No verified photograph has been located.
His Union service jacket stands here as his archival portrait.
Archy’s Younger Brother
Egbert
Womack
Born about 1841
A Carter County son who entered the Union Army at twenty and served as a private in Company H of the 22nd Kentucky Infantry.
- Parents
- William and Jacintha / Jacyntha Kibbey Womack
- Brother
- Archer “Archy” Womack
- Army
- United States / Union
- Unit
- Company H, 22nd Kentucky Infantry
- Rank
- Private
From Carter County into war
A service record in five moments
In the Womack household
The Carter County census records Egbert, age nine, with parents William and Jacintha Womack and older brother Archy.
Enlisted at Grayson
At age twenty, Egbert enrolled for three years. His compiled record identifies him as a private in Captain Cook's company, later Company H, 22nd Kentucky Infantry.
A sick furlough and a long return
After a sick furlough from Piketon, transportation was cut off. He was arrested in Louisville, temporarily attached to the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry, and finally returned to his regiment at Memphis on December 20.
Acquitted by court-martial
The Army charged him with absence without leave. The record explains the interrupted journey and temporary cavalry duty; a general court-martial acquitted him.
Mustered out at Louisville
Egbert completed his service and was mustered out with his company at Louisville, Kentucky.
The papers themselves
Evidence from Egbert’s file
The human story inside the file
Why the Army called him absent
Egbert’s court-martial papers tell a more complicated story than a muster card alone. He received sick furlough near Piketon in March 1862. While attempting to return, his furlough expired and he was arrested at Louisville. With transportation to his regiment cut off, an officer attached him temporarily to a company of the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry. He returned to the 22nd Kentucky Infantry at Memphis on December 20, 1862.
“Tried for absence without leave. Acquitted by a general court martial.”
The court found the factual specification true but acquitted him of the charge—preserving both his absence and the circumstances that explained it.
One family, opposing armies
The Womack household divided
Egbert Womack
Company H, 22nd Kentucky Infantry
William Womack
Their father, 13th Kentucky Infantry
Archer “Archy” Womack
Company G, 15th Louisiana Infantry
Sources
Read the record
- 1850 U.S. census, Carter County, Kentucky, District 2, household of William and Jacintha Womack; Archy age eleven and Egbert age nine.
- Compiled military service record of Egbert Womack, Company H, 22nd Kentucky Infantry; National Archives Record Group 94, microfilm publication M397; digital images accessed through Fold3.
Egbert’s exact birth date, postwar household, death date, burial place, and a verified portrait remain open research questions.