Record #:

23450

Author(s):

Kammerer, Roger

Abstract:

James Berry and John Henry Whitehurst were born near Bethel in Pitt County on October 16, 1838. Their claim to fame revolves around their service in the Civil War. James Berry was in Missouri when the war broke out and quickly enlisted in the Confederate Army. Wounded and captured at Shiloh, James escaped captivity and re - enlisted in an Arkansas regiment. James was again captured at Tullahoma, TN in 1863 and held prisoner in Ohio until the end of the war. Returning to Pitt County after the war, he became a farmer and married Mary Elizabeth Manning in 1866. During the 1880s, James traveled across much of the United States. Mary died in 1894 and he married in Mary E. Whitehurst in 1897. At his death in 1928, James could count 12 children from both marriages.\r\nJohn Henry Whitehurst led a much simpler life than his twin brother. When the Civil War erupted, John was working for his future mother - in - law, Martha Carson, as a farm laborer. Enlisting in the 8th North Carolina, John was captured at Cold Harbor in 1864 and remained a prisoner until the end of the war. After the war, John returned home to farm in Carolina Township where he served as a Justice of the Peace. He married Zilphia Ann Carson and the couple had 10 children. John Henry died in 1919. The Whitehurst twins, who attended numerous Confederate reunions in Greenville, are believed to be the oldest surviving set of twins, Union or Confederate, who fought in the Civil War.\r\n

Source:

Greenville Times / Pitt's Past (NC Microforms), Vol. Issue , May 12-25 2004, p6

Subject(s):

Confederate veterans