Perhaps we should...

That is how we left it after viewing the 1850 Federal census for Itawamba County, Mississippi. It is a mystery as to how Martha Miller Carr, Charles Carr, George Carr and Margaret Carr are related. It appears evident, through subsequent records, that all of George's children with the exception of George Luther, the youngest, were born in Alabama. So it seems that the George Miller Carr family was in Itawamba County, Mississippi only temporarily and coincidentally at the time of the census enumeration. To engage in pure speculation, suppose that Martha Miller Carr, who was 76 years of age, was seriously ill and the family had gathered to be with her when she passed from this world.

The George Miller Carr family, it is believed, continued to live in Alabama until about 1855. A check of the land records in the Marion County Courthouse would reveal when George sold the land he owned in Marion County. This something for further research.

The George Miller Carr family arrived in Attala County between 1855 and 1857 and settled in the northeast portion of the county on land near Bear Creek. If Martha Miller Carr was still living, maybe she made the trip with them. Charles may have also been tempted to migrate further west, but this is doubtful. Charles, Martha and Margaret have not been located in the 1860 census in Mississippi or Alabama. Martha most likely passed over. Margaret probably got married. But what of Charles, the shoemaker? He would have been only 53 years old in 1860. Yet, a search has not turned up Charles anywhere in 1860.

The search for early records continues...

Let's recap a little. The Carr family of Virginia appears to have migrated from Virginia to North Carolina. Charles Carr was born in North Carolina in 1807. Margaret Carr is shown to have been born in North Carolina as well (1825). Odd, unless she is Charles' daughter and they were still in North Carolina in 1840. The Carr family, or some portion of it, then made it's way to Alabama, although as yet, few records have been located in Alabama that would place the family there. George, who was born in 1822, consistently reported his place of birth as Alabama. Yet, as noted above, Margaret who was born in 1825 was shown in the 1850 census as having been born in North Carolina. So, although some have concluded that George and Margaret were brother and sister, it seems increasingly likely that their relationship was that of first cousins. It appears that George's family reached Alabama prior to Margaret's. Again, pure speculation. It is also possible that the 1850 census is incorrect as to Margaret's birth place.

Records do exist showing that a George Miller Carr purchased land in Marion County Alabama in 1846. And, one cannot lose sight of the fact that George Miller Carr's family was in Itawamba County when the 1850 Federal census was taken. Yet, some of his sons that were born between 1850 and 1857 and are shown on subsequent censuses as having been born in Alabama. Could the person that talked to the census enumerator have been mistaken? Is it possible that they simply did not know? This will be explored a little more a little later.

As we have noted, George and his family were in Itawamba by 1850. They have been placed in Attala County by the mid 1850's (History of Bear Creek Baptist Church). Some researchers believe that they may have been in Vaiden in Carroll County for a time before reaching Attala County. This is a possibility. There are Carr’s' in Carroll County. Are they related? No connection is known at this time, but surely George Miller Carr was not an only child. He must have had brothers and sisters, most likely older than he. Did they precede him in migrating to Mississippi? Did some of them settle in Carroll County? Was George simply following a trail blazed by older siblings? If anyone knows of a possible connection between George Miller Carr and the Carr’s' of Carroll County, please let us know.

If the Carr family didn't remove to Carroll before migrating to Attala County, one might surmise that since the Natchez Trace (which runs from Nashville to Natchez), passes through Tupelo (Itawamba County) and Kosciusko (Attala County), and is only a short distance from where the Carr family settled, that they may have gone directly from Itawamba County to Attala following the Old Natchez Trace. But this is very unlikely. The Nashville to Natchez Road, which was originally a small game and Indian trail, was used by white settlers, boatmen returning north following a float trip down the Mississippi River, and even for slave trains in route to the cotton plantations in Natchez, and as a postal route for carrying mail between the two points. In the 1780's an 90's it was used extensively by Tennessee and Kentucky backwoodsmen and farmers that transported goods and produce to New Orleans down river routes to return to their homelands. This period was known as the "Boatmen's Era".

