26 year old Sergeant Henry W Fullenwider of Company K, 23rd North Carolina Infantry was wounded in the thigh and side at Sharpsburg in September 1862 and was a prisoner in US Army hospitals on the field and in Frederick, MD, and at Fort McHenry in Baltimore before being exchanged to return to his unit in November 1862.
Soon after, in January 1863, his captain wrote Colonel Christie formally requesting Fullenwider be commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant for his bravery in battles to that date (touch the image at the top to see the whole document).
Colonel Christie concurred with Captain Johnston’s recommendation, and in June 1863 Henry was appointed brevet 2nd Lieutenant of Company E of the 23rd North Carolina by the Secretary of War.
He served in that role for about a year until he was mortally wounded by a gunshot to his head at Winchester, VA in July 1864. His case in the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion describes the events:
Notes
My transcription of that letter:
Camp 23d Regt N.C. Troops
Near Fredericksburg, Va.
Jan 3d 1863
Coln
I have the honor to recommend that Sergeant Henry W. Fullenwider of Company K, 23d Regt N.C. troops be promoted to Bvt 2nd Lt for gallantry on the field of battle. Under the act of congress entitled “An act to further provide for public defence”
Sec 10th of the above act empowers the president to promoted officers & privates who may have distinguished themselves in the service by their valor or skill.
Sergeant Fullenwider was four times wounded in the action of “Seven Pines” before he left the field. He exhibited much coolness & fought gallantly while on the field.
He fought like a hero at Coal Harbor & Malvern Hill & at SOuth Mountain he displayed his usual gallantry. At Sharpsburg, none could have fought better, in which battle, he was twice wounded.
Very Respectfully,
Your Obt. Svnt.
Wm. H. Johnston
Capt Comg. Co. K. 23 N.C.
The Act Captain Johnston referred to was approved by the Confederate Congress on 16 April 1862, and is better known as the Conscription Act. It required that
All white men, residents of the Confederate States, between the ages of 18 and 35 years, [be] placed in the military service.
Those now in the armies continued in the service.
There were a number of other provisions in the Act, among which was Section 10, which states:
Be it further enacted, That all vacancies shall be filled by the President from the company, battalion, squadron, or regiment in which such vacancies shall occur, by promotion according to seniority, except in case of disability or other incompetency: Provided, however, That the President may, when in his opinion, it may be proper, fill such vacancy or vacancies by the promotion of any officer or officers, or private or privates from such company, battalion, squadron or regiment who shall have been distinguished in the service by exhibition of valor and skill; and that whenever a vacancy shall occur in the lowest grade of the commissioned officers of a company, said vacancy shall be filled by election: Provided, That all appointments made by the President shall be by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
Captain Johnston’s letter to his Colonel is at the National Archives in Letters Received by the Confederate Adjutant and Inspector General’s Office, NARA Publication M474, Record group 109. I found it on the fold3 subscription service.
The MSHWR excerpt is from Volume 2, Part 1, page 211 online from the National Library of Medicine, NIH.
You can find all of the acts of the Confederate Congress, including the subject act to further provide for the public defense, online from the University of North Carolina’s Documenting the American South.
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