Sgt. Henry Murray

Henry Murray came to America from Ireland as a boy with his family during the great potato famine. He enlisted as a Pvt. in the Union Army in the summer of 1861 in Philadelphia, joining CO. E of the 7th Pennsylvania Reserves. His regiment was assigned to George Meade's Brigade and fought in the Peninsula Campaign of 1862, where (by then) Sgt. Murray was wounded at the battle of Glendale. He was sent to the Union Army Hospital at Annapolis to recuperate and didn't return to his unit until just before the battle of Fredericksburg. During that great battle, the PA Reserves made the only breakthrough (against Stonewall Jackson's corps in the area below the town), but had to withdraw due to lack of support. After participating in Burnside's infamous "Mud March" they were so depleted that the regiment was removed from the Army of the Potomac and sent up to man the Washington defenses. They remained there until the Spring of 1864 when they were called back into the Army of the Potomac to participate in Grant & Meade's new campaign against Lee. The entire regiment was surrounded and captured during the first day's fighting in the Battle of the Wilderness and sent to Andersonville Prison. Sgt. Murray spent about 3 months at Andersonville and was then sent to a new POW camp at Florence, SC. He remained there until exchanged in December, 1864. He was mustered out at in February of 1865, suffering from TB and various other ailments contracted during his imprisonment. Yet he lived until 1890 and bore several children.

Ed Churchill President of Billy & Johnny Tours - Great Grandson of Sgt. Henry Murray

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