Henry Clay Trumbull was born in 1830 in Stonington, Connecticut. In 1851, while working with  the Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill Railroad, he had a religious conversion, and soon would become superintendent of a Sunday school. Henry was ordained a Congregational Minister in 1862, and very soon thereafter, accepted the position of chaplain of the 10th Connecticut Infantry. He traveled with the 10th Connecticut down to North Carolina for the remainder of 1862, and then to the South Carolina coast in 1863. Henry was captured by the Confederates on July 19th, 1863 at the Battle of Fort Wagner near Charleston, South Carolina. He was then held at several prisoner of war camps until Henry was exchanged on November 24th, 1863. He rejoined the 10th Connecticut and served as its chaplain for the remainder of the war, mustering out in August 1865.

During the Appomattox Campaign, Henry and the 10th Connecticut belonged to the Col. George Dandy’s 3rd Brigade, Brig. Gen. Robert Foster’s 1st Division, 24th Army Corps, Army of the James. They were heavily engaged during the Federal breakthrough at Petersburg and assault on Fort Gregg on April 2nd, 1865. At Fort Gregg alone, the 10th Connecticut suffered 10 men killed and 78 wounded. With the rest of Foster’s Division of the 24th Corps, Henry and the 10th Connecticut were tasked with blocking every route south that Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia could take to march down into North Carolina to join up with Gen. Joseph Johnston’s army. Successful accomplishing this task, Lee’s army was pushed further westward until the Army of the James was able to get in front of Lee. After marching over 35 miles in less than 20 hours, Henry and the 10th Connecticut were able to block Lee’s line of march and retreat, drawing the Confederates into battle on April 9th, 1865 near Appomattox Court House. Arriving in the nick of time to seal off the road and defeating the Confederate battle line directed to reopen the road, the victorious Connecticutians watched with the rest of the Army of the James as Lee and Grant arrived at Wilmer McLean’s residence to discuss surrender.

Shortly following the ceasing of hostilities, Henry recalled:

“The rebels paid a high tribute to the troops of the Twenty-fourth corps, saying they had never before encountered such an enemy, and that they should have finally escaped but for the Red Hearts [the red heart was the corps badge of Foster’s 1st Division of the 24th Corps]. ‘You’uns ain’t Army of the Potomac,’ they said again and again. ‘You Red Hearts’…. After the surrender, the rebels were all fed from the rations of the Twenty-fourth corps, no other corps supplying any portion of the large demand. As a consequence, our men were again half-starved and for the first time they had nothing but fresh meat, neither salt nor bread. Surely the corps that fought, flanked and fed Lee’s army is entitled to be marked with 3 F’s as an indication of its strength.”