McNAIRY COUNTY, TN - HISTORY - Companies in the Civil War
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                Early History of McNairy County
   Information about McNairy County Confederate and Union Military
                  Companies in the Civil War

             McNairy County Independent, October 26, 1923

The article in the last issue closed with reference , to the first
Masonic Lodge instituted in the county, the one at Purdy in October
1848.

At that time N. C. Riggs was the Sheriff of the county; A. A.
Sanders was County Court Clerk; Macklin Cross was Circuit Court
Clerk; Benjamin Wright was register; James Warren was
representative.  These references are made that you may be able to
take in the situation as it was three quarters of a century ago.

It might be interesting t know that this county was organized under
the old militia law.  At first it was known as Regiment 107,  among
whose colonels were J. T. Burtwell, N. C. Riggs, R. D. Wilson and
James Robinson.  One of the lieutenant colonels was F. M.
Massengill. When the Civil War came, the colonels then were John
Campbell, John H. Meeks, O. L. Meeks, J. M. Kirk and W. W. Jeanes.
John Deberry, J. L. Henderson, J. N. Henderson, J. N. Barnhill, J.
D. Young and Isaac Booth were lieutenant colonels.

The Brigadier Generals of the militia were J. M. Meeks and W. D.
Jopling.  On the roll in 1861, there were such men as W. G. McKay,
J. W. Beard, W. J. Masengill, R. W. P. Pool, S. J. Cheney, P. S.
Wisdom, P. W. Martin and Daniel Barry.

When the great war issue come the county voted 1318 for separation,
and 586 against it. "Wright Boys" was the name of the first company
raised in Purdy. This in May, 1861, at Purdy, John V. Wright was
Captain, D. M. Wisdom, first lieutenant, and the other officers
were S. W. Henry, H. S. Pinkston. John P. Johnson. W. S. Rainey,
James Riley and James Houston.  After the formation of the
regiment, John V. Wright was made Colonel, and D. M. Wisdom
Captain.

The second company organized in the county was the McNairy Guards,
and the Captain was Alphonso Cross.  The other officers were A. M.
Covey, J. B. Cross, T. D. Moore, E. L. Sanders, J. D. Page, J. P.
Smith, J. K. Byrn, R. L. Stewart, R. C. Wilkinson, D. P. McKenzie,
J. W. Howell and M. R. Haley. And then the Washingtonians, with
Prof. Alva Johnson as Captain was organized. This was the second
year of the war.  The other officers were Samuel Anderson, T. C.
Wilkinson and J. L. Morphis.

The thirty-second cavalry contained two McNairy Companies, E. and
F. The officers were Albert Cross, John Michie, Albert Casey, M.
Wharton, E. R. Turner, J. R. Adams, Robert Dameron, John Meeks,
John Veal, Alex Winningham, and these companies were under the
command of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Since the county had taken such a positive stand on the then great
issues, many soldiers for both armies were soon in the service.
Gen. Andrew Johnson commissioned Fielding Hurst to raise a regiment
for the Federal army, and, in October 1862, companies A-B-C-D and
G. were raised, and these became the Sixth Union Tennessee Cavalry,
known by many in the county as the "Sixth Tennessee."

This regiment was organized at Bethel Springs, and was mustered
into the service in November, 1862.  The officers of the "Sixth
Tennessee" were Fielding Hurst, Colonel, W. K. M. Breckinride,
lieutenant colonel, E. S. Tidwell and R. M. Thompson, majors, Thos
Williams, Surgeon, Joe E. Morvin, assistant surgeon, W. J. Smith,
quartermaster, F. M. Clayton, Commissary, J. J. Smith chaplain, S.
L. Warren, Adjuant, B. S. Walker, sergeant major, J. F. Tidwell,
hospital steward, J. R. Ray, Regimental quartermaster, J. A.
Locked, regimental commissary sergeant.  At the close of the war,
W. J. Smith was colonel, and S. L. Warren was a Major.

The officers of Company A were A. M. Thompson,  B. J. Riggs and
Samuel Lewis, Captains, the other officers were, J. N. Smith, C. N.
DeFord, Thos Craught and Wm. N. Swain.  Horry Dodges, and Elijah
Hodges were captains of Company B,  and the  other officers were
Samuel D. Hanna, Wm. W. Kirby, and John Huddleston.  Nathan M. D.
Kemp was Captain of Company C, and W. T. Smith and James M. Sanders
were the officers. L. Hurst and J. L. W. Boatman were captains of
Company D, and Zach Norcott and John P. Gibbs, were the other
officers.  J. L. W. Boatman was an officer in Company G. and this
company was composed largely of men from Decatur county.

We would like to publish the roster of the men composing all the
companies that went from McNairy County to the war of the sixties.
No county gave to the armies of the north and south braver soldiers
than those who went from this old county.  The ranks have thinned,
and while they wrote a record of imperishable glory, many of the
names have been forgotten by this younger and newer generation  The
heroic deeds of these men will never be forgotten, and they will
never die.