What happened after Ingram's death has fueled Holland's passion to commemorate his ancestor's life and service. His body wracked by dysentery, Ingram died in the camp hospital on Nov. Pleas from the camp commander for more food, more supplies, even a decent amount of firewood fell on deaf ears. Little or no food, inadequate shelter, barbaric medical care. Written accounts, from both Confederate and Union sources, paint a horrible picture of life at the camp. Holland's research revealed that his great-great-great-grandfather's fate after capture was a tragic one.Īfter being moved around several times, Ingram ended up at Point Lookout Prison Camp in Scotland, Md., on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Ingram's unit made it all the way to their objective, Cemetery Ridge, where the Confederates were overwhelmed by the Union's superior numbers.Ĭut off and unable to retreat, Ingram was captured.Īs already noted, four months later, he was dead. On the battle's final day, Lee ordered a frontal assault on the entrenched line of the Union forces. Ingram was in the North Carolina 18th Infantry Regiment, Company K. Judged by many historians to be the pivotal turning point of the Civil War, the battle raged for three days. Within weeks after enlistment, he was fighting in some of the most memorable battles of the Civil War - Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. When he headed north, he left behind his wife, Caroline, and three children under the age of 5. In 1862, he enlisted in the Confederate military and was assigned to Gen. Ingram was born in Iredell County in 1830. "It was when we were going through those notes that I first read about Pvt. "When my mom died, we discovered that she had left notes about her family history," Holland said. The marker honoring William Ingram in Gastonia's Hollywood Cemetery. Ironically, it was the death of his mother that spurred Holland's interest in his family's history and, in particular, the legacy of his great-great-great-grandfather. When that industry began to wane, he shifted gears and became an industrial curriculum developer and instructor for South Carolina, working to make sure workers had the skills necessary to staff new and developing industries. Recovery was slow and painful.Īfter returning to Gaston County with his wife Sandra and their young son, Holland earned a degree in mechanical engineering from UNC Charlotte and spent years designing machines for the still-flourishing textile industry. He spent the next six months of his life in a Philadelphia hospital. But his exit ticket came at a horrible cost. The wounds meant Holland's days on the front lines were over. "I was a machine gunner, in the northern part of the country near the demilitarized zone," Holland said. Holland came very close to being one of that number. The year that nearly 17,000 young Americans were killed in combat.
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