Mary Gay - Life in Dixie during the War, 1861-1862-1863-1864-1865

That scene being enacted as a preliminary, a call was made for Alabama’s quota of volunteers to defend the principles enunciated and the interests involved.

The Magnolia Cadets, under the leadership of Captain N. H. R. Dawson, of Selma, were among the first to respond. I accompanied my cousins of Alabama to see this company of noble, handsome young men mustered into the military service of their country. It was a beautiful sight! Wealthy, cultured young gentlemen voluntarily turning their backs upon the luxuries and endearments of affluent homes, and accepting in lieu the privations and hardships of warfare; thereby illustrating to the world that the conflict of arms consequent upon the secession was not to be “a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.”

I saw them as they stood in line to receive the elegant silken banner, bearing the stars and bars of a new nation, made and presented to them by Miss Ella Todd and her sister, Mrs. Dr. White, of Lexington, Kentucky, who were introduced to the audience by Captain Dawson as the sisters of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, the wife of the president of the United States.

I was thus made aware that Mrs. Lincoln and her illustrious husband were Southerners. I have since been in the small, mud-chinked log cabin in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, in which he was born, and in which his infancy and little boyhood were domiciled. Mrs. White had married an Alabamian, and as his wife became a citizen of his State. Her sister, Miss Todd, was visiting her at the enactment of the scene described, and under like circumstances, also became a citizen of Alabama. She married the valiant gentleman who introduced her to the public on that memorable occasion.

I have sought and obtained from Mrs. Mary Dawson Jordan, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, a daughter of Captain Jordan, a complete record of the names of the officers and members of this patriotic company of Alabama’s noble sons – native and adopted – which I subjoin as an item of history that will be read with interest by all who revere the memory of the Lost Cause and its noble defenders.

Muster Roll of the “Magnolia Cadets.”

N. H. R. Dawson, Captain.

(Enrolled for active service at Selma, Ala., on the 26th day of April, 1861. Mustered into service on the 7th day of May, 1861, at Lynchburg, Va.)

Commanded by Col. Ben Alston of the Fourth Alabama Regiment of Volunteers.

1. N. H. R. Dawson, Captain.

1. Shortbridge, Jr., Geo. D., 1st Lieutenant.

2. McCraw, S. Newton, 2nd Lieutenant.

3. Wilson, John R. 3rd Lieutenant.

1. Waddell, Ed. R., 1st Sergeant.

2. Price, Alfred C., 2nd Sergeant.

3. Daniel, Lucian A., 3rd Sergeant.

4. Goldsby, Boykin, 4th Sergeant.

1. Bell, Bush W., 1st Corporal.

2. Garrett, Robert E., 2nd Corporal.

3. Brown, James G., 3rd Corporal.

4. Cohen, Lewis, 4th Corporal.

1. Melton, George F., Musician.

2. Marshall, Jacob, Musician.

Privates.