With the establishment of the Mississippi Territory in 1798 the Nashville to Natchez Road became the primary road into the territory. By 1801 the government recognized the need for improvements and began to take steps to create a National Road for the conveyance of commerce and the post. But it virtually ceased to be used as a means of transport, commerce, and communication by 1820. The road quickly lapsed into an anonymity that would last for more than a hundred years. The road reverted to wilderness along much of its way and soon passed into oblivion.

By the 1850's, the Trace would have been overgrown and virtually unusable. Any number of roads, even though they too were of poor construction and difficult to pass during inclement weather, existed between communities by the time that George Carr and his family relocated to Attala County and any speculation as to their route would be pure conjecture. View a map of Mississippi for 1855.

After Henry Alexander Carr's birth in 1850, George and Aminda would have three more children, all boys. Marcus Alonzo Carr was born in 1852, Joseph Miller Carr in 1855 and George Luther Carr in 1857. Based on the above scenario, one would presume that all four were born in Mississippi. Yet, the 1860 census shows Henry, Marcus and Joseph as having been born in Alabama and only George Luther as having been born in Mississippi. Go figure! Of course, the enumerator may have made a mistake. The person giving the information may not have known for sure, but who would have given the information to the enumerator other than George or Aminda? Well, in truth, any number of people without adequate knowledge could have provided the information. It would appear evident that they were born in Mississippi unless, the family was in Itawamba County only temporarily and even then still had property in Alabama, returning there shortly after the 1850 census. It would only have been necessary for the family to have been in Mississippi for one day in 1850 to be included in the census for Mississippi. Henry was shown to have been born in Mississippi on the 1850 censes but later in life reports his birth place as Alabama. Could his birth place be incorrect on the 1850 census?

Yes, It is entirely possible that the family of George Miller Carr may have been in Itawamba County only temporarily and perhaps they returned to Marion County, Alabama for a period before migrating to Attala County, Mississippi. They may well have resided for a time in Carroll County. Just about anything is possible. But there is no evidence to support any of these possible scenarios. As previously stated, land records in Marion County, Alabama would shed light on when the property was sold and perhaps help in the determination as to when the family left Alabama.

Interestingly, on the 1870 census, Marcus and Joseph were shown to have been born in Mississippi, as was Aminda. The birth place of the sons of George and Aminda continues to be a mystery in the ensuing years. In 1880, Marcus is shown to have been born in Alabama, Joseph is also shown to have been born in Alabama, and Aminda is once again shown to have been born in Alabama. In all subsequent censuses, Marcus and Joseph are shown to have been born in Alabama. Obviously, someone, at various times incorrectly reported the place of birth for at least three of George's sons. We may never know for sure where they were born, but the search goes on. As you view subsequent census transcriptions you will come to recognize that many wives did not know where there husbands were born and reported the information incorrectly.

With the arrival of the George Miller Carr family in Attala County, they settled in an area along Bear Creek a short distance east of the old Natchez Trace in the northeast part of the county. It is a section that was designated Beat 2, as the county was divided into five beats. More specifically, they settled in Township 16, Range 9 East. George Miller Carr does not appear to have purchased a land patent on any property in Attala County. A search of the land records does not reveal such a purchase. The book "Attala County Mississippi Pioneers" by Betty C. Wiltshire includes extracts from the Attala County deed book, which would have covered the time frame in which George Miller Carr would have purchased land from a speculator, but the name CARR does not appear anywhere in the book. A search of the Attala County land records would shed light on the purchase and subsequent sale of the land. George Carr, who apparently went by the name Miller Carr, was active in the Bear Creek Baptist Church and served as a Deacon and a delegate to the annual Baptist Association meeting for the years 1868, 1870 through 1875, 1878 and 1879. View the History of the Bear Creek Baptist Church. You may prefer to postpone a review of the off-site web site for the "History of the Bear Creek Baptist Church". You can find a link to the church site on the main page.

Many of the later settlers (those that emigrated after 1850) that came to Attala County may have purchased their land from earlier settlers that had decided to move further west or perhaps from land speculators. Frequently the land purchased from speculators was purchased on credit and usually consisted of about 160 acres at a cost of from two to three dollars an acre. The agreement would call for the farmer to repay in one, two or three years, with interest at six percent per annum. If the farm was planted in cotton, the farmer could produce three to four bales of cotton on his acreage. Each bale would gross about fifty dollars. In an exceptionally good year, an industrious small farmer might produce five bales on the same acreage. A gross revenue of some two hundred and fifty dollars. However, after taking out the cost of bagging and rope, and ginning and pressing, and paying his accumulated store bills for coffee, molasses and other commodities, there was but little left for luxuries.

