28th Infantry

Private William Thompson Blanton

Company H (the “Cleveland Regulators”), 28th Regiment N.C. Troops

William Thompson Blanton (born ca. 1840) resided in South Carolina, but his parents lived in Cleveland County and he enlisted in the “Cleveland Regulators” on August 22, 1861. Eight other Blantons were members of the same company, subsequently designated Company H, 28th Regiment N.C. Troops.

On May 28, 1862, Blanton was admitted to Chimborazo Hospital No. 4 at Richmond, diagnosed with “catarrh.” That condition usually refers to an inflammation of the mucous membranes usually associated with the common cold. In Blanton’s case it may have masked something more serious because he did not return to duty until June 19. Four days later he was readmitted to the same hospital, this time with the much more serious diagnosis of “diarrhea and typhoid fever.” He died one week later, June 30, 1862, after he “drank cold water to great excess.”

His father, also named William Blanton, filed a claim for back pay and bonuses in January 1863, which was settled in June 1864 for $65.40.

Image: Copy print of sixth-plate ambrotype in author’s possession.

Source Note:
Manarin et. al., North Carolina Troops 8:197; service record files of William T. Blanton, 28th Regiment N.C. Troops, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers from the State of North Carolina (M270), RG109, NA.