May 24 

 

          On this day in 1864, Private Jeremiah Dodson (1818-1864) of the 14th North Carolina Infantry was severely wounded in the right shoulder while trying to repair defensive breastworks during a battle north of Hanover Junction, Virginia. A married yeoman farmer from Stokes County and father of six children, Dodson was conscripted into military service on September 11, 1863–part of the latest group of conscripts enlisted to replace losses in the Gettysburg campaign. Though the enrolling officer at Camp Holmes in Raleigh erroneously listed him as 30 years old, Dodson was actually 45. He survived the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, and found himself defending earthen fortifications north of Hanover Junction and south of the North Anna River. On the morning of May 24, General Winfield Scott Hancock’s corps of the Union Army of the Potomac crossed the North Anna River and attacked a Confederate position defended by William Cox’s brigade (to which the 14th North Carolina belonged). As light rain increased to a heavy downpour, the Union forces attacked. Some Confederate units counterattacked. During a lull in the fighting, Dodson and a detachment of soldiers hastily tried to strengthen the earthworks they defended. Dodson fell in the rain when a minié ball smashed into his right shoulder, likely splintering his scapula. He was transported to Jackson hospital in Richmond that same day. A few days after arriving in the hospital, Jackson contracted pneumonia, which wreaked havoc on his respiratory system in his weakened condition. He succumbed on June 11, 1864, another victim of the war, leaving behind a large family.

 

 

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Map of the Battle of North Anna. Dodson’s unit is circled on the right.

 

Sources: 

Weymouth T. Jordan, Jr., comp., North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster, 5:437; Jeremiah Dodson, Compiled Military Service Record; 1860 U.S. Census: Stokes County, NC