In Memoriam: James Henry Wiggins, A Soldier Boy (1891-1921)

 A statue in downtown Bryson City memorializes those Swain Countians who lost their lives in World Wars (WW) I and II, in Korea, and in Vietnam. However, there is at least one WW I soldier missing from that statue; his name was James Henry Wiggins . His death in December 1921, three years after the signing of the Armistice, resulted from his service in the war but as he was not killed in action, he is not counted among the dead. And yet, Henry deserves to be remembered and honored as a casualty of that war all the same.

James Henry Wiggins (1891-1921)
Source: Oscar Eugene Queen

Named after his grandfather, James Henry Queen, Henry was born in 1891 and was the first surviving child of Sherrill and Laura (Queen) Wiggins. Upon his birth, he had at least seven living stepsiblings, children born to Sherrill with his first wife, Julette “Lettie” Hyatt. From his two marriages, Sherrill fathered at least 24 children, several of whom did not live past birth or childhood. In a 1979 interview with her great-nephew, Eugene Queen, Henry’s sister Sally reported that the family moved to Georges Branch (a remote tributary of Indian Creek) shortly after her birth in 1897, however, Sherrill and his first family were already living on Georges Branch as early as 1880. Therefore, it stands to reason that Henry was likely born in the same area in which he eventually came to be buried.

Modern map showing location of Georges Branch (red pin).
Source: Google Maps 

As with so many mountaineers who lived during times when records and pictures were scarce, little is known of his early life. He attended the first school on Indian Creek, an old log building that served as both church and school. The children had only log benches (no desks) and school was only in session for four months, from September through December. Henry and his siblings likely appreciated that school only ran for only four months per year, as their walk to school was three miles each way! The family strictly observed the Sabbath and attended church regularly. With such a large family there was no shortage of work around the home and farm and the children worked hard alongside their parents to ensure that everyone was fed, clothed, and kept warm in winter. Leisure time was fleeting, but one thing the family enjoyed together was music - Henry could play the Jew’s harp (otherwise known as the Jaw harp) and was said to be a good buck dancer. However, his family shared that, like his mother, he suffered from a chronic cough throughout his life; his pulmonary compromise would later come to play a sad role in his untimely death.

Home of Sherrill and Laura Wiggins Family (and Henry); Georges Branch
Source: Open Parks Network

In 1910 Henry could be found still living on Georges Branch with his family, but by the time the draft came around in 1917, Henry was working on Noland Creek as a fireman at a sawmill owned by James Gore King McClure. This sawmill was almost certainly the one that sat in the flats down below what later became known as the Irving Kip (I.K.) Stearns place, near the road to the Lower Noland Cemetery. Several members of the extended Queen and Wiggins family lived in the Noland Creek area and it’s likely that he lived with one of them.

An old drum near the site of the McClure sawmill on Noland Creek.
October 2023, Photo by the author.

The draft came knocking at Swain County’s doors, and Henry was not to be spared. He registered for the draft on June 5^th, 1917, and by October 3^rd he was on his way to training at Camp Sevier, South Carolina. He was given the rank of private and was assigned to the Supply Company of the 119^th Infantry Regiment, 30^th Division – also known as the “Old Hickory” Division, primarily consisting of soldiers from North Carolina and Tennessee. Camp Sevier was set up to train these soldiers for service on the Western Front, even having trenches to mimic the conditions these young men were expected to face. After an extensive training period, he set sail from New York aboard the British ocean liner Ascania on May 11^th, 1918, bound for Europe.

Three WW1 soldiers, one of which (not known) is Henry Wiggins
Source: Sallie (Wiggins) Styles, sister (via Eugene Queen)

On May 27^th, the Ascania docked at Liverpool, England and by May 29^th, the regiment had arrived in Calais, France. The men trained side-by-side with British soldiers for several weeks before commencing a lengthy march to Belgium. By July 4^th, they were able to hear the guns at Flanders. After a series of relentless engagements during July, August, and September in the Ypres-Lys sector in Belgium during the Hundred Days Offensive, the Division was deployed to northeastern France and the Hindenburg Line. The line was the most fortified German defensive system of the war on the Western Front, and the Germans’ last line of defense. It had deep zones of barbed wire, concrete machine-gun bunkers, and fortified trenches designed to inflict maximum casualties. One of its most heavily fortified locations was the St. Quentin Canal and in particular the Bellicourt Tunnel through which the Canal flowed; crossing it was considered a perilous undertaking, sure to result in many casualties. However, on September 29^th, after over two days of near-continuous bombardment of the German fortifications across the canal, over 500,000 Allied soldiers engaged 400,00 to 500,00 German soldiers in one of the most consequential battles of the 20^th century. Excellent descriptions of the battle may be found online and therefore I will leave that aspect of this story to the experts. The Allies ultimately prevailed, breaking the line and thereby hastening the end of the war. Two hundred forty-one North Carolina soldiers died on that day including Henry’s fellow Swain Countians, Andy Styles of Wesser and William Berry Stephenson of Judson.

Aerial shot of the Hindenburg Line where the Battle of St. Quentin Canal was fought.
Source: The Hindenburg Line – Old Front Line

US soldiers en route to the Hindenburg Line
Source: Breaking the Hindenburg Line: The capture of St Quentin Canal - The History Press

After that fateful day and a few weeks of fighting thereafter, the Armistice was signed on November 11^th, 1918, bringing an official close to the war. This day is now observed annually as Veterans’ Day in the United States. Afterward, the 119^th Regiment stayed in Europe to rest and train for a period of time before departing for the US. They landed in Charleston, South Carolina on April 2^nd, 1919, and were then moved by rail to Camp Jackson, South Carolina. They were demobilized between April 6^th and 10^th.

