"Walter "Watt" M. Bryson, the son of prominent citizen William Bryson of Hendersonville, went to war with Henderson County troops when North Carolina seceded in May of 1861. Watt Bryson was a graduate of the SC Medical College in Charleston, and came home to Hendersonville in time to enlist on May 15, 1861 as a private in the "Henderson Rifles." With him went George Mills, a 17-year-old slave belonging to his father, to serve as his body servant.
Early in the war Walter Bryson was elected (following the custom of the time) by his fellow soldiers to serve as captain of their company, which by then had been designated Company G of the 35th NC Troops. The 35th NC Troops served as part of Ransom's Brigade in eastern North Carolina and Virginia, fighting in the battles of New Bern, Seven Pines and Malvern Hill.
During the Army of Northern Virginia's invasion of Maryland, Captain Bryson was killed by a Yankee sharpshooter at the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam), Maryland on September 17, 1862, at the age of 21. Following the battle George Mills recovered Watt's body and, using money in the possession of the captain at the time of his death, moved the remains from the battlefield to Fredericksburg, VA. There he purchased a cast iron casket and traveled with it by rail to Greeneville, TN, where he again acquired a wagon and returned the remains to the Bryson family in Hendersonville after an arduous journey, fulfilling his promise to the Bryson family.

Following his return to Henderson County, George Mills served in the Home Guard throughout the war, and eventually received a Confederate pension until his death in 1926. Mills was active in the local Confederate veterans' association and also attended at least three national reunions of the United Confederate Veterans, according to his daughter Mable Mills.
Walter M. Bryson's body was originally interred at the Methodist Church on the corner of Sixth Avenue West and Church Street, but was relocated to Oakdale Cemetery in 1923, still in the original cast iron coffin purchased in Fredericksburg so many years before. George Mills is buried across the highway in that same cemetery, his grave marked with a Confederate Cross of Honor and memorial plaque placed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1960. The two heroes of SCV Camp 70 have come to rest in the same cemetery, together in death as they were in life. Latitude: 35.319N Longitude: -82.475W (6th Avenue West - US64)
Researched by Michael Arrowood
Sources:
"Bushwhackers: The Civil War in North Carolina; The Mountains" by William R. Trotter, 1988
"From the Banks of the Oklawaha, Vol. 1" by Frank L. Fitzsimmons, 1976
"A Partial History of Henderson County" by James T. Fain, Jr., 1980

George Mills father was recorded on George's death certificate as Tom Mills and his mother as Mariah Bryant who was born at Mills Spring, Green River, Polk County NC.