Harrison Carl Collins was born on March 10, 1836, in Sneedville. Married with one child and working as a farmer by 1861, Harrison volunteered to fight for the Union soon after the outbreak of the American Civil War. A non- commissioned officer in Company A, 1st Tennessee Cavalry by 1864, Collins fought in the Battle of Nashville.

During the retreat of Confederate General John B. Hood’s forces following the battle, Collins’s cavalry regiment faced off with Brigadier General James Chalmers’s cavalry at Richland Creek on December 24, 1864. Collins, who noticed the Southern
standard bearer attempting to rally his troops, led a final charge to route the Confederate forces and capture the enemy flag. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for this action.

Collins was discharged as a sergeant in the spring of 1865 and returned home to his farm in Sneedville, where he fathered nine children by 1882. In 1890, he passed away at the age of 54 in Isabella, Missouri.