I am a direct descendant of a Confederate soldier. The old man pictured above is my great-great grandfather; that is, he's my paternal grandmother's paternal grandfather. This picture was taken in 1896, at his unit's reunion, the 14th SC Regiment, Volunteer Infantry, Company I, "McCalla's Rifles".
Company 'I', 14th SC Volunteers was raised August 1861, in the small village of Lowndesville, SC. There were originally 80 men in the company. At the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse there were only 7 men available for duty.
"McCalla's Rifles" were accompanied by four black cooks. These were free men - not slaves. They were John McCoppin, Sidney Glynn, Alex Stratton, and Samuel Tucker. (Others were possibly Samuel J. Lee and Jim Rouse). The name "McCalla's Rifles" was in honor of George R. McCalla, who was a farmer in Lowndesville. Mr. McCalla donated the uniforms worn by the soldiers of Company 'I'.
My gggrandad was born in either 1820 or 1825 and lived until 1910, long enough to know my grandmother, who would have turned 100 this year. He was a farmer for most of his life. He was married three times, with his second and third wives being sisters. His three wives presented him with a total of sixteen children. I am descended from the second wife.
By the time he went off to fight the Civil War, he was either in his late 30s or early 40s. He was on his second marriage at the time, with several children from the first two marriages. My great grandfather, who lived long enough to send my father off to the Second World War, was a little boy at the time, having been born in 1859.
His second wife died a few years after the war, after which he married her widowed sister, who lived next door, and adopted her children as well. They only had one child together.
The rest of his life was quiet and uneventful. My grandmother remembered meeting him a few times when she was very young, close to the end of his life.
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