Pvt Henry Cole enlisted in Co. A, "Neil's Guards", of 30th Mississippi Regiment that was part of General Walthall's Brigade that defended Lookout Mountain. The Battle of Lookout Mountain was fought on 23 November 1863, when 1/3 of his brigade was captured while fighting around the base of Lookout Mountain.

Pvt Henry Cole was transferred to St. Louis and then to Rock Island Prison in Illinois. Rock Island had a death rate that winter that some say exceeded the death rate at Andersonville. Service Records show that Pvt Cole was released from prison and sent to Hospital No. 9 in Richmond Virginia in April 1865. In his Pension Application, he stated that he returned home the day(or so?) after General Lee's surrender.

Family history said Henry Cole ran away from home when the war begin as he was only 16 and too young to enlist. Company A was originally raised in his county he probably knew some soldiers in that unit. My belief is that he was able to locate the 30th Mississippi Regiment and worked for them as a contract wagon driver or mule skinner. Another soldier in this same company was Benjamin Tucker---also a native of Carroll County. Henry Cole would marry the widow of Pvt Benjamin Tucker and raise their 2 children.

Henry Asbury Cole