ETCHED IN HISTORY: Names of brothers who died in Revolutionary War added to memorial in Halifax

Col. Greg Eanes discovered the names of two Halifax County brothers who died during the Revolutionary War.

Halifax County was still on the frontier in 1781. At that time, 21 citizens are known to have died while serving during the Revolutionary War.

John Thompson of Halifax County had four sons. Two of them, John and Henry, died during the war and they were honored with the unveiling of their names on the Halifax County War Memorial. This brings the total number of names on the memorial to 757.

Henry Thompson enlisted on Jan. 1, 1777, and was promoted to corporal in August of that year. He served in the 14th Virginia Regiment and saw combat at Brandywine and Germantown.

While at Valley Forge in December, he reported sick to the hospital. He never came out and died on Jan. 14, 1778.

Henry’s older brother, John Thompson, had enlisted in the Virginia Continental Line, was an ensign in October 1776 in the First Virginia Regiment, and was promoted to second lieutenant in December of 1776.

By February 1781, he was a captain and commanded a local militia company.

Upon crossing the Dan, Gen. Nathanael Greene sought militia companies for support and Capt. Thompson arrived and helped secure the crossing. His company was later at the Battle of Guilford Court House where it served on the American left flank of the second line of defense.

John Thompson was killed in action by a musket ball there on March 15, 1781.

“Henry and John Thompson’s names have been added to this War Memorial and they will be unveiled as they are honored by a gun salute,” Powell said.

Following Powell, the recognition of wreaths was performed by Jeff Meyers, secretary of the Dan River Chapter, VASSAR, with closing remarks provided by Carl Espy, Halifax town manager.

A musket salute by the Virginia Society SAR color guard concluded the program.