From the 1850 census statistics we learn that the total population of Attala County, at that time, was recorded at 10,991 individuals. There were 1,431 dwellings and 1,336 farms in cultivation. Of the total population, 7,571 were white and 3,420 were black.

Upon the arrival of the Carr family in Attala County, the area around Bear Creek was sparsely populated. The towns of Ethel and McCool, which would be close by in time, did not exist until the coming of the railroad in the 1880's. The nearest small community was at Liberty Chapel, located in an area known as Little Georgia because it was originally settled by a large group of families that had migrated from Georgia. Once in the area of Bear Creek a house had to be built, land cleared of vegetation for cultivation and the family had to be fed. One can only imagine the hardships that the family endured. The oldest of George's sons would have been about 10 years of age. The girls would have been about 12 and 15 years of age and they, no doubt, would have been a big help to Aminda in looking after the younger boys and helping with the housework, cooking and washing.

The original structure that the Miller Carr family would call home was most likely a log cabin. More likely than not, it probably followed the pattern of the area, a cabin of the 'dog trot' variety, so named because of the open area through the center with living and kitchen areas on either side. The structure would have been crude having been built of hand hewn logs with the cracks between being chinked with dried mud. Perhaps they initially occupied a house that already stood on the property. Either way, the family would, no doubt, at a later date build a house utilizing lumber that had been cut and planed at a local saw mill. Because of the difficulty of travel it is not likely that the family brought much in the way of fine furnishings over the distance they had to travel. As a result, the furniture would have also been somewhat crude and meager. The family would have to grow most of what it needed for subsistance. Some items, such as coffee, sugar, salt, flour, tobacco and such would have to be purchased either from a small country general store or on an infrequent trip to Kosciusko. More often than not, the family probably lived without benefit of these items in the early days. Frequently, in rural Mississippi, maple syrup would be substituted for sugar when it was desired that food or beverage be sweetened. In those early days of settlement, most if not all of the family's clothing would be home spun. Spinning wheels and looms were to be found in all wagons coming into the county and in nearly all of the cabins.

During the 1850's, Attala County was served by two newspapers, The Kosciusko Chronicle and The Southern Sun. The Southern Sun's editor was W. D. Roy, a Scotsman who had come to Mississippi early in life and had become an ardent supporter of the South. It was a time of intense political debate and at the election polls, the Democrats and the Know Nothings would engage in fierce political battles to put their respective candidates into office. Mr. Roy was a Democrat and a man of great wit. In one of his editorials in the mid 1850's he wrote an article titled "Another Addition to the Union" in which he stated:

"We understand that during the next session of Congress, a proposition to admit a New State will be brought forward by a member whose time is nearly running out, and who having been rather backward in legislative activity, is extremely anxious to do something for his country's good before he retires from public life to his rural home. It is to be named the "State of Stupidity" and the governor will be elected from the mutton headed members of the Congressional body."

Kosciusko and Attala County were dependent on the stage or mail coach for public transportation around the county. The mails ran on a regular schedule:

The Southern Mail, from Jackson arrived every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday about 3 o' clock and the mail left immediately after opening and bagging for Columbus. The Northern Mail from Columbus arrived every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday about 3 o' clock and left immediately for Jackson. Local mail runs to Bluff Springs, Attalaville and Newport were run every Wednesday and Saturday. The mail to the North to Planters Post Office, French Camp, Bankston and Greensboro left every Wednesday morning at 5 o' clock and returned on Tuesday evening and service to Burketsville, Rocky Point, Wheeling, Lockhart's Store and Lexington left every Monday morning at 7 o' clock and returned on Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. The Post Office in Kosciusko was open until 9 each night.

Travel was arduous and trips by the mail coach were often hazardous with breakdown of the coach and horses not unusual as road were nearly impassable in bad weather. However, in 1855 a new bridge was built across the Yockanookany River. It was an arched bridge 1,160 feet long. Although it was operated as a toll bridge, it greatly shortened the trip to Louisville and all points south. The telegraph came to Attala County in the mid 1850's and a telegraph line ran from Canton to Kosciusko and thence southeast from Kosciusko to Louisville along the "Wire Road"; so named because of the fact that the telegraph line paralleled the road.

