PVT James Bourne

courtesy of Forgotten Sons

PVT James Bourne was born 20 Apr 1843 in the village of Hothfield in County Kent, England. He was the 6th of the 11 children of James Attaway and Martha (Gillette) Bourne. He immigrated with his mother and 7 siblings arriving aboard the Mediator in New York harbor on 19 Jan 1848. The family was soon living in Tazewell County, Virginia where father James was working as a laborer in 1850. In the 1860 census, recorded on 18 Jun 1860, father James reported that he was farming in eastern Tazewell county and that his farm was worth $1200 and his personal estate was $360. James undoubtedly farmed with his father.

Young James was only 18 when the American Civil War began in 1861 and we believe that he enlisted soon after although it is possible that he did not enlist until 1864, mustering with H Company 5th Virginia Infantry. He would then have been present for every engagement in which the regiment participated over the next 3-years. PVT Bourne was captured with many other soldiers of the 5th Virginia on 12 May 1864 at Spotsylvania Court House. Initially sent to the prisoner of war camp at Point Lookout, Maryland he was then sent to the camp at Elmira, New York. PVT Bourne died there of an inflammation of the lungs almost exactly 1-year after his capture. He was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery with other Confederate dead, now Woodlawn National Cemetery, by former slave John W. Jones who kept detailed records of all the burials.