1, 1864, was fought the battle of Cold Harbor, in which the Eighth’s loss was comparatively slight–eight killed and thirty wounded–the regiment being held during most of the engagement in reserve. Two weeks later commenced the movement toward Petersburg, the campaign lasting nearly all summer. June 16th the regiment lost two killed and seventeen wounded. There was a loss of twenty during the next month, to July 20, from Confederate artillery and sharpshooters, Captain H. C. Hall being among the killed, and Captains Ford and Goodrich among the wounded. September 26th the Eighteenth Corps was sent back across the James to operate with General Butler toward Richmond. In the successful charge on Battery Harrison, September 29th, the Eighth suffered a loss of eight killed and sixty-five wounded. Among the killed were Lieutenants Irwin and Kilbourne, and Sergeant Seth F. Plumb, the latter having been commissioned Lieutenant, though not yet mustered. Lieutenant Irwin’s term of service had expired, and he was free to return home, but he chose not to leave his old regiment when an engagement was pending. Of the wounded in the charge were Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, Captains Roberts and Morgan, and Lieutenants Foss, Rathbun, Keables, and Weed. The charge upon Battery Harrison was the last fighting ordeal which fell to the lot of the decimated Eighth. On the 3d of April, 1865, it was with the advance of the Union Army when it made its final “On to Richmond.” After the close of the war the Eighth went to Lynchburg, where it remained several months, doing semi-military and semi- police duty. The regiment was mustered out on the 12th of December, 1865, after four years and two months’ service– having served a longer term than other Connecticut regiments except the First Artillery and the Thirteenth Infantry. Its tattered colors in the Capitol at Hartford speak more eloquently of its service than pen can do here, and the brave men who helped to make and maintain its honorable record will not have suffered and died in vain if the blessings of constitutional liberty are duly appreciated by those in whose behalf they laid down their lives. ENGAGEMENTS. Newbern, N. C., March 14, 1862. Siege of Fort Macon, N. C., April, 1862. Antietam, Md., Sep. 17, 1862. Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13, 1863. Fort Huger, Va., April 19, 1863. Walthall Junction, Va., May 7, 1864. Fort Darling, Va., May 16, 1864. Petersburg, Va., August 25, 1864. Fort Harrison, Va., Sep. 29, 1864.

8th Connecticut Infantry Regiment

8th Connecticut Infantry Regiment
8th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Monument at the Antietam National Battlefield
Active	1861-1865
Country	United States
Allegiance	Union
Branch	United States Army
Type	Infantry
Engagements	Battle of New Bern Battle of Fort Macon Battle of South Mountain Battle of Antietam Battle of Fredericksburg Battle of Walthall Junction Battle of Fort Darling Battle of Cold Harbor Siege of Petersburg
Commanders
Colonel	Edward Harland

 

Connecticut U.S. Volunteer Infantry Regiments 1861-1865

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The 8th Connecticut Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that fought in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

History

The 8th Connecticut Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Buckingham, Hartford, in September, 1861, It was first commanded by Colonel Edward Harland of Norwich. The regiment drew most of its enlisted men from northern Hartford and Litchfield counties and was composed mostly of merchants and farmers from the Housatonic River and Connecticut River Valleys south to near New Milford and north to the Massachusetts state line and west to present day Hartford. The regiment left Hartford October 17, 1861, for a camp of instruction at Jamaica, Long Island, and there received its colors. It proceeded to Annapolis, where it spent the fall. Early in January, 1862, the Eighth sailed with the Burnside Expedition to North Carolina as part of the IX Corps. It was held in reserve during the Battle of Roanoke Island.^[1]

It was engaged in the Battle of New Bern, on March 14, 1862. The Eighth then participated in the successful siege of Fort Macon, during the March and April 1862. From there the regiment proceeded to Fredericksburg in July, 1862. On September 1 the Eighth accompanied the Union Army to Washington, and on September 8, joined the Maryland Campaign, including action at South Mountain.

The Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, resulted in a greater number of casualties for the regiment than any other engagement of the war. Along with other regiments of Harland’s Brigade, the Eighth marched downstream from Burnside’s Bridge, and crossed the Antietam at Snaveley’s Ford. They proceeded up the slopes towards Sharpsburg to attack the Confederates, finally being repulsed by reinforcements under Gen. A. P. Hill at the close of the day’s fighting.