As 1960 approached, it was a time of turmoil and upheaval. The tensions brought about by the controversy of 'free' vs. 'slave' states and the possibility of southern states seceding would have been a topic of discussion and speculation, even in this remote area of Mississippi.

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The 1860 Federal census showed that Attala County had a population of 14,169 souls. Of this number, 9,142 were white, 5,015 were slaves and 10 were listed as free coloreds. Only 692 individuals were listed as slave owners and a goodly number of these had less than three slaves. The largest number of slaves owned by a single individual was 96. Only eight men owned more than 50 slaves. The vast majority of the farmers in the county operated small farms primarily to provide feed for their livestock and to provide subsistence for their families and had no slaves at all. George Miller Carr was not listed on the Slave Schedules as ever having owned any slaves.

In 1860 the Federal census for Attala County listed the members of the George Miller Carr family thusly:

Note that Aminda is shown to have been born in Georgia although on all previous and most subsequent censuses show her to have been born in Alabama. The previous census indicates Alabama. Her parents were born in Georgia, but she is believed to have been born in Alabama although no documentation has been located to prove or disprove her birth place. In the 1870 census, oddly enough, her birth place is shown as Mississippi and in 1880, Alabama. Also, note that Henry, Marcus, and Joseph are shown to have been born in Alabama. If this is true, then the family could not have arrived in Attala County until after 1857.

Also noteworthy is the fact that Martha, who would have been 18 is no longer in the household. One would assume that she most likely got married after their arrival in Attala County. A search of the 1860 census for an 18 year old recently married woman might help to determine a likely prospect. Mary M. McDonald, George's step-daughter is now 15 years of age and would depart the house in the next few years. George Luther, the youngest of George and Aminda's children is 3 years old and is reported to have been born in Mississippi. George Luther would die before the next census was taken. The time or circumstance of his death is not known. He is most likely buried in an unmarked grave in Bear Creek Cemetery.

It was the beginning of the third decade since Attala County was formed. The white populace in the county had increased by 21% since 1850. The slave population had grown by 46% during the same period. The 1860 population figures revealed that Attala County was home to 9,142 whites, 5,015 slaves, 10 free blacks and two Indians. Farming continued to be the main occupation of the populace. But, manufacturing was also coming to Attala County. Atwood's Gin Factory, located about six miles west of Kosciusko employed 40 males and one woman. There was a jug factory near Dossville that employed four people and produced 6,000 gallon jugs and another 6,000 gallon jars. The Rochester Mill in Beat 2 was both a saw mill and a grist mill. The mill produced window sashes and blinds and cording. Power was provided by a 40 horsepower steam engine. The J. T. Mathis & Co. employed seven in flour, grist and saw mill operation. Many blacksmiths and wood workers operated throughout the county. Cabinet makers, tanners, a carriage maker, steam mills, saw mills and grist mills were in operation as well. The county had its share of merchants, doctors, lawyers, teachers and ministers. Most of the 'Professional' people would have located in Kosciusko.

As noted above, although manufacturing was evident in Attala County, the vast majority of the citizens of Attala County were engaged in farming. And, as was the case through out the South, the use of slave labor was in evidence in Attala County as well. However, there were only a few large plantations in Attala County during this period. Cotton was the primary crop of Mississippi during the period and cotton was the principle crop grown in Attala County. Yet, most small farmers in Attala County did not grow substantial quantities of cotton. Indian corn, wheat, rye, oats, rice, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans and peas, rice and sugar cane were the some of the crops that the large plantation owners grew. The small farmers would grow similar crops on a smaller basis, and not all of these different varieties on a single farm as might be the case on the larger establishments. Each farm would also have a small family garden where the vegetables that were served on the dinner table would be grown. Yes there were over 5,000 slaves in the county in 1860 and some were owned by small farms, but Attala County was not known as a prominent slave holding county. In 1860 there were only 692 slave owners in the county and nearly half that number owned more than three slaves. And even at that, there were only nine men in the county that owned more than fifty slaves each.

