David Marion Russell (great grandfather) was born in Pickens County, South Carolina January 14, 1835.  He died October 12, 1916 in Polk County, Georgia, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Cedartown.

In 1862 David Russell was transferred  into Jenkins's First Palmetto Sharpshooters Regiment, South Carolina as a Second Lieutenant. The Palmetto Regiment Sharpshooters was organized in April, 1862. It was sent to Virginia and the unit was assigned to General R.H. Anderson's, Jenkins's, and Bratton's Brigade. It fought with the army from Williamsburg  to Fredericksburg, served at Suffolk and in North Carolina, then saw action at Chickamauga and Knoxville. Returning to Virginia, it continued the fight at The Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, endured the hardships of the Petersburg trenches, and ended the war at Appomattox. It lost 9 killed and 74 wounded at Gaines' Mill and sixty-eight percent of the 375 engaged at Frayser's Farm. The regiment reported 2 casualties at South Mountain, 65 at Sharpsburg, 4 at Fredericksburg, and 44 at Wauhatchie. It surrendered 29 officers and 356 men. The field officers were Colonels Micah Jenkins and Joseph Walker; Lieutenant Colonel John W. Goss; and Majors William Anderson, William W. Humphreys, and Franklin W. Kilpatrick.

Private Alfred J. Wellmaker

Alfred Jackson Wellmaker (great grandfather) was born in Pike County, Georgia in 1838 and died in Barnesville, Georgia in 1916. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Barnesville.  He enlisted in Captain Gibson's Battery Georgia Light Artillery.  Griffin Light Artillery was organized at Griffin, Georgia, in May, 1862. It was attached to the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida and served on the Georgia coast and in the defense of Savannah. The unit was broken up in January, 1865. 

Private Thomas Jefferson Peek

Thomas Jefferson Peek (3rd great grandfather) was born in Sumter County Georgia April 8, 1826 and died in Polk County, Georgia March 1880.  He is  Buried at Benjamin F. Wright Cemetery Polk County Georgia  He served in Company D, Floyd's Legion State Guard. 

Private James A. C. Wynn

James Alfred Crumbly Wynn (3rd great grandfather) was born in Putnam County, Georgia on August 8, 1821 and died in Henry County, Georgia on January 30, 1907. He is buried in the New Hope Church Cemetery in Henry County, Georgia.  Private Wynn fought in the  24th Senatorial District Georgia Militia. 

Private Samuel J. Crabb 

Private Samuel Jackson Crabb (3rd great grandfather) fought in Company A, 1st Georgia Cavalry. He was Born in 1816 in Paulding County and died in 1887 in Polk County Georgia.

The 1st Cavalry Regiment was assembled during the fall of 1861 at Rome, Georgia. Many of its members were recruited in the counties of Meriwether, Floyd, and Lumpkin. The unit skirmished in East Tennessee and later took an active part in Bragg's Kentucky Campaign. During the war it served in Pegram's, Davidson's, J.J. Morrison's, Iverson's, and C.C. Crews' Brigade. It fought at Murfreesboro and Chickamauga was active in the Knoxville and Atlanta Campaigns, then participated in the defense of Savannah and the campaign of the Carolinas. When the regiment surrendered with the Army of Tennessee, it had fewer than 50 officers and men. Its field officers were Colonels Samuel W. Davitte and James J. Morrison; Lieutenant Colonels A.R. Harper, James H. Stickland, and George T. Watts; and Major John W. Tench. . 

Captain John C. Crabb

John C. Crabb (3rd great uncle) born in 1826 enlisted and fought bravely in Company A, 1st Georgia Cavalry. He died on July 15, 1862 in Tennessee from wounds he received in the Battle of Murfreesboro on July 13th.

Private George T. Barber

George Thomas Barber (3rd great grandfather),  enlisted on July 3, 1862 at 32 years of age in Company C, 1st Battalion, Hilliard's Legion. In November of 1863 he was transferred to the 60th Alabama where he served in in Knoxville Campaign and then in April of 1864 with the Army of Northern Virginia.  He was wounded severely by shell, in trenches of Petersburg on September 20, 1864.

Hilliard's Legion, organized at Montgomery, Alabama, in June, 1862, contained almost 3,000 men. It was composed of five battalions, but one mounted battalion soon became part of the 10th Confederate Cavalry Regiment. Its artillery arm was detached and redesignated the Barbour Light Artillery. The legion was assigned to General Gracie's Brigade, served at Cumberland Gap, then fought at Chickamauga where it lost forty-five percent of the 902 engaged. In November, 1863, it was dissolved. Parts of the 1st and 3rd Battalions formed the 60th Alabama Regiment, and the 2nd and 4th Battalions became the 59th Alabama Regiment. Three companies of the 1st Battalion formed the 23rd Alabama Battalion Sharpshooters. Its colonels were Henry W. Hillard and Jack Thorington. The 1st Battalion was commanded by Lieutenant Colonels John H. Holt and Jack Thorington, and Major Daniel S. Troy; the 2nd Battalion by Lieutenant Colonel Bolling Hall, Jr. and Major William T. Stubblefield; the 3rd Battalion by Lieutenant Colonel John W.A. Sanford and Major Hatch Cook; and the 4th Battalion by Majors John D. McLennen and William N. Reeves.