Читать книгу Hillcountry Warriors - Johnny Neil Smith - Страница 8

Mississippi seceded from the union on January 9, 1861. Young men all over the state began to gather in specified areas to form military units and prepare for a war that not all were sure would ever occur. It was with this feeling that Lott Wilson allowed his two oldest sons, James Earl and Thomas, to enlist in the first military company that Newton County organized. It was assembled in Decatur, a small town in east central Mississippi about eight and one half miles southwest of Little Rock where the Wilson farm lay. They called themselves the Newton Rifles.

Lott knew its commanding officer, Montgomery Carleton, very well and felt his boys would be in good hands if any fighting did occur. Lott also sensed that when the United States Government saw that the South was willing to fight for its states' rights, the politicians in the North would then probably sit down and peacefully resolve their differences. War was about as likely as a snowstorm on the Fourth of July, Lott thought.

But that didn’t change the fact that while James Earl and Thomas were away playing war, their father was hard pressed to get everything done on the farm, especially since it was planting season. The boys had only enlisted for six months so Lott had determined to get by as well as he could until they returned. The demanding work now fell in the hands of John, his youngest son, and himself. Lott knew the work done by four would now have to be done by a boy and a worn-out old man. He prayed this excitement about a possible war would soon be over.

But hope fell on April 12, 1861, when Pierre G. T. Beauregard and his troops fired on Fort Sumter, out in the Charleston harbor, one of the four Federal forts flying the Union flag in Confederate territory. After that, the war escalated with each passing month and James Earl and Thomas were caught in the conflict. Their six month enlistment became an indefinite commitment.