Hello Cliff,

I agree with Mr. Pitts suggestion. Henderson Sutphin served in the 54th Virginia Infantry, true enough. The 54th Virginia was among a hand-full of Virginia Units that served with the Army of Tennessee. Prisoner of war records [National Archives microfilm roll: M598_131]indicate that Henderson and his brother, Lafayette Sutphin were captured on May 20, 1864 at Cassville, Georgia about 50 miles northwest of Atlanta. They were sent via Nashville, Tennessee and Louisville, Kentucky to Rock Island Prison, Illinois by May 25th. A notation by their names states: "Enlisted USA for frontier service Oct 14th 64"

Records indicate that the brothers joined Company C, 3rd United States Volunteer Infantry.

This unit's service in brief:
Organized at Rock Island, Ill., October, 1864.
Ordered to Dept. of Missouri, arriving at Fort Kearney, Neb., April 9, 1865, and assigned to duty in the District of Nebraska and Colorado.
Stationed by Companies. "A" and "B" at Fort Kearney, "E" and "F" at Fort Rankin, "G" and "H" at Julesburg Junction, Colo., and "C" and "D" at Cottonwood protecting overland mail routes from Indian attacks.
Skirmish at Elm Creek May 20, 1865.
Mustered out November 29, 1865.

Confederates who were recruited from prison camps and joined the U. S. Army were known as "Galvanized Yankees". When steel is coated with a thin layer of zinc, it becomes galvanized. Likewise, when Confederate soldiers were coated with a thin coat of "blue", they became galvanized. By 1864 horror stories about Civil War prison mortality rates were abundant. The Sutphin brothers chose survival.

Harrison Sutphin was a resident of Floyd County, Virginia where the Civil War was not altogether popular to say the least. Postwar, he lived in Montgomery County and Pulaski County. It appears that Lafayette chose to stay in the West and lived in Nebraska. Both brothers have U.S. pension files as do their widows, Sophie C. Sutphin (Harrison) and Terissa B. Sutphin (Lafayette).

The late Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,wrote an excellent history called "The Galvanized Yankees".