James Joseph Joyner, Jr., was 18 years old when he enlisted in the Confederate army, on June 23, 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War. He served in Company I, 3rd Regiment Virginia Infantry, at Smithfield, Virginia. His company was in Pryor's brigade, which served in the Peninsula Campaign at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Fraser's Farm, and also at Second Manassas, Harper's Ferry, and Sharpsburg. On April 11, 1863, Joyner transferred to the Confederate States Navy. In Charleston harbor he was stationed on the CSS Chicora, an ironclad "ram" that patrolled the harbor. James became friends with Joseph Ridgaway, the son of Capt. James A. Ridgaway of Talbot County, Maryland. Joseph F. Ridgaway was a quartermaster stationed on the CSS Indian Chief, and he was one of the volunteers chosen for the crew of the H. L. Hunley submarine, where he served as second in command. When the Hunley sank the USS Housatonic on February 17, 1864, the submarine did not return. James Joyner undertook to return Joseph's personal belongings to his father. After the war, he traveled to the Ridgaway family home in Talbot County on Maryland's Eastern Shore. There he fell in love with Joseph's sister, Mary Elizabeth and married her. James Joyner died suddenly of a heart attack, at age 46 on February 13, 1888, while at his place of employment, writing at his desk in Baltimore, Maryland. He was buried in the Ridgaway family graveyard in Talbot County, Maryland.
James Joseph Joyner, Jr., was 18 years old when he enlisted in the Confederate army, on June 23, 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War. He served in Company I, 3rd Regiment Virginia Infantry, at Smithfield, Virginia. His company was in Pryor's brigade, which served in the Peninsula Campaign at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Fraser's Farm, and also at Second Manassas, Harper's Ferry, and Sharpsburg. On April 11, 1863, Joyner transferred to the Confederate States Navy. In Charleston harbor he was stationed on the CSS Chicora, an ironclad "ram" that patrolled the harbor. James became friends with Joseph Ridgaway, the son of Capt. James A. Ridgaway of Talbot County, Maryland. Joseph F. Ridgaway was a quartermaster stationed on the CSS Indian Chief, and he was one of the volunteers chosen for the crew of the H. L. Hunley submarine, where he served as second in command. When the Hunley sank the USS Housatonic on February 17, 1864, the submarine did not return. James Joyner undertook to return Joseph's personal belongings to his father. After the war, he traveled to the Ridgaway family home in Talbot County on Maryland's Eastern Shore. There he fell in love with Joseph's sister, Mary Elizabeth and married her. James Joyner died suddenly of a heart attack, at age 46 on February 13, 1888, while at his place of employment, writing at his desk in Baltimore, Maryland. He was buried in the Ridgaway family graveyard in Talbot County, Maryland.
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