Henry Adkins was born on February 2, 1795, in Sussex, Virginia. His father, William, was 31 and his mother, Sussanna, was 29. He married Peggy Stewart on December 19, 1814, in Sussex, Virginia. Later, he married Margaret J. Stewart (Stuart). *** See marriage record on Margaret J. Stuart’s post. *** They had six children: Ava Ann, Benjamin T., James L., Nancy, William Henry, and Charles Howell.
Henry served in the military during the War of 1812, which claimed the lives of 15,000 American soldiers. He was only 17 years old and was a private in the first Regiment of Allen’s Virginia Militia.
His wife Margaret J Stewart passed away on December 3, 1849, in Tipton County, Tennessee, at the age of 59. They had been married 34 years. She was born July 6, 1790.
Henry Adkins died on April 4, 1860, in Tipton County, Tennessee, at the age of 65.
The Star Spangled Banner
The Battle of Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain in New York occurred on September 11, 1814. The American navy solidly defeated the British fleet. Then Baltimore’s Fort McHenry, on September 13, 1814, withstood twenty-five hours of bombing by the British Navy.
The morning following this last mentioned battle, the fort’s soldiers raised an enormous American flag. This sight inspired Francis Scott Key to write a poem that would later be set to music and would become known as “The Star-Spangled Banner”.