The Civil War was for the most part a young man's war. When Mississippi passed the ordinance of secession on January 9, 1861, many a young man left the family farm to join the ranks of the armed forces. In Lawrence County, Mississippi most of the farms were small operations and the owners had only one or two slaves, if any at all. One such young man was James Madison Polk, grandson of Luke Polk, a Revolutionary War soldier. James Madison was single, 20 -- 21 years of age and enlisted in the Covington Rangers at Mount Carmel, Mississippi in early 1861. James had three older brothers, John L., 36, Isaac, 24, and Joel R., 22. All three brothers remained on the farm and allowed the young James, to rush off to battle. The Covington Rangers became Company I of the 7th Regiment Mississippi Infantry and was stationed with the 3rd Regiment Mississippi Infantry in Shieldsboro on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The 3rd Regiment included the company known as the Gainesville Volunteers.
Company I of the 7th trained on the Gulf Coast, moved to New Orleans, boarded a train for Jackson, Tennessee, was delayed by a train wreck in Louisiana were several men were injured. Arriving in Tennessee they were ordered to Eastport/Iuka, Mississippi where they became part of Gen. James Chalmers brigade. Fighting gallantly at the battle of Shiloh, they pulled back to Corinth. Retreating from Corinth, the 7th joined Gen. Bragg forces and moved eastward, by way of Mobile, and participated in Bragg's Kentucky Campaign. They finally surrendered in North Carolina in 1865.
And the three older brothers? They were what Kenneth W. Noe called "Reluctant Rebels." [1]Company E, "White Rebels" (after James E. White, Capt.) were organized at Silver Creek, Lawrence County, Mississippi, on April 24, 1862, and mustered into Confederate service May 12, 1862, in Jackson, Mississippi as part of the 38th Regiment Mississippi Infantry. They spent most of their time fighting in Mississippi at Iuka/Corinth, and Harrisburg before surrendering in 1865.
Another company being mustered into Confederate service at this time was Company C, "Hancock Rebels," of Hobolochitto, Mississippi, now known as Picayune, Mississippi.
(1)Noe, Kenneth. Reluctant Rebels: The Confederates Who Joined the Army after 1861, The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2010.
