This obituary was submitted by Brian Hogan. Transcribed from its original source by Ryan Dupree.
DEATH OF COLONEL HINDS
Funeral of Former Senator of Alabama and Veteran of Civil War Held To-day
Colonel Jerome J. Hinds, a former State Senator of Alabama, and a veteran of the Civil War, died Wednesday at his home, 1814 Park ave. The funeral was held this afternoon from an undertaking establishment, at 1633 North 11th st. The body was cremated and the ashes sent to Decatur, Ala. For burial.
Colonel Hinds was seventy-four years old. He was a member of a distinguished Southern family of Huguenot descent which settled in North Carolina, during the early part of the seventeenth century. His ancestors on both sides of the family took a prominent part in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
Colonel Hinds remained loyal to the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War. He enlisted as a private in Hall’s Company of Shelbyville, Ill. Volunteers on April 18, 1861, and a year later was mustered into the United States volunteer service as a sergeant of Company R Fourteenth Illinois Infantry. He was wounded many times in battle and finally relieved from duty because of injury in 1863.
Later he aided in recruiting the First Regiment Alabama Cavalry, Union volunteers, of which he was made second lieutenant, and still later personally organized Company A of the Alabama Regiment, a volunteer organization, of which he was made captain. On November 16, 1864, he was placed in command of the advance guard of the army of the Tennessee.
At the time of the final terms of surrender were agreed upon by General Sherman, of the Union army, and General Johnson, of the Confederates, Colonel Hinds was in command of General Sherman’s escort. At the close of the war he was mustered out of service with the rank of colonel.
At the close of hostilities, Colonel Hinds returned to Decatur, Ala. Where he had business interests. He became a general contractor for the government in the transportation of mails in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. A few years later he organized a company for the transportation of passengers and mail by stage from the Mississippi river west to the Pacific coast. When the railroads took over this business in 1886 the Colonel took up government work on rivers and harbors, the last work being done on the Delaware river.
Colonel Hinds was a Republican delegate to national conventions from 1868 to 1888. He was elected to the Alabama State Senate in 1868 and declined a second nomination. In 1869 he was nominated to fill an unexpired term in Congress, but failed of election. He came to Philadelphia about fifteen years ago. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War he was made colonel of a Philadelphia regiment, but did no see active service.
Colonel Hinds is survived by a brother, who lives in Illinois.
Service records compiled by Glenda Todd and used with her permission. This and other information about the history of the First and the men who fought with the unit
can be found in her book, First Alabama Cavalry, USA: Homage to Patriotism.