James J. Pinkard

An unmarried overseer in Minden, LA, he enlisted as Private in Company G, 8th Louisiana Infantry on 23 June 1861 at Camp Moore, LA.

He was wounded and captured in action on 17 September 1862 at Sharpsburg. His Lieutenant later wrote of the Company:

... we marched into Maryland, crossing the Potomac at Leesburg. Re-crossing at Williamsport we took Harper's Ferry on the 15th of September; and then crossing for the third time, we fought the destructive battle of Sharpsburg on the 17th. We carried only 18 men into this fight, many having been left behind on the forced march to reach this point in time, and when the wounded were borne from the field, only three of the company were left standing.

He was briefly treated at US Army General Hospital #5 in Frederick, MD on 10 and 11 October, then transferred to Fort McHenry in Baltimore. He was exchanged at Aiken's Landing, VA on 10 November 1862. He was absent recovering to August 1863, then detailed to a hospital in Danville, VA to at least August 1864. He was listed as a paroled prisoner who took the Amnesty Oath on 16 May 1865 at Richmond, VA.

Basic information from Booth1, who says he "died in Yankee Prison" - perhaps confusing him with John M. Pinkard of the same Company who died at Elmira, NY on 13 December 1864. The quote above from G.L.P. Wren in History of The Minden Blues in D.W. Harris' The History of Claiborne Parish, Louisiana (1886). Frederick details from the Patient List,2 as J.J. Pinchard.