John C. Helms

In 1860 he was a 24 year old farm worker on the Lenoir Chany place at Monroe in Union County, NC. He enlisted there on 28 February 1862 and mustered on 19 April as a Private in Company F, 48th North Carolina Infantry.

He was wounded by a gunshot to his scalp and skull in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862.

He was admitted to CS General Hospital #8 in Richmond, VA on 28 September with aphasia (inability to speak or understand speech) and was furloughed on 1 November. He returned to duty by about February 1863. He was detached for service in North Carolina on 5 January 1865 but deserted on 24 March. He was in a Washington, DC prison by the 27th and took an oath of allegiance and was released there in about June 1865.

In 1870 he was back in Monroe, farming his own place, next door to the Chanys and near his brother Tobias. By 1880 and to at least 1900 he farmed at Morning Star in Mecklenburg County.

His service from his Compiled Service Records.1 Wound and hospital details from the MSHWR,2 as J.C. Helmes. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860-1900. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Rebecca Ann Williams (1835-1893) in October 1869 and they had 2 daughters.

12/30/1835; Union County, NC

12/25/1906; in NC; burial in New Hope Cemetery, Matthews, NC