After Antietam, the Eighth stayed in Pleasant Valley until marching back to Fredericksburg, with the Army of the Potomac, assuming their old camps at the Lacey House. Soon it was involved in the contested crossing of the Rappahannock, where over 80 men of the Eighth volunteered to assist the engineers in building the pontoon bridges. The Battle of Fredericksburg followed on December 13, 1862, and they were moved towards Marye’s Heights in the last assault. However darkness fell and the Eighth only advanced as far as the bed of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, never having been heavily engaged.

Following their participation in Burnside’s Mud March, the Eighth left of the IX Corps early in 1863, and went to Newport News, then to Suffolk, Virginia. They participated in the siege there for several months. It was there that the Eighth, now under Col. John Ward, attacked Fort Huger and took it by surprise in a daring raid. The regiment remained in the Portsmouth area during the summer, and participated in the “Blackberry Raid” demonstration in force.

In December 1863, 310 original members of the regiment re-enlisted, and in January were sent home on veteran furloughs. Those who had volunteered in 1862 and 1863 were temporarily transferred to the 15th Connecticut and remained in southeastern Virginia.

The year of 1864 found the Eighth transferred to the XVIII Corps, Army of the James. There they participated in the battles of Walthall Junction, Fort Darling, Drewry’s Bluff, Cold Harbor, and the siege of Petersburg. In September, they served on Bermuda Hundred, and across the James River. September 29 they fought at the battles of Fort Harrison and Chaffin’s Farm, which was their last engagement of the war.

The Eighth was with the 24th Corps, Army of the James in its final advance on Richmond in the spring of 1865. After Gen. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, the Eighth moved to Lynchburg, Virginia, where it performed police and provost duties until it was mustered out of service December 12, 1865, serving a longer term than all but two other Connecticut regiments.

Principal engagements

• New Bern, N.C., March 17, 1862
• Fort Macon, N.C., April 1862
• Antietam, Md., September 17, 1862
• Fredericksburg, Va., December 11 and 13, 1862
• Fort Huger, Va., April 11 and April 19, 1863
• Walthall Junction, Va., May 7, 1864
• Fort Darling or 2d Drewry’s Bluff, Va., May 12 to May 16, 1864
• Cold Harbor, Va., June 1 to 10 1864
• near Petersburg, Va., June 15 to 17, 1864, and June 17 to September 28, 1864
• Fort Harrison, Va., September 29 to October 24, 1864

Casualties

• Killed and mortally wounded: 112 officers and men
• Died of disease: 132 officers and men
• Total: 244 officers and men

8^th Connecticut at Antietam

Federal Regiment

8th Connecticut Infantry

Organized: Hartford, CT; mustered in Fall 1861
Disbanded/Mustered out: Hartford, CT 12/12/1865

 

Commanding Officers on the Antietam Campaign:
LCol. Hiram Appelman
Maj. J Edward Ward

 

This Regiment’s Chain of Command:
Army – Army of the Potomac
Corps – Ninth Army Corps
Division – 3rd Division, 9th Corps
Brigade – 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 9th Corps

Unit history

In response to President Lincoln’s call to the states, the regiment was one of those organized in Hartford in the fall of 1861, a few months after the war began with the firing on Fort Sumter.

On the Antietam Campaign

The Eighth had been sent to ford Antietam Creek at the left, or south, wing of the battlefield and at great cost won a little hill on the far side. But the other regiments left the Eighth exposed and alone in a Confederate counterattack:

[Lt.] Colonel Appelman [commanding the regiment while Colonel Harland led the brigade] tells the standard-bearer never to leave the colors. He responds firmly. One of the color-guard falls; two; three; four; the last, and the standard goes to the ground with him. Private Charles H. Walker [of Norwich] springs forward, and seizes it amid the storm of death; strikes the staff firmly in the ground; and shakes out the flag defiantly towards the advancing foe.

