Montgomery County AlArchives Photo tombstone.....Hails, George Willoughby, Jr. ************************************************ 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: Ronald Bridges bridgesrd@knology.net November 6, 2004, 3:41 pm Source: Oakwood Cemetery, Montgomery, Montgomery Co., AL Name: George Willoughby Hails, Jr. Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/montgomery/photos/tombstones/oakwood/gph1030georgewi.jpg Image file size: 124.4 Kb Confederate marker resting on top of grave slab for George and Susan: GEORGE W HAILS CO F 7 ALA CAV JUN 10 1847 JAN 6 1925 Written on slab: SUSAN TYLER NESBITT Wife of GEO. W. HAILS FEB. 19, 1852 MAR. 12, 1916 GEORGE WILLOUGHBY HAILS JAN. 10, 1847 - JAN. 26, 1925 CO. F 7th ALA CAV RUCKERS BRIGADE C. S. A. Recorded by Ron Bridges on 11 May 2004. Note: The birth dates of month & day for George on his slab are different from his Confederate headstone. His death days are different also. I chose to use the slab dates. Ron Bridges Additional Comments: GWH Entered Cadet Co 7th Alabama Cav `63; Transferred to Miss under Forest, Chalmer’s Div, Rucker’s Brigade; -- Battles: Paris Landing; Johnsonville; Henryville; Coumbia; Spring Hill; Franklin; Nashville; Surrendered with Forest at Gainesville, Alabama. During a Civil War battle in Tennessee Colonel Hails personal horse was killed requiring him to return home to Alabama to secure a replacement horse....during this time his mother (Susan Tyler Nesbitt Hails) had a picture taken of him in his confederate uniform. (Picture in Foster/Hails family photo album) [George Willoughby Hails funeral was well attended by the citizenry of Montgomery. He was buried in his Confederate uniform at Oakwood Cemetery, Montgomery, Alabama.) 1920 U.S. CENSUS: Montgomery, Montgomery County, Alabama: George Willoughby Hails Sr. - widower - age 72 - Assistant County Tax Collector, Sallie Hails - daughter - age 42 - bookkeeper at Cocola Works (Coca-Cola), Francis (Aunt Fannie) Hails - daughter - age 38 - single - Librarian - Carnegie, Anne P. Hails - daughter - age 31 - single "George Willoughby Hails Jr. was a student at the University of Alabama when the War Between the States broke out and joined the Cadet Company under the Seventh Alabama Cavalry. His father George Willoughby Hails Sr. had forbid him to join but finally agreed. He transferred to the North Mississippi Command under General Nathan Bedford Forest, Chalmer's Division, Rucker's Brigade. He saw active fighting at Paris Landing, Johnsonville, Henryville, Columbia, Franklin, Spring Hill and Nashville, Tennessee. Colonel Hails was one of two survivors of the famous University of Alabama Cadet Company. He surrendered with General Forest at Gainesville, Alabama after General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox. His family had given him up for dead, not having heard as a result of the disordered means of communication. Colonel George W. Hails Jr. returned to Montgomery, Alabama on his 18th birthday wearing the ragged gray uniform of a confederate soldier who had seen hard usage and much bloody fighting entirely out of proportion to his years. After the Civil War he early enlisted in the effort of the people of Alabama to throw off the humiliation of the carpet bag rule. It was in the beginning apparently a hopeless fight, with the invaders and the black dupes backed by all the power of the Federal government. It was ultimately victorious because the objectors to it had much of the courage and spirit that characterized Colonel Hails. When the contest was brought to a close successfully in Montgomery county Captain Hails was a man marked by popular gratitude for future political preferment. He was elected tax collector in 1900 and for twenty-four years he was either tax collector or chief deputy in that office. He manifested always the spirit of helpfulness to his old comrades of the Confederate Army. Many of these had not been able to take care of themselves as well as Colonel Hails. They soon found that whether they needed advice or money or were searching for information, he was the proper person to see. And he did much for the preservation in Montgomery of the history of the Confederacy." (1) (1)OBITUARY - GEORGE WILLOUGHBY HAILS JR. - 1925 in the Montgomery, Alabama Advertiser Montgomery Advertiser: following his death on January 25, 1925. A few days after the funeral Circuit Court Judge Walter Jones of Montgomery, Alabama had this to say about Colonel George Willoughby Hails before he convened Court. The year was 1925 and Civil War sentiment for those departing war veterans was very much an occasion to express sentiment of the day. Reconstruction was hard on former Confederate cities like Montgomery. " Before we begin our usual duties this morning, I desire to pause long enough to drop the bier of Captain George W. Hails, in the name of the people of a county which he served with ability and fidelity through many lost years. In war and in peace he served his people with a loyalty and devotion, that never wavered. Whether in the incarnadine fields of battle, or in the quiet walks of every-day life, he was the same: brave, faithful and true. In the dark days when hate and ignorance sought to extinguish forever the light of Anglo-Saxon civilization among a proud and noble people, no southern heart was more unafraid and no southerner walked more fearlessly among his people than George Willoughby Hails. He was a tower of strength in those black days. This court sits today with Anglo-Saxon juries, presided over by an Anglo-Saxon judge of your choice, and Anglo-Saxon justice, that justice which is administered without respect to persons, which does equal right to the poor and to the rich, is administered here because of the sacrifices and struggles of George W. Hails and his comrades who fought with General Robert E. Lee and General Stonewall Jackson under that stainless banner which was forever furled at Appomattox." File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/montgomery/photos/tombstones/oakwood/gph1030georgewi.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 6.3 Kb