Biography/History:

William Henry Bachman, son of William Henry and Elizabeth Towers Bachman, was born in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, on July 30, 1842. He joined the newly formed Calhoun Sharpshooters, Company F, Forty-second Regiment, Mississippi Infantry, Confederate States Army, on April 29, 1862. Bachman was wounded during the second battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia, on June 2, 1864, and at Weldon Railroad near Petersburg, Virginia, on August 18, 1864. He was captured at Hatcher’s Run near Petersburg on April 2, 1865. Bachman was sent to Point Lookout, Maryland, where he took an amnesty oath and was released on June 9, 1865.

After returning to Pontotoc County, Bachman married Jane E. Carr on December 11, 1865. The couple engaged in farming in Pontotoc County. The Bachmans had at least eight children: Paralee (b. December 15, 1866), William Henry Hugh (b. May 18, 1868), John Albert (b. March 20, 1870), Harriett Elizabeth (b. October 10, 1873), Charles A. (probably b. July 7, 1875), Wade Hampton (b. July 6, 1877), Joe Melton (b. August 16, 1880), and Margaret A. (b. November 22, 1885).

The Bachman family moved to Magnet Cove (now Magnet), Hot Spring County, Arkansas, in 1881. William Henry Bachman was elected justice of the peace around 1884, a position he held until his death. He was appointed postmaster of Magnet Cove on January 14, 1887. Bachman also wrote a local news column that appeared in the Malvern Times Journal (Hot Spring County, Arkansas). He died on December 21, 1912, and was interred in the family plot in Magnet Cove Cemetery.

Scope and Content:

This circa 1909 manuscript consists of a handwritten narrative and roll compiled by William Henry Bachman of Pontotoc County, Mississippi, and Hot Spring County, Arkansas. The narrative is ninety-four pages in length and contains Bachman’s recollections of his service in Company F, Forty-second Regiment, Mississippi Infantry, Confederate States Army.

Bachman begins the manuscript with the formation of his company at Tedford’s Gin, Calhoun County, Mississippi, on April 29, 1862. He traces the movements of his unit through Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Bachman comments on the situations that he and his comrades faced in battle and in day-to-day activities. Of particular interest are Bachman’s descriptions of skirmishes and battles that his company and regiment participated in as part of the Army of Northern Virginia and the Department of Richmond. The battles described include those of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the Wilderness in Virginia. He also discusses the reorganization of both the unit and the regiment after the battles of Gettysburg and the Wilderness. Bachman also relates an incident that occurred in Richmond, Virginia, in July 1862. Two members of his regiment temporarily detained Confederate president Jefferson Davis for failing to produce the proper identification papers. He previously recounted this incident in the December 1908 edition of the Confederate Veteran magazine. Bachman ends the narrative by quoting from the amnesty oath he took at Point Lookout, Maryland, on June 9, 1865, and describing his trip home to Pontotoc County, Mississippi. There are check marks throughout the narrative and penciled-in numbers next to the original page numbers. It is unclear what the check marks or the penciled-in numbers indicate.

1. Manuscript. ca. 1909. 1 folder.

   Box 1, folder 1

2. Roll. ca. 1909. 1 folder.

   Box 1, folder 2