Location:
Lawson Gap Road
Aurora, Etowah County, Alabama
34.116535 -86.190254
Find A Grave Cemetery ID:1976894
Date of Visit: March 12, 2014
Memorial/Epitaph
Brothers Together
Again With Family
James W.
Humphrey
1836-24 Jan 1863
Pvt Co D 34 Ga Inf
John Humphrey
1838 - 3 Oct 1864
Co K 21 Ga Vol Inf
David Crockett
Humphrey
1841 - 7 Oct 1862
Co K 21 Ga Vol Inf
Andrew Jackson
Humphrey
1844 - 14 Dec 1865
Co K 21 Ga Vol Inf
Co F 1 Reg US Vol
The memorial is to four brothers. These men were the children of David and Martha Humphrey. In 1860 John, David, and Andrew were living with their parents in Chattooga County, Georgia. James, the oldest son, was living near Alpine Georgia across the state line in Cherokee County, Alabama. When war came brothers enlisted the Confederate Army. None would make it back home.
James enlisted in Company D of the 34th Georgia Infantry in 1862. This company raised was in Chattanooga County. James died June 24, 1863 in a hospital in Strawberry Plains, Tennessee. Surgeon Green reported that James died of chronic diarrhea with 62 dollars, a knife and a comb in his pockets. It is believed that he is buried at Strawberry Plains in an unmarked grave. Soldiers that died in hospitals were buried in the Strawberry Plains Cemetery and were later moved to the Confederate Cemetery in Knoxville.
- Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Alabama. Original data from: The National Archives, Entry for James W. Humphrey, 34th Georgia Infantry, Retrieved from at 3-Fold, August 9, 2025, (http://www.fold3.com).
- Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/89889797/james_w-humphrey: accessed August 9, 2025), memorial page for James W Humphrey (1836–24 Jan 1863), Find a Grave Memorial ID 89889797, citing Aurora Cemetery, Aurora, Etowah County, Alabama, USA; Maintained by: Find a Grave.
- "Jefferson County in the Civil War," Jefferson County, Tennessee Genealogy& History, The U.S. Genweb Project, https://jefferson.tngenealogy.net/about-jefferson-county/44-history/491-jefferson-county-in-the-civil-war
John enlisted in Company K of the 21st Georgia Infantry in Summerville, Georgia in March of 1862. John was furloughed home in the spring of 1863. Returning to Virginia he was admitted to a hospital at Camp Winder in Richmond in June of 1863. He remained in the hospital until at least October. John died in Christian's Factory hospital in Lynchburg on March 20, 1864. This was one 40 tobacco warehouses in this town that were converted to hospitals during the war. Its is thought that John was buried near the hospital.
- Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Alabama. Original data from: The National Archives, Entry for John Humphrey, 21st Georgia Infantry, Retrieved from at 3-Fold, August 12, 2025, (http://www.fold3.com).
- Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/89889905/john-humphrey: accessed August 12, 2025), memorial page for John Humphrey (1838–3 Oct 1864), Find a Grave Memorial ID 89889905, citing Aurora Cemetery, Aurora, Etowah County, Alabama, USA; Maintained by: Find a Grave.
- "Confederate Hospitals in Lynchburg," Old City Cemetery Museums and Arboretum, https://www.gravegarden.org/confederate-hospitals-in-lynchburg
David Crockett Humphrey's was the first brother to enlist. He joined Company K of the 21st Georgia in June of 1861. The musters in the winter of 1861 found David sick at various places. In February of 1862 he was back home in Summerville on sick leave. He returned to Virginia only to contract phthisis pulmonalis (tuberculosis) and died in General Hospital #2 in Lynchburg, Virginia. He was buried in the Confederate Cemetery in town. Later his body was sent home and buried at Alpine Church in Mentone. In 2015 his grave was marked with a metal funeral home marker. I did not find this marker in 2022.
- Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Alabama. Original data from: The National Archives, Entry for David Crockett Humphrey, 21st Georgia Infantry, Retrieved from at 3-Fold, August 12, 2025, (http://www.fold3.com).
- Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/125393763/david_crockett-humphrey: accessed August 12, 2025), memorial page for David Crockett Humphrey (1839–10 Jul 1862), Find a Grave Memorial ID 125393763, citing Alpine Community Church Cemetery, Menlo, Chattooga County, Georgia, USA; Maintained by Larry A. McCoy (contributor 47342488).
- Georgia. State Division of Confederate Pensions and Records, Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, 1861-1865, compiled by Lillian Henderson (Hapeville, GA: Longino & Porter, 1959-1964), 2: 931.
Andrew Jackson Humphries joined his brothers in Company K of the 21st Georgia 1861. In July of 1863 on the retreat from Gettysburg he was captured in Williamsport, Virginia. On July 12 he arrived at Fort Delaware as prisoner of war. On February 22, 1864 was released from prison and volunteered for service in the 1st Regiment of U.S. Volunteers. This regiment was composed of Confederate prisoner This regiment was sent west to campaign against the Sioux on the Dakota Frontier. On a march in Kansas from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Fletcher in November of 1865 Andrew deserted. There is no other record of him. The cenotaph has a date of death as December 14, 1865. This date is the date of death for Andrew Jackson Humphrey buried in Grave #2490 in Section 5 of the Fort Smith Arkansas National Cemetery. This Andrew Jackson Humphrey was from Missouri. So, I do not know what happened to Andrew from Chattooga County.
- Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Alabama. Original data from: The National Archives, Entry for Andrew Jackson Humphrey, 21st Georgia Infantry, Retrieved from at 3-Fold, August 12, 2025, (http://www.fold3.com).
- Compiled Service Records of Former Confederate Soldiers who Served in the 1st Through 6th U.S. Volunteer Infantry Regiments, 1864-1866, 1861-1865 (https://www.fold3.com/publication/45/us-civil-war-service-records-cmsr-union-former-confederate-csa-1861-1865 : accessed Sep 1, 2025), entry for A.J. Humphreys, 1st U.S. Volunteers.
- U.S., Civil War Prisoner of War Records, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Maryland: Point Lookout, Military Prison, v.. 374-375: Civilian passes, enlistment papers, hospital transfers, financial records, 1863-1865. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Entry for A.J. Humphrey, 21st Georgia Infantry, retrieved from Ancestry.com, 1 September 2025. (http://www.ancestry.com)
- Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/143190247/andrew_james-humphrey: accessed September 1, 2025), memorial page for Pvt Andrew James Humphrey (1833–14 Dec 1865), Find a Grave Memorial ID 143190247, citing Fort Smith National Cemetery, Fort Smith, Sebastian County, Arkansas, USA; Maintained by Karen Winters (contributor 48123293).
For more on the Galvanized Yankees of the 1st U.S. Volunteers see the Michele Butt's "Trading Gray for Blue: Ex-Confederates Hold the Upper Missouri for the Union," published by the National Archives in 1905.
