Captain William A. Long (1828-1862)

Still thinking of soldiers who gave their lives: This picture was taken around 1860. On the left is my 2nd great-grandfather William Alfred Long. On the right is his brother James Hiram Long. William was a Captain in the Union Army during the Civil War. The Longs lived in Missouri at the time, a state much divided in loyalties. Seriously wounded in the Battle of Lone Jack in August of 1862, William was discovered among the dead and dying by a neighbor fighting on the Confederate side. The neighbor, James Henley, got a wagon and took the wounded Captain home, where the Henley family nursed William until he died. I had heard this story for years, but I suspected that my mom might have embellished it a bit. Turns out to be true. Even war can't completely extinguish the compassion found in the human heart.

The following article was published on August 25, 1911 in the Pleasant Hill Times, years after the event, so it's likely that the story had been passed down orally, or possibly it was documented in letters or journals. Whatever its original source, here it is:

DEATH OF CAPTAIN LONG

Among the civilians who voluntarily fought alongside Confederate troops in the battle was a group of brothers from Pleasant Hill, Missouri, a community approximately a dozen miles southeast of Lone Jack. James Henley, with ten other boys, raced to the scene of the fight, anxious to get a shot at the Yankees. A brother, Andrew Henley, was also involved in the fight as a recent recruit of Vard Cockrell.

Following the battle James Henley was surveying the carnage when he heard his name being called by a wounded Federal officer. The man was unrecognizable, with black smears of gunpowder and dried blood obscuring his face, but James knew the voice belonged to Captain William Long. Prior to the battle Long had been commander of the Federal garrison at Pleasant Hill, which was located at the old fairgrounds opposite the Henley family home. Long had befriended the family, despite their secessionist leanings.

The brothers decided to take the wounded officer into their own care.  When Long said he was too badly hurt to make the trip on horseback, Joseph Henley, the boys’ father, rode home and returned with a wagon.

While all of his three wounds were serious, the shot that had shattered Captain Long’s leg was most dangerous, and several days after the battle his leg was amputated. By that time Andrew Henley, also wounded in the leg at Lone Jack, had returned home. Long, hearing that the oldest son was recuperating in the next room, asked if it was possible to see him. When Andrew hobbled into the room and over to the bed Long took his friend’s hand and shook it heartily.

Captain William Long died soon after, still in the care of the Henley family, and was buried in the Pleasant Hill cemetery.