Benson, Berry, 1843-1923

Berry Greenwood Benson (1843-1923), sergeant, Company H, 1st South Carolina Volunteers, Confederate Army; born in Hamburg, South Carolina.

From the description of Berry Benson diaries, 1861-1865, 1910-1911. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 38477916

Berry Benson (1843-1923) of Hamburg, S.C., was a Confederate army soldier and author. During the Civil War, Benson was in the 1st South Carolina Regiment, taking part in the battles of Fredericksburg, Mechanicsville, Cold Harbor, Bull Run, Winchester, Antietam, Chancellorsville, and the Wilderness, and escaped from the federal prison at Elmira, N.Y., by digging a tunnel. After the war he lived at Augusta, Ga., where he was a teacher, cotton trader, author, and inventor of a remunerative bookkeeping technique. Benson's Civil War experiences were published in Berry Benson's Civil War Book: Memoirs of a Conferate Scout and Sharpshooter, edited by Susan Williams Benson (1962). The book primarily comprises Benson's diary, memoirs, letters, and the diary of his brother.

From the guide to the Berry Benson Papers, ., 1845; 1865-1922, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)