Henry J. Miller
On September 9, 1862, Henry Miller died of typhoid fever in a regimental camp hospital near Fort Ward, VA. He was twenty years old. Henry enrolled in the Army just five weeks before his death; he was in Company F of the 131st Pennsylvania Volunteers for only one month.
Henry had taught school for two years, and prior to that had worked as a farm laborer. His wages kept his small family afloat. Henry’s mother, Mary, had been abandoned by her husband when she was pregnant with Henry, so her son was her source of support in his teen years. Her application for a pension was eventually approved, and she received $8 a month in the late 1860s.
Henry joined the Army as the Second Manassas debacle for the Union was about to turn to the pursuit toward Antietam. During his brief experience in the unit, he and his fellow soldiers were attached to the defensive positions around Washington, D.C. They left Camp Curtin in Harrisburg on August 18. Drilling and more drilling in camp occupied the next two weeks. It was in this camp that Henry caught the disease that killed him. His death came early, as part of the first wave of sickness that soon became more widespread. Company A, for instance, suffered its first death from typhoid two months later.
In the week after Henry’s deaath, the 131st was sent to Antietam, but they arrived too late to fight in the battle. The regiment was part of the failed attacks on the Sunken Wall at Fredericksburg later that year.
In this video from 2013, Susan Cumbey, the director of the Fort Ward museum, offers a brief tour of the site.