Monday, November 24, 2014

Lieutenant Hopkins Hardin.

Push to enlarge.
Hopkins Hardin. 

Birth: Sep. 19, 1838, Albemarle County, Virginia.
Death: Feb. 13, 1926, Higginsville, Lafayette County, Missouri.

Wife's; Elizabeth S Thomas Hardin (1841 - 1873), Susan Lavina Westmoreland Hardin (1849 - 1918).

Children: Sarah Elizabeth Hardin (1872 - 1944). Infant Son Hardin (1873 - 1873). Amanda Ardelia Hardin Palmer (1875 - 1968). John Hopkins Hardin (1877 - 1972). William Henry Hardin (1878 - 1967). Mary L Hardin Hilliard (1884 - 1969). Martha T Hardin (1887 - 1955).

Burial: Woodlawn Cemetery, Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.

Lieutenant Hopkins Hardin.

Hopkins Hardin was a Confederate soldier and served in the 19th Virginia, Pickett's Division. He was lieutenant of Company C. Lieutenant Hardin entered the Army in April, 1861, at the age of 23, enlisting at Scottville, Albemarle County, Virginia. He fought in all the principal battles and skirmishes of his division, taking part in such actions as those at Bull Run, first and second battles, Williamsburg, Fredericksburg, Boonsborough, and, last of all, he was in that great decisive battle which determined the fate of the Southern Confederacy, the battle of Gettysburg.

In this battle he was wounded three times. He had been wounded previously at both Fredericksburg and Boonsborough. There was no question as to his bravery, his ardor, his enthusiasm in battle. Young Hardin was a typical Virginia soldier.

At Gettysburg he was unfortunately captured, after an active service of over three years. From that time until his release at Ft Delaware in June, 1865, nearly two years, he suffered the hard ships of a prisoner of war. Some of his privations and sufferings were unusual. He saw the inside of the Federal prisons at Ft. Mc Henry, Point Lookout, Ft. Delaware, Morris Island, and Ft, Pulaski. At the latter place the prisoners were fed on bread and pickles for forty-nine days in retaliation for the treatment of Federal prisonerg at Andersonville. Many died and few were able to walk at the end of the time. Lieutenant Hardin was one of the 600 Rebel prisoners who were placed outside the Federal breastworks at^ Morris Island, where for weeks they were exposed to the shot and shell of their friends who were bombarding the place.

Lieutenant Hardin's life was saved once by a note-book. It arrested the flight of a Minie ball speeding straight for his heart. A jagged hole was torn through a number of the leaves. The bullet stopped when it reached an old yellow paper, which it cracked in four parts without penetrating. The yellow paper was a document authorizing Hopkins Hardin to exhort in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Lieutenant Hardin has long been a resident of Missouri, and he has been a successful farmer and business man. He resides with his family in Independence, Mo.

No comments: