Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1913-02-28
Early ReCOIIeCtiOnS
of Old NOxubee,
To The Beacon:

realities ~nardsnlps, Ine separator
from loved ones; the little Or no hope OF
an early erding began to loom up,
and the thought that possessed nearly
every one was ''how to get out"
The comparison Of the patriotism OF
1861 with that Of 1863, and on, was SC
out Of keeping with harmony as to
make it odious, for many who had then
hollered their throats sore shouting,
"Hurrah for the Confederacy;"" 81 can
whip five to one;" them down Casters
won't fight" "etc.," began to see
along in 1862 that it vas Greek meet
Creek" and would have been glad to
get a discharge and never hear of war
again.
| remember that all during the war
there was no telegraph office at Shu-
qualak and that when the states began
to secede, (South Carolina coming first,
December Goth, 1860, the first news of
it was brought through a flag that
hoated from the jack-staf above the
cow-catcher on a passenger train, it
bearing in the center of the blue field a
single star, after which the people
gathered at the depot en- masse each
lay to watch the coming of the north
bound passenger train to see il another
star had been added, and to learn what
state it represented and to shout vocif-
erously when they were told by the en-
yineer-the second star to show being
for Old Mississippi, which seeded Jan
lary 9th, 1861.
Coming next was Florida, Januar
10th; Alabama, January 18th; Georgia,
January 10Th; Louisiana, January Goth;
Texas, February LIST; Virginia, April
7th; Arkansas, May 9Th; North Caro-.
ina, May Goth; Tennessee, June oath;
lissouri, October 3lst; Kentucky, No
vember 30th.
In the gathering at the depot, to
watch the flag each day for additional
tars, were men, women and childreI
nd all joined in the shouting of ''hul.
an" when the name of the new state,
hat the additional star the flag showed,
vas told them.
Along then there were daily musters
IN the commons in front of the row of
stores, to the tap of an old bass drum,
md these musters were participated in
" just any n who cared to practice
irilling," for at that time there was
not a one but what was bent on ''going
70 the war;" and the quicker the better.
After all the companies that could be
made up had gone forward, with the
regulation number, ITO men, the stray
Tiers or derelicts would go on in ones,
Jwo's, three's or a dozen, to suit their
convenience. making a ''mustering-in
amp the objective point, there join
ing the first company made up of
'stragglers,' some companies of this
<ind being composed of members repre-
,enting a dozen or more counties.
The years 1862 marked the period
when the volunteer spirit was in the
saddle, and when to have ever limited
chat it wolld ever be necessary to pass
4 conscript law to make men take up
arms in defense of the Southland
would have been about the greatest in
suit one could have offered, for all
thought then that it was d duty to
fight and that the whipping of the
Yankees would be 80 easy as to make
the war more of a frolic than anything
else.
Along then the girls would tell their
sw%eethearts, (f they were a little slow
about going forward, that it was either
go or again speak to them, and
the crying of mothers in parting with
their sons at the trains was more a cry
from JOY than anything else, because
they felt that it would be q disgrace
forever to any able-bodied man who
couldn't say for all time afterward that
he was a Confederate soldier and needed
no "conscripting' to make him so.
remember one ''derelict" that pro-
crastinated too long, having received a
reminder" that it was about time for
him to go, in the shape of a mother
hubbard dress, mace and sent by a
club of young ladies that had
been organized to maze clothes and
bandages for the sick and wounded SOL
diers that by this time were being sent
the Confederate hospital at Lauder
dale, Miss, and of its proper effect for
two or three days the young fell
low was seen with his homemade
'haver-sack" and with his blanket
in oil-rloth, boarding the train
Meridian. the nearest recruiting or
mastering in" camp.
And to show to what extent the pa
.riotic spirit went then, there were
TWO large families that were entirely
of boys, n of which was the
family, the other the Lindley
the former giving to the cause
Xix sons; the other, five. none of whom
received a furlough during the en-
struggle and at the end only one of
Zach set returning home %alive-Jim
and John Burrage, the latter
he late mayor of Shuqualak. but now
resident of Texas.