MOULTRIE- The Moultrie McNeill 661 UDC chapter held their Confederate Memorial Service under the beautiful magnolia trees at the Historic Moultrie Courthouse by their UDC monument last week.

In attendance was President Sheila Tucker of the John B. Gordon 383 chapter in Thomasville and her husband Bruce Tucker, Associate member of the John K. McNeill Camp 674 in Moultrie. The couple were invited to participate in reading several of the names of the soldiers that left from Colquitt County. The names they read out included their related ancestors which included Tillman and Tucker names, as well as others.

President Faye Bridwell led the service. She began by saying, “We are honoring the first group of soldiers to leave from these very grounds during the Northern Aggression.” Company H, 50th Regiment, Georgia Infantry departed on March 04, 1862 from a county of only 1,363 citizens. There would be a 139 men who participated in some 49 battles assigned to the Army of Tennessee, then to the Army of Northern Virginia under the command of General Robert E. Lee.

By April of 1865, the Southern soldiers were exhausted and out of food. There were about 10,000 Southern soldiers being out numbered to the Northern soldiers in the state of Virginia. The Southern soldiers were expecting to find food at the Amelia Court House on April 5th, but there was none to be found. So, they left and and found themselves accidentally divided as a group, which gave the Northern Army a chance to surround them. Bridwell stated, “They became vastly outnumbered on April 6, 160 years ago today in the area of Saylor’s Creek.”

These soldiers at times fought hand-to hand until a little after 5:00 p.m. The Southern Army then found themselves surrounded by about 20 Northern Army cannons.
The Southern soldiers were captured. Many of them died on the battlefield, while others were taken prisoner and sent to Northern prison camps. Those that did not die were not released until June of 1865. The formal surrender was held April 12, 1865. Only seven men from the Colquitt County Company attended that occasion.
Throughout their three years of the War Between the States, only 21 of them escaped capture, injury, or death.

Bridwell concluded, “We are here to remember them today on the very grounds they left from. Some 77 of this company did not survive to return home. It was a death rate of 44% of the Colquitt County soldiers. They have not been forgotten. We appreciate the sacrifices they made.”
The Service then ended with a Confederate Firing Squad giving a 21 gun salute and the playing of “Taps.” Wreaths were placed on the monument.