Thursday, October 13, 2011

Charles A. Hale, 1845-1864



Charles A. Hale was the son of Sprague Taylor Hale and Nancy May Moulton.  He was my 1st cousin 5x removed.  (Sprague's brother Amos Spaulding Hale was my 4th great grandfather.) Charles' grandfather, Nathan Moulton, fought in the Revolutionary War.

During the Civil War, Charles volunteered for the 11th Vermont Infantry, the largest regiment that Vermont sent to the war. For a long time, the 11th had a relatively easy assignment, defending Washington.  That changed in 1864, after the terrible losses at the Battle of the Wilderness, when the regiment was ordered to reinforce the army of the Potomac and report for duty as infantry near Spotsylvania Court House. Charles survived the battles at Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg before he was captured at Weldon Railroad, Virginia.  In the affair at Weldon Railroad, on June 23, 1864, the regiment suffered the greatest loss suffered by any Vermont regiment: 9 killed, 31 wounded, and 261 captured (including Charles).

Charles was sent to Andersonville, the terrible POW prison in Georgia, where he died of scurvy on November 17, 1864.  He is buried at Andersonville, in grave 1206.

Charles' younger brother Franklin married, had three children and died in 1940. His younger sister, Nellie, attended Amherst after the war, married and had a daughter.

2 comments:

Leslie said...

wow, Andersonville. that's pretty amazing. thanks for finding this, elliott.

Britney said...

Hello,
My last name is Britton. I was hoping you would have some tips on finding out who my ancestors are. You seem to have a lot of neat information on here.