JAMES M. BRIGGS, Company "C"

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Compiled by Linda Fluharty.

Service Record: July 16, 1865: "Entitled to be discharged. Prisoner of war since June 5, 1864." Joined for duty and enrolled at Wheeling Aug 9, 1862. (WV Adj. Gen. records states enrolled at Cameron.)

The soldier's status was unknown at the time of his discharge, and records of his company do not contain the fact that he died while a POW.

The mother of James M. Briggs was eventually informed by John W. Crow that her son had "died at Andersonville Prison, Georgia on Jan 20, 1865." - Crow stated he had seen his corpse. It seems Mrs. Briggs was initially told he died at the Confederate Prison at Florence, South Carolina, but John W. Crow, of the same company, was a Marshall County man and also a POW at Andersonville Prison. He stated he had known James Briggs for most of his life and was certain he had died at Andersonville.

James M. Briggs, born in Steubenville, Ohio, according to the WV AG records, was the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Gary) Briggs, residents of Marshall County at the time of the 1850 census. In addition to James, 19, other children in the home in 1850 were Jonah, Martha, Johnsey, Benjamin, Alfred and George.

While he was an enlisted soldier, James M. Briggs wrote a will, found in Will Book 1-A and filed for probate at the Marshall County Courthouse at the June session, 1865. He bequeathed his estate to his "beloved mother Mrs. Sarah Briggs" and ordained his "esteemed neighbor Hambleton [sic] Gosney the executor."

Mrs. Briggs applied for a government pension, at which time she stated her husband had abandoned the family in 1849 or 1851, and she was dependent on support from James. Affidavits from Marshall County residents, Eli Salter, John W. Crow and Noah Hadsall, supported her statements. Hadsall said he was a neighbor and knew the Briggs family well, and that James Briggs had worked for him after James Briggs' father, Benjamin, left the family for another woman.

Mrs. Sarah Briggs received a pension, certificate #133648, at which time she was living in Steubenville, Ohio.