Swain Countian Andy Styles, killed in action at the Battle of St. Quentin Canal
Source: Ancestry user Christopher Styles

One can only imagine how much Henry must have wanted to be home with his loved ones, however, it’s unclear whether or not he was able to go home immediately. During his service he had been the victim of a mustard gas attack which damaged his already-weakened lungs. This rendered him far more susceptible to tuberculosis (TB), a scourge of WW I soldiers. The combination of constant battles in damp trenches, highly crowded living conditions, and malnutrition helped to provide an ample breeding ground for the disease. Approximately 15,000 US soldiers returned from the war with TB and unfortunately, Henry was among them.

Proactively recognizing the need for a hospital specifically for soldiers returning with TB, the US War Department commissioned the building of U.S.A. General Hospital 19 (also known at the time as Azalea Hospital) near Asheville, North Carolina. We now know the hospital complex, minus some of the original sections/wards, as the Veterans Administration Hospital in Oteen. The 350-acre campus housed 46 TB wards to treat these soldiers. Antibiotics had not yet been discovered and as such, fresh air, sunshine, and plenty of bed rest was the prescribed treatment for the disease. The hospital swiftly became the top treatment center in the US for respiratory disease in soldiers and veterans. As he returned from Europe with TB, it seems likely that Henry was first sent to this hospital in order to stabilize his disease before returning home to his family. Unlike other TB-afflicted veterans who died not long after returning, Henry was able to go home, at least for a time. He appears in the January 1920 census living back on the farm with his parents and brother Bob and farming. It must have been a bucolic time in his life after months of witnessing and experiencing the daily atrocities of the Western Front. Sadly, these happy times wouldn’t last for long.

Postcard of TB wards at USA General Hospital No. 19
Source: Asheville Archives: Construction begins on U.S.A. General Hospital No. 19 – Mountain Xpress

Soldiers and nurses on a sleeping porch at USA General Hospital No. 19 in Oteen
Source: Mrs. Walter L. Massie Collection of Jesse Morris Photographs

Henry appears to have re-entered the hospital in late December 1920 and was there for nearly a month. Over the next year, he bravely battled the TB that he had never managed to fully recover from. In late October 1921, he underwent surgery, possibly to collapse one of his lungs to allow it to rest and the lesions to heal. It was unsuccessful and the disease continued to progress, eventually invading his brain and leading to meningitis. Henry died in the hospital on December 17^th, 1921 – just about a week before Christmas.

TB Ward at USA General Hospital No. 19 (Christmas 1920),
as it would have appeared when Henry was admitted.
Source: Mrs. Walter L. Massie Collection of Jesse Morris Photographs 

Despite his parents having moved into the Almond area not long before his death, Henry was brought back to the cemetery on upper Indian Creek (known variously as the Queen, Laney, or Styles Cemetery) to be buried close to his old home. He lies there, buried with his sister, grandfather, uncle, aunt, cousins, and former neighbors and friends. His stately headstone is entitled “A Soldier Boy” and bears the words, “Gone but not forgotten. His toils are past. His work is done. He fought the fight. The victory won.”

Tombstone of Henry Wiggins, Upper Indian Creek Cemetery
(Known alternately as Queen, Laney, or Stiles Cemetery)
Photo by the author

Less than a year before his death, during a stay at the hospital and seemingly preparing for a return home, Henry sat down at a typewriter and wrote this poem. The original copy from which it is transcribed was discovered in his brother Bob’s Bible in 1981. It seems a fitting end to Henry’s chapter.

1-23-1921
USPHS Hosp. No. 60
Oteen, N. C.

O dear little flag in the window there
Hung with a tear and a woman’s prayer;
Child of Old Glory, born with a star
O, what a wonderful flag you are

Blue is your star in its field of white
Dipped in the red that was born of fight;
Born of the blood that our forebearers shed
To raise your mother the flag overhead

And now you’ve come in this frenzy day
To speak from a window to speak and say
I am the voice of a soldier son
Gone to be gone till the victory’s won

I am the flag of the service sir
The flag of his mother I speak for her
Who stands by my window and waits and fears
But hides from the others her unwept tears

I am the flag of the wives who wait
For the safe return of a marital mate
A mate gone forth where the war god thrives
To save from sacrifice other men’s wives

I am the flag of the sweethearts true
The often unthought of the sisters too
I am the flag of a mother’s son
And I won’t come down till the victory’s won.

(Wrote by Henry Wiggins on Sunday night after supper
When nothing else to do.  Goodby to all friends at Oteen.
Goodnight dear sweetheart.)

(Note from blog author: transcribed verbatim.)

Wishing all of you a blessed Memorial Day.

____________________________________________

Sources: 

Ancestry.com
Google Maps
“History 60^th 119^th Infantry, 60^th Brigade, 30^th Division: operations in Belgium and France, 1917-1919” by C.B. Conway and George A. Shuford. 1920; Wilmington Chamber of Commerce.
Mountainx.com article: “Asheville Archives: Construction begins on U.S.A. General Hospital No. 19” by Thomas Calder, October 23, 1918.
Mrs. Walter L. Massie Collection of Jesse Morris Photographs, UNC-Asheville
Oldfrontline.co.uk
OpenParksNetwork.com
Research and writing of Oscar Eugene Queen
Research and writing of Don Casada
Thehistorypress.co.uk

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