Calhoun County AlArchives Biographies.....Phillips, G. W. 1842 - living in 1893 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 15, 2004, 1:43 pm Author: Brant & Fuller (1893) G. W. PHILLIPS, a prominent citizen of Calhoun county, is a native of Union district, S. C., and was born in 1842, a son of Joseph and Jane (Presley) Phillips, also natives of South Carolina. The father was a son of Peter Phillips, who was a native of Ireland. Peter Phillips was a son of Gabriel Phillips, also of Ireland. The grandfather and great grandfather were both soldiers in the Revolutionary war, and the father was in the war of 1812. Joseph. Phillips first married Sallie Presley, and after her death, married Jane Presley - sisters. He has six children by the first marriage and eight by the second. He came to Alabama in 1854, and was one of the wealthiest men of Calhoun county. He settled on the farm where his son, G. W. Phillips, now lives, and erected a flour and grist-mill, the running gear of which is still in use. He was a Quaker in religious belief. His wife was a native of South Carolina and was of the old Huguenot stock. She was a daughter of Charles Presley and of French descent. Chalres Presley was a member of one of the royal families and on account of his religious belief had to leave his native land. G. W. Phillips was reared on the old farm where he now lives. He had the advantages of but little education, the late war depriving him of a good schooling. In March, 1861, he enlisted in company B, Seventh Alabama infantry, under Capt. R. W. Draper, and served twelve months; and in 1862, enlisted in company D, Second Alabama cavalry, under Capt. J. J. Pigues, and served until the close of the war, taking part in some very hard-fought battles in the Georgia campaign, acting as courier for Gen. Joe E. Johnston and going with that general in front of Sherman's army to Savannah. On the 9th of October, 1861, he received a gun shot wound in the back of the neck, when they attacked Col. Wilson's Sixth New York Zouaves on St. Rosa island, Fla. He never went into the hospital, and after coming around all right he went on with the fight and captured one of the artillery men by name of Col. Vogoes. After leaving Georgia he went with the army through North Carolina and South Carolina and later on, in 1865, at Greensboro, N. C., his company was detached as an escort and guard for Pres. Jefferson Davis, and went with him to Abbeville, S. C.; on the 9th of May, 1865, his brigade surrendered at Forsythe, Ga. He served through the entire war as a private, refusing to accept a promotion. After the war had ended he returned to the old farm and began to restore his lost fortunes by farming and has continued at that occupation, running for twenty-three years in connection with the old mill that his father built. He received what knowledge he has of milling in this same old mill while yet a youth. His father owned a tract of land six miles square before the war and during the war it was all swept away, but since then Mr. Phillips, determined to own a portion of the old homestead, by close economy has acquired means sufficient to purchase 120 acres of the old homestead. In October, 1865, Mr. Phillips married Jane Hickman, daughter of William P. and Louisa C. (Roebuck) Hickman. Five of the eight children born to this union are living: Willie, Gertrude, Addle, Mattie, Maggie E., and Ida. Mrs. Phillips was born in Tuscaloosa county in 1818. Mr. Phillips and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, while he is a member of the Masonic order, and has been a member since 1865. He is one of the true-blue democrats and a worthy citizen of the county. Additional Comments: from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 611-612 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb