Gordon,

Here's an article from the Columbia County (GA) News Times. If you obtained his Compiled Military Service Record, from the link below, it would probably give details on his wounding, hospital stay, etc.

Jim Martin

Group will honor Hardy's father

By Valerie Rowell
Staff Writer

Oliver Norvell Hardy won't be the only member of his family celebrated this weekend.

The Columbia County camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans will be honoring Oliver Hardy Sr., the father of the larger half of the famed comedic duo Laurel and Hardy, with a Confederate grave marker for his military service during the Civil War.

Dedication of the memorial, patterned after the Southern Cross Honor Medals, will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Harlem Cemetery on South Bell Avenue.

Hardy Sr. served as a private with Company K of the 16th Georgia Infantry, comprised of Columbia County men, said David Butler, the commander of the Maj. Gen. Ambrose Ransom Wright Camp No. 1914 Sons of Confederate Veterans.

"Most people don't know it," Butler said of Hardy Sr.'s military service.

Butler said Hardy Sr. served under Gen. Robert E. Lee and was wounded at the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam) near Sharpsburg, Md., on Sept. 17, 1862. That day is often referred to as the bloodiest day of the war because more men were wounded or killed then than on any other single day of the war.

After his injury, Hardy Sr. was promoted to a sergeant and served as Columbia County's enrolling officer, Butler said.

Civil War re-enactors will be on site for a 21-gun salute, Butler said.

The camp also will present a plaque to the Oliver Hardy Museum of Harlem, which will serve as an honorary membership for Hardy's famous son, Butler said.