Henry Bethea

Son of prosperous merchant and landlord Philip Bethea, in 1860 he was a 20 year old clerk living with his parents and siblings at Port Gibson, Claiborne County, MS. He mustered as a Private in Company G, 16th Mississippi Infantry on 31 May 1861 in Corinth.

He was initially listed as missing in action at Sharpsburg, MD on 17 September 1862, but

The last seen of H Bethea was during the fight at Sharpsburg Sept 17/62. He was then pressing bravely forward. No doubt he was killed in that engagement.

His service and the quote above from his Compiled Military Service Records,1 online from fold3, as H. Bethea. His Sharpsburg status as missing also in a casualty list in the New Orleans Times-Picayune of 29 October 1862. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860.

His younger brother Richard Wharton Bethea (1845-1865) also enlisted in Company G in May 1861, at age 16, a musician, but was discharged for disability in November 1861.

c. 1840; Claiborne County, MS

09/17/1862; Sharpsburg, MD