A member of the 1st regiment of the H Company from the state of Massachusetts, Henry A. Jordan left behind his family and friends in Franklin to defend our country. Before the war he lived with his father and two sons on a farm in Franklin. His brothers Albert and Samuel also took part in the war.  Being one of the furthest states from the actual battlefields of the war it is heroic that Henry risked his life for our country. Through his travels he was a part of the unions “Anaconda Plan.”  Being in the war for three years with two different regiments Henry took part in two pieces of the plan.  Not only was he used in blockading the exports leaving South Carolina he also was involved in attacking the confederates greatest general at the capital, the second part of the plan.  A hero is someone who takes risks for the greater cause. This proves Henry A. Jordan as being a hero, not because he was the best general in the war, but because he was an individual who left his safe lifestyle in Franklin, Massachusetts to the hardships of defending our country in war. 

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            Henry A. Jordan was the son of Franklin native Alfred Jordan. The Jordan family owned a farm in Franklin and lived a comfortable life. Although the reasons for enter the war could not be found, Henry along with others in the Massachusetts volunteers were just going off to protect their country.  Although never actually serving in the same regiment Henry’s two brothers, Albert and Samuel also took part in defending our nation. 

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            Henry started off in the 1st Regiment Massachusetts’s cavalry and was a part of several important battles in the civil war. The regiment he was in joined with Pleasanton’s cavalry to form the Army of the Potomac. The first of his travels took him to different training factions where he learned how to fight. The first major battle that this regular man from Franklin took place in was the Battle of Secessionville. This is the first Federal attempt to take Charleston. The battle was fought in June of 1862 and was Henry’s first true taste of the long road he had in front of him. The idea of the attack was part of the Anaconda Plan.  The plan was to shut off exports for the confederacy and South Carolina was one of the biggest exporters of cotton during the time.  The reason the wanted to stop the exporting of goods was so the south would stop profiting from the cotton.  With out the money from the cotton coming in the south was short money and resources to win the war. Although the plan was a good one it did not work this time. If it had worked and the union forced the confederacy out of Charleston the war might have ended two years earlier. This was not the out come, one-hundred-seven Federals died to only fifty-two Confederate deaths. The first taste Henry Jordan had of the glorious war was defeat. 

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            On September 14, Henry Jordan took part in one of the biggest battles of the civil war.  The battle of Antietam is now referred to as the “bloodiest day of the Civil War.”  Luckily Henry escaped the battle with his life, that is more then most men could say.  Jordan now a year into his enlistment was no longer the same man who had left Franklin. The battle ended with 11,172 Confederates either dead, wounded or missing with 12,410 of the Union soldiers dead, wounded or missing. Although the numbers were against the union this was a victory for them.  The Union out numbered the Confederacy nearly two to one. Thus meaning a higher percentage of the men from the Confederacy dead rather then the percent of the Union.  With over a total of twenty-three thousand deaths, injuries or captives Henry Jordan was not one of those numbers. This small town farm boy was lasting in the biggest war the nation had ever seen. 

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      Jordan then was moved to the 3rd Regiment where he was ordered to go on to New Orleans.  This is another part of the Anaconda plan because he was sent down the Mississippi River where he along with the Calvary divided the confederation in hopes to concur it. Shortly after several small battles in New Orleans and along the south Henry A Jordan returned home. 

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      After returning back to Franklin a completely new man, having seen and experienced war first hand and surviving the “Bloodiest Day in the Civil War” he settled down.  He settled down on a farm with his wife, a Foxboro born woman named Josephine. The settled down and lived in a nation that he just came home from defending.