James Richard Ham

In 1860 he was an 18 year old day laborer living with his parents and 4 siblings on their small farm at Snow Hill, Greene County, NC. He enlisted there on 27 April 1861 and mustered the same day as a Private in Company A, 3rd North Carolina Infantry.

He was sent to a hospital in Frederick, MD by 12 September, left behind, and captured there.

He was in US Army General Hospital #1 in Frederick, MD to 19 September and afterward was a prisoner at Fort Delaware to 2 October, then sent to Aikens' Landing, VA for exchange. He was formally exchanged to return to duty on 10 November 1862. He was listed as home without leave in December 1862 but was back with his company by February 1863.

He was wounded by a gunshot to his hip in action at Gettysburg, PA on 2 July 1863 and "left in the hands of the enemy" there. He was treated on the field to 9 July, the Newton University Hospital in Baltimore to 18 July, a hospital in Chester, PA to 2 October, then sent to the Hammond General Hospital at Point Lookout, MD. He was paroled there for exchange on 3 March 1864, and was admitted to a hospital in Richmond, Va on 7 March. He was in a hospital at Kittrell Springs, NC by July 1864 and afterward home on furlough to at least October 1864, the latest record in his military file.

By 1880 and to at least 1920 he was a farmer at Snow Hill, NC.

His service from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3, indexed under James Hamm. He's also on the Confederates In Frederick List.2 Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860, 1880, and 1920. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Sarah Howell (1844-1903) and they had at least 9 children between 1867 and 1887. He married again, Sarah's niece Sarah Ann "Sallie" Howell (1863-1943) in January 1906.

03/02/1840; Greene County, NC

12/18/1925; Greene County, NC; burial in Benjamin Ham Cemetery, Snow Hill, NC