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J.N. Henderson
(1843 - 1907)
Home State: Texas
Education: Baylor University
Branch of Service: Infantry
Unit: 5th Texas Infantry
Before Sharpsburg
He went to Washington County,Texas with his family in 1846. In 1860 he was a 17 year old living with his parents, 6 siblings, and 25 slaves on their plantation at Washington, TX. He was a student at Baylor University from 1858 until he enlisted, along with many of his classmates, on 19 July 1861 and mustered as a Private in Company E, 5th Texas Infantry. He may have been appointed 3rd Corporal about June 1862, but was again on the roll as a Private by August.
On the Campaign
He was wounded by a gunshot to his left arm in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862 and captured there.
The rest of the War
He lost his arm to amputation above the elbow and was paroled at Sharpsburg on 30 September. He was in Richmond, VA by 9 November (for pay), was admitted to a hospital in Richmond, VA on 13 November 1862, and was furloughed home to Texas the next day. He was deemed disabled for further duty and did not return to his regiment.
He was appointed Captain and Aide-de-camp to his old Colonel, then Brigadier General J.B. Robertson, at Bonham, TX in October 1864.
After the War
He returned to Baylor and studied the law, passed the bar in 1867, and began a practice in Millican, Brazos County, TX. He was elected District Attorney for Bryan, TX in 1874 and State Senator in 1880. He was appointed interim district judge in 1888 and elected to the post in 1890. He was appointed associate justice of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin, TX in 1894 and was reelected in 1900 and 1906.
References & notes
His service from Polley1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 online from fold3. Personal details from family genealogists, the US Census of 1860, 1880, & 1900, and a bio sketch in the Handbook of Texas. His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture from a photograph online from the Tennessee Virtual Archive. Thanks also to Greyson Beardsley for sending a copy. See additional photos of him over on the blog.
He married Hester Hubert (1848-1870) in 1868 and they had a daughter Hester. He married again, Katherine Helena "Kate" Evans (1854-1919) and they had 3 children between 1876 and 1887.
Birth
02/26/1843; Abbeville District, SC
Death
12/22/1907; Dallas, TX; burial in Oakland Cemetery, Dallas, TX
1 Polley, Joseph Benjamin, Hood's Texas Brigade, New York: The Neale Publishing Company, 1910, pp. 338-339 [AotW citation 2526]
2 US War Department, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, Record Group No. 109 (War Department Collection of Confederate Records), Washington DC: US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), 1903-1927 [AotW citation 33696]