To Fight and Die: The Civil War, 1861-1865
By Elaine Bay
The Confederate draft law of April 1862 ordered the induction of able bodied men, 18-35 years of age, for a term of three years. Age limits were later revised for men 17 to 50 years old.
In the South, large plantation owners and slaveholders were exempt from fighting in the war. Often men would avoid the draft by paying another man to serve in his place. During 1863 the peak of Confederate soldiers was 900,000.
The Southern men usually joined a military company that was formed in the area they lived. The local military company was trained at a State training camp and joined up with nine other companies to form a regiment. "Johnny Reb" usually had only a musket, a blanket, a canteen, a knife, and a cartridge box. Privates were paid $11 per month until 1864 when their pay was raised to $18 per month.
Since Rains county did not exist until December 1870, the men in the area enlisted either in Greenville, Hunt County or Quitman, Wood County.
Some of the men who lived in Rains County after its formation and who fought in the Civil War were:
- Oliver A. Fortenberry, enlisted May 12, 1862 in Ft. McCulloch
- Thomas B. Braziel, enlisted March 4, 1862 in Lawrenceville, Georgia
- Thomas D. Kitching, enlisted January 31, 1862 in Hunt County
- J.T. Hooker, enlisted January 31, 1862 in Hunt County
- T.M. Cain, enlisted January 31, 1862 in Hunt County
- Walker Hooker, enlisted September 12, 1863 at Greenville, Hunt County
- H.L. Henderson, enlisted September 25, 1861 at Quitman, Wood County
- Thomas M. Hughie, enlisted March 4, 1862
- Ambrose Fitzgerald, enlisted March 4, 1862 at Quitman, Wood County
- Mark Weavaer
- Benjamine F. Morrow, enlisted September 1, 1862 in Springfield, Mississippi
- John Millard Vincent
- William J.W. Donadson
- Francis A. Trevillions
- Dr. George R. Kimbrough
- W.F. Montgomery, enlisted 1861
- Issac Chrisman Alexander
- Eli Bibb
- James Burvell Brown
- Jack Boles
- I.M. Cofffee
- J.A. Childers
- W.B. Coats
- John E. Cochran
- John Coker
- H.C. Ford
- F.B. Foreman
- John Thomas Giles
- Mat T. Harris
- Benjamine Franklin Herring
- George D. Hooker
- John Hooker
- Evan Monroe Irwin
- N.R. Jarratt
- George W. McCollum
- Eli E. Magee
- John C. Merar
- William H. Mills
- W.H. Montgomery
- Andrew Jeff Penson
- Capt. Nichols
- William T. Rose
- John W. Simmons
- Andrew Carol Taylor
- John Whitwell
- Allen Whitwell
- Frances M. York
- Edward P. Kerby
- T.A. McKay
Information taken from 100th Anniversary of Rains County, 1870-1970