The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-07-01
JEFFERSON VOLUNTEERS OF BIRMINGHAM READ Y FOR THEIR FIFTH WAR
Local Company Has Had Remarkable and Event full History During Past 70 Years s-Old Rest CTS Contain Names Prominent in All
 Circles of Birmingham

| LII ClCS Ol A l The Jefferson Volunteers known offi-
 cially as Company K, Fourth Alabama
 infantry, is preparing for it's fifth war.
 The company has prepared for war four
 times already, in 1S46, 1861. 1898 and 1916, l bur has never had the doubtful luck of
 seeing actual fighting in any but that
 of 1861. In that struggle there was fight 1 ing enough to satisfy the most exacting,
 and the Jefferson Volunteers got their 1 full share of 1t.
 1 The company was organized at Elyton
 in 1S46 for the war with Mexico; in June, ! 1861, 1t entered the Confederate service;
 in 1898, it was mobilized for the war
 with Spain, and last June it was again
 taken into the federal service for what
 was believed to be a second war with
 Mexico. It Is now recruiting up to war
 strength for the war with Germany. l It is one of the oldest military or
 ganizations in the south with a record 1 of 70 years of almost unbroken serv-
 ice It began it's existence long before
 there was a Birmingham, and has seen
 Jefferson county settled and the state
 grow up. Now it will soon see service
 in a far country" and play its part l in the greatest war of history.
 | When Alabama was carved out of the | Mississippi territory, and settlers began i to pour in from Georgia, Tennessee and
 the Carolinas, they brought with them
 the spirit of the pioneer. Being mostly descendants of the men who formed in
 the southern hills the rear guard of the
 revolution" and who broke the British
 power at Kings mountain and the Cow pens, the settlers of Jefferson were not l slow in organizing for defense. Being
 used to firearms from childhood, they
 took naturally to military training. FORMED AT ELYTON l When the Indian troubles of 1886 broke out, company of volunteers was hastily formed at Elyton under the command of Capt. Thomas McAdory, but as the war was short lived, the command never was 1 taken into the federal service and was
 soon after disbanded.
 | Ten years later, when the Mexican war l loomed on the horizon, a company named 1 the Jefferson Volunteers'' was raised at | Elyton, under the command of Capt.
 Moses Kelly. The company was in train l ing at Elyton for several months but was never sent out of the state. The
 war department, finding no use for ad-
 ditional troops in Mexico, mustered them
 out of the service.
 l An interesting document in the com pany records is the muster roll of the
 original company, accompanied by cer- | tificate from Captain Kelly, dated Ely l ton, May 16, 1S46, stating that "the above l list contains the true names of the men composing a volunteer company made up 1 this day at Elyton, Jefferson county, for
 the purpose of marching against Mexico | And they do hereby report themselves in
 readiness to the governor of the state to
 march at his warning"
 l It has been a long time since that certificate was signed, but the spirit
 is the same today. For n years the Jeff
 ferson Volunteers have already been lin
 rea diness to march,"
 | The old muster roll contains names that
 are known and honored in Jefferson to-
 day. There were sprnkling of Hew-
 it's, Sandifers, Tarrants, Nabers, Rockets,
 Truss Gillespies and Sharetts. The lieu 1 tenants were Jackson Montgomery and
 George w. Montgomery, with George J.
 Rcebuck as first sergeant.
 | READY IN THE SIXTIES l The Mexican war being ended the
 company dragged out it's existence with
 nothing more exciting than an occasional
 muster in old Elyton accompanied by 1 much martial sabre-rattling and fiery
 ora tory. Then, as the 'irrepressible con- flict" of the sixties drew near, the l young men of the county renewed their | organization.
 l With the first gun of the civil war the Jefferson Volunteers sprang once more | to arms, and on June 15. 1884, marched out of Elyton on their way to the war. | It was gallant company of youngsters, and they made brave show as they ! marched away down the Montevallo road | The ladies of Eyton had made vast preparations for their going, and had l loaded them down with every kind of
 delicacy and comfort that loving hearts could devise. They had made flag after | the design approved by the new Con l federate government, and on the night
 before their departure held grand cere-
 mony at the old Elyton academy. There l was much gayety on that occasion, and
 many were the gallant speeches made l and high resolves taken The bright, new flag was presented by Misses Mar I tha and Julia Rockett, amid thunderous applause, and. no doubt some tears.
 The regiment was mustered into the 1 Confederate service at Montevallo on 1 June F, as Company D of the Tenth Ala 1 bama infantry, by it's colonel, the gallant l John e. Forney. On the 18th the regi- ment left for Selma, and after few days went to Montgomery. On June P i it was ordered to Virginia, and was there l assigned to the famous Wilcox brigade. From that time on the history of the Jef- | fsrson volunteers becomes the history of l the gallant Tenth Alabama and the Army ] of Northern Virginia.
 l ALWAYS WITH LEE 1 Few commands on either side saw more I service than the Tenth Alabama. The regiment took part in every campaign | in which Lees army engaged It reached | the field of the First Manassas, after 1 forced march, too late to be engaged, but ] after that never missed a fight. It earned 1 the right to inscribe on it's banner the | names of Seven Pines, Gaines Mill, | Sharpsburg Fredericksburg, C'hancellors- vile, Gettysburg the Wilderness and 1 Spottsylvania. At last, when the forlorn | hope of the Confederacy faded away the l Jefferson Volunteers, having helped to hold Grant at bay for six hungry months at Petersburg. finally surrendered with Lee at Appomattox
 l The officers of the company were AL l burto Martin captain; John B. Smith. l first lieutenant; William A. McMillion, l second lieutenant, and Robert Earle, ' third lieutenant. Captain Martin was
 promoted to lieutenant colonel and was