Whitehill, Henry Harrison

Private William Henry Harrison

NPS

Quick Facts

Significance:

Private - 78th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company E

Place of Death:

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Date of Death:

January 9, 1863

Place of Burial:

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Cemetery Name:

Stones River National Cemetery

Henry Harrison Whitehill lived in Clarion County, Pennsylvania at the time of his enlistment. He was mustered as a Private in Company E of the 78th Pennsylvania Infantry on October 12, 1861. Whitehill and his regiment found themselves fighting for their lives at Stones River in the deadly place that later became known as the Slaughter Pen.

Whitehill and the 78th Pennsylvania began marching toward Murfreesboro on December 26, 1862. It took them three days to make it to their destination, walking through mud, rain, and “almost everything else that would render the trip uncomfortable,” according to a letter written by Levi M. Boyer, Whitehill’s friend. They arrived at what is now the Battlefield of Stones River in the evening on December 29. 

While there were skirmishes all day on the 30th, none of Company E was hurt. When the battle began on December 31, Whitehill soon became part of the deadly fighting in the fields and forests north of the Wilkinson Pike. Boyer noted their “company was but a squad” and that Whitehill was missing. 

Boyer and his fellow soldiers arrived in town on January 5, where a nurse at the hospital told their Captain that Whitehill had made it there. The Captain went to see Whitehill, but returned without much hope that he would survive. Boyer frequently visited his friend until Whitehill died on January 9, 1863. Boyer was tasked with digging Whitehill’s grave, burying him in the Presbyterian schoolyard in Murfreesboro. Boyer wrote a letter to G.W. Whitehill, Henry’s older brother, describing his death and where he was buried. 

“We buried him as honorably and respectively as the time and place would admit. I must say that I loved him dearly. And to verify my respect towards him…Harrison was a good soldier. He well deserves the name of a hero. He was always ready to do his duty.”

Whitehill is now buried at Stones River National Cemetery in plot K-4384.