Henry T. Blanchard
Henry T. Blanchard was born around 1839 in Rhode Island to Erastus and Elizabeth Blanchard. His father was a machinist and mill operator who owned $1,000 of real estate by 1850. The family moved to Vernon, Connecticut, in the 1840s, and Blanchard attended school there. They moved to Providence, Rhode Island, in the 1850s, and by 1860, Blanchard was working as a machinist.
He enlisted in the Union army on June 5, 1861, and he mustered in as a corporal in Company K of the 2nd Rhode Island later that day. The regiment took part in the First Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Seven Pines, the Seven Days’ Battles, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Battle of the Wilderness. He was promoted to sergeant on October 5, 1862. In March 1863, he expressed confidence that “L’t Gen. Grant will give Lee a hand full this spring…It does not seem that the war can last more than a year longer.” He was killed on May 6, 1864, in the Battle of the Wilderness.
DATABASE CONTENT
| (2079) | Blanchard, Henry T. | 1839 | 1864-05-06 |
- Conflict Side: Union
- Role: Soldier
- Rank in: Corporal
- Rank out: Sergeant
- Rank highest: Sergeant
- Gender: Male
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 2
People - Records: 1
- (2080) Blanchard, Erastus E. is the [parent of] (2079) Blanchard, Henry T.
Places - Records: 2
Regiments - Records: 1
- (360) [enlisted] [K] ~ 2nd Rhode Island Infantry
SOURCES
1850 and 1860 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, available from Ancestry.com; Henry T. Blanchard to Erastus Blanchard, 27 March 1863, DL1062, Nau Collection.
