Benjamin Franklin as a “Doc”

On March 1, 1863, at age 36, my great-great-great-uncle, Benjamin Franklin Earney (Arney) enlisted in Burke County, North Carolina as a private in Company K, N.C. 35th Infantry Regiment. This company was known as the “Burke & Catawba Sampsons.” He mustered out alive on April 9, 1865 when he surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Va. When Franklin came home he came with the title “Doc.” In many documents found at the Burke County Court House Franklin is referenced as “Doc.” I have never found if he was used in any of the hospitals as an orderly or medic, or if such even existed at that time. It is also found that even with his name being listed as Earney, as was most of his immediate family, the cemetery in Longview, Burke County, is the “Arney Cemetery.”