Benjamin Crawford Brantley

In 1860, listed as Crawford, he was a 16 year old farm boy on his parents Simeon L and Sarah Ann (Daniel)'s place at Oak Ridge in Meriwether County, GA. He enlisted as a Private in Company B, 13th Georgia Infantry on 8 July 1861 at Griffin, GA, not quite 17 years old. He may have been discharged in December 1861 and reenlisted in May 1862.

He was wounded in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862.

He was furloughed from 19 September 1862 to 21 May 1863. He was wounded again, at Gettysburg, PA on 1 July 1863 and at Spotsylvania, VA on 12 May 1864. He was appointed Sergeant, date not given. He was wounded yet again, by a gunshot to his left forearm, and captured at Winchester, VA on 19 September 1864, and his left arm was amputated near the elbow at the US Army Depot Hospital in Winchester on 22 September. He was transferred to the USA General Hospital in West's Buildings, Baltimore, MD on 8 October and sent on to Hammond General Hospital at Point Lookout, MD on 22 November. He was exchanged there on 10 February 1865 and was admitted to a hospital in Richmond, VA on 14 February. He was sent to Camp Lee on 26 February 1865 with no later military record.

In 1870 and to at least 1880 he was farming with his father at Luthersville in Meriwether County. By 1900 and to at least 1910 he was an insurance agent in Atlanta. In 1920 and to at least 1930 he was retired and living with his oldest child, daughter Laura Valoria Murphy and her family in Moreland, Coweta County, GA.

His service from Henderson1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 online from fold3. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860-1930. He's often seen as Crawford or Croff Brantley, so probably went by his middle name. His gravesite is on Findagrave, as Benjamin Croft Brantley. His picture from a c.1865 photograph of unknown provenance shared online by Ken Brantley on his Brantley Association of America website.

He married Mary Forest Ector (1857-1932) in December 1874 and they had 10 children.

There's a lovely 1864 bird's-eye-view print of Hammond GH and the rest of the Point Lookout facility online from the US Library of Congress.

07/31/1844; Meriwether County, GA

02/17/1936; Moreland, GA; burial in Luthersville City Cemetery, Luthersville, GA