Dates

• Existence: 1834 - 1914

Biographical Note

William Wallace Hensley (listed in some records as William Worley Hensley), son of Samuel C. and Nancy Lovell Hensley, was born in Marion County, Illinois on May 8, 1834. In 1854 he married Rachel Wilson, who died the following year. In 1856, Hensley moved to Macoupin County, Illinois, where he married Nancy A. Biggerstaff (1835-1916); the couple would have 10 children. Soon after, the family moved to Piatt County, Illinois, where William Hensley purchased from the Illinois Central Railroad Company 160 acres of land, which he farmed.

Hensley enlisted in Company C of the 21st Illinois Infantry on June 14, 1861. Initially a corporal in the regiment's color guard, Hensley had been promoted to sergeant by 1863. Captured at the Battle of Chickamauga, Hensley was confined at Richmond, Virginia. On November 1, 1863, he was moved to Danville, Virginia, then arrived at Andersonville Prison on April 21, 1864. Around September 1, 1864, Hensley was among 10,000 prisoners moved from Andersonville to Charleston, South Carolina, then to Florence Stockade the following month. In February 1865, Hensley escaped with a small group of fellow prisoners but was recaptured near Georgetown and returned to Florence Stockade. A short time later, he was exchanged at Wilmington, North Carolina. Having become ill in the interim, he was sent to St. John's College Hospital in Annapolis, Maryland, where he spent several months convalescing before returning to Illinois in July 1865. Upon his return, Hensley resumed farming but later worked in real estate and insurance. William Hensley died in Howard, Kansas on June 22, 1914.

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