1. Adkins, Agrippa

2. Adams, William S.

3. Avery, William C.

4. Byrd, William G.

5. Beattie, Thomas K.

6. Briggs, Charles H.

7. Bohannon, Robert B.

8. Baker, Eli W.

9. Bradley, Hugh C.

10. Cook, Thomas M.

11. Cook, James W.

12. Cook, Benson.

13. Caughtry, Joseph R.

14. Cole, George W.

15. Cleveland, George W.

16. Clevaland, Pulaski.

17. Cunningham, Frank M.

18. Coursey, William W.

19. Daniel, John R.

20. Densler, John E.

21. Donegay, James G.

22. Friday, Hilliard J.

23. Friday, James L.

24. Friday, John C.

25. Ford, Joseph H.

26. Grice, Henry F.

27. Haden, James G.

28. Harrill, Thornton R.

29. Hannon, Wm. H., Sr.

30. Hannon, Wm. H., Jr.

31. Hooks, William A.

32. Hodge, William L.

33. Jones, William.

34. Jordan, James M.

35. Jackson, Felix W.

36. King, William R.

37. Kennedy, Arch.

38. Kennedy, George D.

39. Lamson, Frank R.

40. Lane, William B.

41. Lowry, Uriah.

42. Lowry, William A.

43. Littleton, Thomas B.

44. Luske, John M.

45. Lamar, John H.

46. Mather, Thomas S.

47. Martin, James B.

48. May, Syd M.

49. May, William V.

50. Melton, Thomas J.

51. Miller, Stephen J.

52. Mimms, George A.

53. Moody, William R.

54. Mosely, Andrew B.

55. McNeal, George S.

56. McKerning, John W.

57. Overton, John B.

58. Overton, Thomas W.

59. O’Neal, William.

60. Paisley, Hugh S.

61. Pryor, John W.

62. Pryor, Robert O.

63. Peeples, Frank W.

64. Raiford, William C.

65. Reinhardt, George L.

66. Robbins, John L.

67. Rucker, Lindsay.

68. Rucker, Henry.

69. Shiner, David H.

70. Stokes, William C.

71. Stone, John W.

72. Stewett, Mayor D.

73. Turner, Daniel M.

74. Thomas, Lewis.

75. Tarver, Ben J.

76. Taylor, William E.

77. Terry, Thomas B.

78. Thompson, John S.

79. Thompson, William E.

80. Ursory, Edward G.

81. Vaughn, Turner P.

82. Wrenn, Theodore J.

83. Whallon, Daniel.

Copied from the original Muster Roll of the Magnolia Cadets, owned by Henry R. Dawson, son of N. H. R. Dawson.

DeKalb county, Georgia, of which Decatur is the county site, was among the first to enroll troops for Confederate service. The first volunteers from Decatur were James L. George, Hardy Randall, L. J. Winn and Beattie Wilson, who went with the Atlanta Greys the last of May, 1861.

The first company from DeKalb county was that of Captain John W. Fowler. It was called the DeKalb Light Infantry, and was mustered into service in Atlanta, as part of the 7th Georgia Volunteers, and left for Virginia on the 1st of June, 1861. Those going from DeKalb county in this company were: First Lieutenant, John J. Powell; Second Lieutenant, John M. Hawkins; Third Lieutenant, James L. Wilson; First Sergeant, M. L. Brown; Second Sergeant, D. C. Morgan; Third Sergeant, D. E. Jackson; Fourth Sergeant, John W. Fowler, jr.; Corporals – H. H. Norman, R. F. Davis, C. W. L. Powell; Privates – W. W. Bradbury (afterwards captain), E. M. Chamberlain, W. W. Morgan, W. L. Herron, P. H. Pate, C. E. McCulloch, James W. McCulloch, L. C. Powell, H. G. Woodall, J. S. Woodall, A. W. Mashburn, V. A. Wilson, W. J. Mason, J. V. Austin, W. M. Austin, John Eads, E. A. Davis, Dr. A. S. Mason, John W. Norman, E. L. Morton, Henry Gentry, W. M. Cochran, J. B. Cochran, James Hunter (promoted captain), W. W. Brimm, William Carroll, C. W. McAllister, J. O. McAllister, and many others from the county, making it a full company.

The second company from DeKalb was the Stephens Rifles, captain, L. J. Glenn. They went into Cobb’s Legion about August, 1861. Dr. Liddell, Frank Herron, Norman Adams, John McCulloch, John J. McKoy, and some others, went from Decatur in this company.

The third company was the Murphey Guards, captain, John Y. Flowers. They came from the upper part of the county, near Doraville. This company was named in memory of Hon. Charles Murphey, of DeKalb county, a prominent lawyer and member of Congress, but then recently deceased. The company had been uniformed by the people of the county, a large share being contributed by Mr. and Mrs. Milton A. Candler, and Mr. and Mrs. Ezekiel Mason. Mrs. Candler, whose maiden name was Eliza Murphey, the only child of Charles Murphey, gave the banner, upon which was inscribed, “The God of Jacob is with us.”

The Fourth Company was The Bartow Avengers, Captain William Wright, from the lower part of the county about South River. The Fifth Company, Captain Rankin, was from Stone Mountain. These three last mentioned companies went into the 38th Georgia Regiment, in September, 1861, and belonged to the Virginia Army. The Sixth Company, Captain E. L. Morton’s, entered service the last of August, 1861, in the 36th Georgia Regiment, and was with the Western Army under Johnston. The Seventh Company, the Fowler Guards, Captain Clay, went into the 42nd Georgia Regiment in the early part of 1862, and was also in the Western Army.