Eaton Rapids GAR Post 111 Namesake, James B. Brainerd
James B. Brainerd, Post 111 Namesake
James B. Brainerd enlisted on June 19, 1861 and was mustered on August 20, 1861 as 1st Sergeant in Company H, 6th Michigan Infantry (later Heavy Artillery), for 3 years at Eaton Rapids, Michigan. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on September 1, 1862. He died as the result of typhoid pneumonia on June 3, 1864 at New Orleans, Louisiana,
James B. Brainerd enlisted on June 19, 1861 and was mustered on August 20, 1861 as 1st Sergeant in Company H, 6th Michigan Infantry (later Heavy Artillery), for 3 years at Eaton Rapids, Michigan. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on September 1, 1862. He died as the result of typhoid pneumonia on June 3, 1864 at New Orleans, Louisiana, aged 23 years, 8 months, and 6 days, leaving no widow and no children.
War History - James B. Brainerd was elected to the office of Orderly Sergeant of Company H, upon its organization at Charlotte. He kept with the regiment and was engaged in 17 battles and skirmishes as follows at Sewell’s Point, Va, March 5, 1862, Fort Jackson, La, April 25th, 1862; New Orleans May 2nd, 1862; Vicksburg, Miss, May 20th, 1862; Grand Gulf, Miss, May 27th, 1862; Amite River, Miss, June 20th, 1862;
Baton Rouge, La, Aug 5th to 17th, 1862; Bayou Teche, La, Jan 14th, 1863; Ponchatoula, May 16th, 1863; Port Hudson, La, May 23rd to July 8th 1863 after which he remained at Port Hudson until the Veterans returned and went to New Orleans. He was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant at Baton Rouge or near there for meritorious conduct in the field. His friends were the regiment, He died of pneumonia in the care of the Sisters of Charity whom may God bless everywhere.
General Order #3” Memorial Resolutions
Head Quarters, Sixth Regiment, Michigan Heavy Artillery, Morganiza, June 10, 1864
The death of 2nd Lt. James B. Brainerd of Co. H must be fittingly recorded. In the morning of life and amidst the bright sunlight of hope he has left us. He died far from his native country, but in house of devout Sisters of Charity, who, though of a faith and a nation different than our own, did all for him that his nearest kindred could have done. He had often been spared by the bullet and the shell where death seemed almost certain; in the deadly breach of the Port Hudson Citadel; on the Slaughter Field and when his company brought off the abandoned Massachusetts Common, in the face of the charging foe at Baton Rouge; his time had not come. He never shrank from danger, never murmured from hardship or toil. He was ever among the foremost in every peril and the most willing in every duty. He had no enmity in him and there was none against him. He lived a long life in a short time. He had won the confidence of every man of his regiment. All knew his courage and his energy; and the honest straightforwardness of his nature. Had he lived three score glorious years in the sins and miseries of getting rich, those years would soon have passed and would have been unworthy of comparison with his short life which was all for Honor. The whole regiment are mourners for him and will never forget to honor him. His kindred for generations may well boast of his name.
The forgoing resolutions were adopted by Post Morganiza, June 20, 1864.
By order of Col. E. Bacon, Comdg.