Pvt. John Hooks Howell, Company B, 17th Georgia Infantry

&

Pvt. Stephen Butler Howell, Company B, 46th Georgia Infantry 

While researching my Confederate Ancestry, I have learned much about my Southern Heritage and the Courage of those that fought for Southern Independence.  I am proud to share this story of my 2^nd and 3^rd great grandfathers.

My 2^nd great grandfather, John Hooks Howell was born in Sumter County, Georgia on October 25, 1842.  He enlisted August 14, 1861 in Co. B 17^th Georgia Infantry at the age of 18. His father Stephen Butler Howell (my 3^rd great grandfather) also joined the cause as a private on March 4, 1862, Co. B 46^th Regiment and shortly there after he transferred to the 17^th Regiment to fight side by side with his son.

A Macon, Georgia newspaper article dated July 20, 1941 reveals the account of this father and son soldiers as told by Dora Ann Leger Howell (wife of John Hooks Howell, my 2^nd great grandmother) at the age of 101 years.

She recalls that in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863 Stephen Butler Howell, retreating from battle spotted his son (John Hooks Howell) lying wounded on the ground.   John was shot in the jaw and in the leg.  Stephen removed his coat, doubled it up and placed it under his sons bleeding head, gave him his canteen of water and left him to die. 

John Hooks Howell survived his injuries and was taken prisoner and later paroled at David’s Island, New York Harbor and exchanged at City Point, Virginia in September 1863 and discharged as a result of disability in 1864. Both Father and Son heard nothing from one another until they were reunited at home after the war. 

John Hooks Howell died November 1,1919 at the age of 77 and is buried at Old Pleasant Grove Methodist Church Cemetery on Chambliss Mill road in Sumter County Georgia.

Stephen Butler Howell was born in 1817 and died in 1889.

I have always taken pride in my Southern Heritage and as I learn more about my ancestors I am lost for words that describe the Honor and Respect I have for those Confederates that stood strong and courageous in their fight for Southern Independence.