2nd Cpl. Henry Winter, 2nd Kentucky Infantry, CSA

    First Kentucky "Orphan" Brigade 


 

Henry Harrison Winter of Moscow, KY joined the Confederate Army as a private soldier in Clinton, Kentucky. He was officially mustered in on July 5, 1861 as a member of Company A 2d Kentucky Infantry at Camp Boone, Tennessee, near present day Fort Campbell, KY.

He saw service with Buckner's Brigade and was taken prisoner at the fall of Fort Donelson, Tennessee in February 1862 and imprisoned for five months. The documentation, the company notes of Company A, show that Henry Winter was held at Camp Douglas, near Chicago, IL. The pay records show him present from 1 Aug thru 31 Oct 1862. 7 December 1862, Winter was wounded in the left shoulder and breast while participating in a raid with the 2d KY led by BG John H. Morgan. He was captured and paroled by Col John M. Harlan, commanding 2d bde, 1st IN Division, 14th Army Corps, Department of the Cumberland.

The pay records reported him "absent, left at Hartsville" December 1862 thru February 1863, returning to duty March 1863. During this absence from duty, Pvt Winter made his way back home to Moscow, KY to recover from his wounds.

In July of 1863, Henry Winter participated in the Battle of Chickamauga. At this late date of the War, the 2d Kentucky was designated as 2d Kentucky Infantry (Mounted). A mounted infantry outfit rode to the fight, dismounted, the reins handed to a designated individual, every third man normally, and fit the fight. A mounted infantry in the Confederate Army was parallel to the dragoons in the Union Army. They performed no cavalry missions; screens, guards, flanking. When the cavalry fought, the seldom dismounted. The reasons were the individual missions of the designated units.

The Confederate cavalry had taken the most of the quicker, lighter quarter horses and saddle horses. About all that was left for the Orphans were draft horses, nags and mules. With these mounts, Pvt. Winter joined the formation at Chickamauga and rode with General, former Vice President of the United States, John C. Breckinridge in a series of futile mounted charges against Union forces.

On November 25 of 1863, he was present for the Battle of Missionary Ridge, Tennessee and was then promoted to the rank of 4th corporal. After the Atlanta Campaign in April of 1864 he was promoted to the rank of 2d corporal. The name Henry Winter appears on a roll of prisoners of war who voluntarily surrendered themselves in Washington, GA. On May 22, 1865 they took the oath of allegiance and were freed to return to their homes. He walked away from the military and the War in Washington, Georgia, at the age of 24, heading north. He walked until he reached his home in Moscow, near Clinton, KY. Upon returning home, he kept a promise by marrying a fallen comrade's widow, Mary, and taking his son to raise.

History does not reveal Mary Winter's, nor her son's, fate. He later married JoElla Kennedy and fathered four children. He became jailer in Hickman County and, in 1886, became Sheriff. On New Years Eve 1887, Henry Winter was mortally wounded by a petty criminal he was trying to arrest. He died on January 3, 1888 and buried in Oak Cemetery near Clinton.

Compiled by Wiley P. Winter

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Revised: Saturday, 05-Apr-97 12:14:17 PST

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Geoff Walden: enfield577 (at) live.com
Laura Cook
: lcook62 (at) hotmail.com

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