No reinforcements come. Twenty men are falling every minute. Col. Appelman is borne to the rear. . . . Men grow frantic. The wounded prop themselves behind the rude stone fence, and hurl leaden vengeance at the foe. Even the chaplain snatches the rifle and cartridge-box of a dead man, and fights for life.

“We must fall back,” says Major John E. Ward, now in command. Some protest against what they feel is inevitable; and the hundred men still unscathed are faced to the rear, and marched back in unbroken and still formidable column down the hill. No regiment of the 9th Corps has advanced so far, or held out so long, or retired in formation so good.

Name:	Henry Roger Jones
Gender:	Male
Birth Date:	23 Mar 1837
Birth Place:	New Hartford, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States of America
Death Date:	20 Jul 1912
Death Place:	Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, United States of America
Cemetery:	North Village Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place:	New Hartford, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States of America
Has Bio?:	N
Father:	Henry Jones
Mother:	Catherine Jones
Spouse:	Sarah Lucia Jones
Children:	Henry Roger Jones

Henry Roger Jones Veteran

Birth

23 Mar 1837

New Hartford, Litchfield County, Connecticut, USA

Death

20 Jul 1912 (aged 75)

Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA

Burial

North Village Cemetery

Inscription on Capt. Jones’ tombstone:

Capt US Army, A Union officer wounded at the Battle of Antietam, Sept 17 1862

Federal (USV)

Lieutenant

Henry Roger Jones

(1837 – 1912)

Home State: Connecticut

Branch of Service: Infantry

Unit: 8th Connecticut Infantry

Before Antietam – At the start of the war he was studying the law with Judge Silas Bryan* in Salem, IL. He returned to Connecticut and enlisted on 3 September 1861 and mustered as First Sergeant of Company C, 8th Connecticut Infantry on 25 September. He was appointed 2nd Lieutenant on 5 June 1862.

On the Campaign – He was wounded in the right shoulder (or chest) and captured in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862, and paroled the same day.

The rest of the War – He was discharged for disability on 17 January 1863. He was appointed 2nd Lieutenant and Adjutant of the 11th Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps on 16 July 1864 and promoted to First Lieutenant on 11 November. He was promoted again, to Captain of Company I, 20th Regiment, VRC on 30 April 1865 and discharged on 30 June 1865.

After the War – He was commissioned First Lieutenant, 43rd United States Infantry on 28 July 1866 and transferred to the First US Infantry on 8 April 1869. In 1870 he was posted to Fort Brady, Sault Ste. Marie, MI, and he retired on 28 June 1878 (promoted to Captain, retired, in April 1904).

He returned to New Hartford, Litchfield County, CT and founded the Tribune there in 1880, which he published to 1906, then turned over to his son H. Roger Jones, Jr.

His service from the Record 1 and Heitman.2 Wound detail from Major Ward’s after-action report. Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1870-1900, and his Memorium from the Loyal Legion (1912), also quoted below.

He married Sarah Lucia Chesebrough (1842-1931) in December 1863 and they had 7 children.

For forty years he carried in his shoulder the bullet he received at Antietam, when it worked out of his body.

* Judge Bryan’s son was the prominent politician William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) – “the great Commoner” – 3-time candidate for US President, Congressman, Secretary of State.

Birth – 03/23/1837; New Hartford, CT

Death – 07/20/1912; Hartford, CT; burial in North Village Cemetery, New Hartford, CT

Capt Henry Rogers Jones

23 March 1837–20 July 1912

Brief Life History of Henry Rogers

When Capt Henry Rogers Jones was born on 23 March 1837, in New Hartford, Litchfield, Connecticut, United States, his father, Henry Jones, was 36 and his mother, Catherine Mills, was 32. He married Sarah Lucia Chesebrough on 5 December 1863, in Old Saybrook, Middlesex, Connecticut, United States. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 4 daughters. He lived in Sault Sainte Marie, Chippewa, Michigan, United States in 1870. In 1900, at the age of 63, his occupation is listed as newspaper publisher in New Hartford, Litchfield, Connecticut, United States. He died on 20 July 1912, in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, at the age of 75, and was buried in North Village Cemetery, New Hartford Center, New Hartford, Litchfield, Connecticut, United States.