The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1891-11-06
Biographical Sketch.

Biographical Sketch.
Albert Smith Marks was born near
OwensnOrO, in Davies County, KY,
Oct. Is, 1886. His mother, Miss
Leisb brooks, was connected with a
family which has given to Tennessee
another distinguished citizen in the
person of Col. Arthur S. CoIyar.
His father, Elisha Marks, was a
farmer in moderate circumstances
Albert 5. was the oldest of a family
Of six children, only three of whom
survive him, Rev. E. G. Marks, OF
the Georgia Conference, and Mrs.
James B. Fitzpatrick and Mrs. Rob
ert G. Handy, of Winchester.
AT the age of IA, while still quite a
small lad, he was summoned from his
village academy to bury his father
and become the head of the house
hold. His little brother and sisters
were not strong, and his mother, new
er recovering from the death of her
husband, was further disqualified for
assisting him by the loss of her sight.
Occasional schooling was an ac-
compartment of this boyhOOd for his
mother by no means relinquished
control of the family and it's affairs.
These associations led him to organ
iZe a lyceum in WI ich he was one of
the most PROFOUNDLY admired orators,
and prize awarded to a particularly
moving masterpiece of his sOphO-
moric eloquence confirmed him in
his determination to make q lawyer
of himself.
At the age of 20 he was admitted to
the bar and became member of the
law firm of COlyar, Marks & FrizZell
His young efforts were whetted in
competition with such wellknOwn
lawyers of past generation as Frank
Estill, TaZ Newman, Jesse Arlege,
lobe Turney and Chief Justice Peter
Turney, who survives him.
Five years later the still beardless
attorney heard his name counted out
by a company of his associates, and
himself announced to the world as
Capt. Marks, first OF the many titles
of which he became the pOssessor.
He had been opposed to secession,
and he was the candidate before the
county against Peter Turney for the
convention which was to decide the
matter i'll Tennessee.
He graced his acceptance of defeat
by being among the first to enlist in
the armies of the seeding States.
Company E., of the Seventeenth
Tennessee, became known as the best
drilled I'm the regiment, and at Rock
Castle, it was Company E which
charged up the only accessible defile
in the mountsin and looked down the
thrOats of the enemy's guns.
From that time the reputation OF
the Seventeenth Tennessee for effici-
ency and gallantry was unsurpassed,
laurels being won on both battlefield
and drill ground.
The crisis of his brilliant and prom
Isiug military career was met at
MurfreesbOrO, Dec. 81, 1862, when he
led the Seventeenth Tennessee so
admirably that in spite OF the loss of
half it's men, it was mainly instru-
mental in driving the right flank of
the enemy into n perpendicular posi-
ton to its main line of battle, and 1t
is said the fertilization afforded by
the railroad cut was the only thing
which prevented the entire right
wing of the opposing army from be-
ing consumed.
At this juncture Gen. Cleburne
asked if certain battery could be
taken. Col. Marks replied that he
would do it if possible.
In making the charge his foot was
taken off above the ankle by grape
shot and lie was left on the field.
His last command to the Seven
teenth was Forward"
The faithful regiment swept for
ward, captured the battery, and, as
no second command came from their
beloved Colonel, they continued to
march forward until stopped six
miles within the enenIy's lines.
His name was placed upon the roll |
of honor.
After the amputation of his leg
near the hip, and a slow recovery in |
the hospital, Col. Marks was attached |
to the staff of Gen. Forrest as Judge |
Advocate, and he held this position |
till the close of the war.
During the Middle Tennessee cam
paigns he paid court to Miss Novella |
Davis, daughter of Mai. Davis of
Wilson County, and in 1868. at the
nome of the brides aunt in Marshall
County, they were married.
The honeymoon, which was also q
period Of couvalescence for him, " as
pent Ia la Grange, Ga, where In