The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1902-03-05
CAPT. M'WILLTAMS WRITES.
Letter from the Historian of Ter
rell County Veterans.

GRAVES STATION, GA, Feb. "a, 1902.
To the Confederate Veterans of
Camp No. 404, Terrell County, Ca
Dear Brethren: | asked you TO relieve
me of the Office of commander, which
you did, and | truly thank you for it,
but you elected me historian, which
position places me at more disadvant-
age than before. First, / went from
the good old county of Randolph with
that grand old company, the Cuthbert
Rifles, my first love-" which left
Cuthbert May Z, 1863, and were joined
at Dawson by the Dawson Volunteers,
and IN Macon, on May S,were mustered
into that grand, glorious and immortal
Fifth Georgia regiment. 1t is true l
resided in Dawson from September "A,
1859, to Dec. %, 1860. At that time
knew about three-fourths of the men
in Terrell county, and at one time
could call the roll of the Cuth bert
Rifles and Dawson Volunteers, but [
cannot dc it now. | cannot but feel
sad when | think of these and all of
my old friends, schoolmates and COM
radeS who have crossed over the river
and with old "Stonewall' are "resting
under the shade of the trees" In a
short while, too, the survivors of the
struggle will have been gathered un-
to their fathers" Yet, the sons and
daughters of the confederacy will ever
treasure up the recollections Of the
past, and posteritv will not search in
vain for memorials of the days which
tried mems souls" Thrice happy,
therefore, is our camp in having Incl
dents worthy of swelling the theme of
history, and doubly thrice happy is
tina: country which rears the impartial
historian 70 relate them. Captain John
Fulton should have been your histo-
| rian. But he is secretary and treas
urer, and it did seem like imposing up
on him to force historian upon him.
But he ought TO have been historian
/ just the same. However, | will do the
best l can. do not mind writing;
Just knowing what to write and how to
write it is the trouble with me.
My brethren, nearly every command
| in the confederate army has repre-
sentative in Terrell county. 1t mat
| tiers not from what county or state you
went to the army just so you reside in
Terrell at present l would love to
hear from each and every one of you.
| would love to have enrolled every
name, company, regiment and brigade
to which he belonged, together with
"reminiscences, "close calls" etc. Re-
member, you belonged to an army
composed of the best fighting material
the world ever produced, to which his
tory has never furnished a par
allel. The yankee army had, in
round numbers, about 100000 men
and four hundred and forty-six
thousand of them strictly south
ERIN men, while our army had
600, 900, just one-tifth of their number,
and 100000 had to tight their own
brethren. There were left only l54,-
900 to fight yankeedoodledum and the
balance of the whole world. Every
nationality upon the face of God 8
green earth was represented in the
yankee army. When the sun went
down on General Robert E. Lee the
9th of April, and General Joseph r..
Johnston on the 26th of April, 1865,
the dear old boys stacked arms for the
last time and with sad hearts babe
their comrades farewell.
Z. A. MCWILLIAMS,
Historian Camp No. 404. Terrell
County Confederate Veterans.