William Bridges, Jr. was born on October 3, 1834, in the Maple Grove Community of Trigg County, Kentucky. He was the seventh child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges and was their only child who grew to adulthood, but did not have a family.
William's grandfather was Drury Bridges, who with his wife, Charity had come to Kentucky from Edgecombe County, North Carolina in 1804. His life prior to the Civil War was spent in the Maple Grove community helping his father on his farm. He was single.
William enlisted in the Confederate Army on July 1, 1861 at the age of 24, at Canton, Kentucky, along with 73 other men from Trigg County. The group marched to Camp Burnett, near Clarksville, Tennessee, where, on Nov. 14, 1861 he was inducted into Confederate service for a period of three years. The group was transferred to Bowling Green, Kentucky in December 1861, and assigned to Company G., Fourth Regiment, Kentucky Infantry. The Kentucky Infantry was later known as the “Orphan Brigade”.
The Confederate army abandoned Bowling Green in February 1862 and with the Kentucky Brigade, headed for Nashville. They encamped at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and in March were ordered to Corinth, Mississippi, via Huntsville and Decatur, Ala. On April 6-7, 1862, they participated in the Battle of Shiloh.
Thompson's 1868 history of the Kentucky Brigade states that William participated in the Battle of Shiloh, and Vicksburg, but it is assumed that shortly after Shiloh he was hospitalized with malaria. The Confederacy had taken over a resort hotel at Castillian Springs, near Durant, Miss., some 200 miles southwest of Corinth and after the Battle of Shiloh, the ailing and injured soldiers were shipped there by train. Some of the men died while still aboard the train and were buried at Durant. William and others in the Brigade died at the hotel that had been turned-into a hospital.
William's record, listed in the History of the Kentucky Brigade, says simply:
"Fought at Shiloh and Vicksburg, died of disease at Castillian Springs, Miss., Sept. 10, 1862."
Ordinarily, this death date would be accepted as accurate, especially since it is listed as such in Thompson's Brigade History. However, in Company G, along with William Bridges, was his cousin, Alfred C. Thomas, who in May 1862 wrote the following letter to Cullen T. Bridges, brother of William:
May 4, 1862
Corinth, Miss.
Mr. Cullen Bridges:
I take my pensil in hand to inform you that I am well at this time. I hope that when you get these few lines that they will fine you all in joying the same health. I received your letter. I find you all well.
I think that all is well that is alive. William Bridges is ded, he died in Castilian Springs & he was very sick the last time I sean him. I thought then he would die. And Bob Cohoon [another Trigg Countian in Co. G] he is ded. He died in town at Adlanter [Atlanta], Georgia. I and Bill Harrell was with him when he died. I have no more time to write.
Yours truly,
A. C. Thomas
The above letter, written by an eye-witness, so to speak, places William's death prior to May 4, 1862, the date he wrote it. April 22, 1862 has been accepted by the family as the date of death. Malaria is listed as the cause.
William is buried along with a number of his Orphan Brigade comrades, in an unmarked grave in Westley Church Cemetery in Castillian Springs, Mississippi. In 1989, a commemorative marker supplied by the Federal government, was placed there in his memory through efforts of members of the Thomas and Bridges families.
LINEAGE:
(William Bridges, Jr. was the son of William and Mary Thomas Bridges. William, Sr. was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges. Mary Thomas was the fifth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)
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