There is absolutely no evidence that the George Miller Carr family ever owned slaves. Slave schedules were a part of the census enumeration in 1850 and 1860. His name does not appear on the Slave Schedules for 1860 for Attala County. The Carr farm in Attala County was a family enterprise whose purpose was to sustain the family and perhaps to provide some meager earnings with which to purchase staples that could not be raised on the farm. This family and this farm would have been typical for most farms in the area. That is not to say that the Carr's or any of the other small farmers that did not own slaves did this out of some sense of probity, which is certainly possible, but slave labor, although referred to as "free" labor, was expensive. Slaves were considered property and had to be purchased the same as other commodities and always for cash. A slave at auction could fetch anywhere from $800 to $1,200 or more. A typical advertisement distributed at a slave auction appears below:

 
Best Men, 18 to 25 years old . . . . 1200 to 1300 dollars
Fair    do,     do,     do,  . . . .  950 to 1050    "   
Boys, 5 feet . . . . . . . . . . . .  850 to  950    "   
Do.,  4 feet 8 inches  . . . . . . .  700 to  800    "
Do.,  4 feet 5 inches  . . . . . . .  500 to  600    "    
Do.,  4 feet . . . . . . . . . . . .  375 to  450    "    
Young women  . . . . . . . . . . . .  800 to 1000    "   
Girls 5 feet . . . . . . . . . . . .  750 to  850    "    
Do.,  4 feet 9 inches  . . . . . . .  700 to  750    "    
Do.,  4 feet . . . . . . . . . . . .  350 to  450    "   

Whether one agreed with slavery as an institution or not, it had existed in the Colonies and subsequently in the States of the Union from the very beginning. It was a fact of life in the South and the Southern economy presumably hinged on its continuance. Or, at least that was the thinking at the time. Many slave owners professed to abhor slavery and stated flatly that they too would like to see it abolished, but could see no way that this could be accomplished without ruin to all concerned.

Northern abolitionist were very active and outspoken during this period. The movement to abolish slavery through out the states and territories was growing. In the South there were those that felt strongly that slavery as an institution was morally right and proper and must be sustained at all cost. There are instances of articles that refer to the ulcerous and polluting agencies issuing fron the hot-beds of abolition fanaticism. In one instance, the efforts of the abolitionist was claimed to extend to text books printed in the North and used by Southern schools and academies. The following is a published article that appeared in De Bow's Review and is of that ilk:

"Our text books are abolition books. They are so to the extent of their capacity...We have been too careless and indifferent to the import of these things"

"And so we as long as we use such works as "Wayland's Moral Science," and the abolition gerographies, readers, and histories, overrunning, as they do, with all sorts of slanders, caricatures, and blood-thirsty sentiments, let us never complain of their (northern Church people's) use of that transitory romance ("Uncle Tom's Cabin"). They seek to array our children, by false ideas, against the established ordinance of God; and it sometimes takes effect. A professor in one of our Southern seminaries, not long since placed in the hands of a pupil "Wayland's Moral Science," and informed her that the chapter on slavery was heretical and unscriptual, and that she would not be examined on that chapter, and need not study it. Perhaps she didn't. But on the day of examination she wished her teacher to tell her "if that chapter was heretical how she was to know but they were all so?"

In 1860, Civil War is less than a year away. In the election that was held in November 1860, Abraham Lincoln had won the plurality vote and would become the sixteenth President of these United States. He, a republican, ran on a ticket that would leave the Southern slave states as they were but required any western territory that desired to enter the Union as a new state to do so as a 'free' state. His primary opponent, Stephen A. Douglass, a democrat and a polished and respected politician and member of the Senate, ran on a ticket that would have given any territory desiring to become a state the choice between entering the Union either as a 'free' state or as a 'slave' state. There was a third candidate whose name is lost to history. This third candidate was also a democrat and as a result of there being two democratic candidates, the ticket was split effectively giving the election to Lincoln.

The Southern slave states and particularly the large influential plantation owners, were greatly distressed with the election of Abraham Lincoln. Although Lincoln had stressed that he had no plans for eliminating slavery in the slave states, the Southern Aristocracy simply did not believe that this would be the case once he took office. South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860 followed closely by Mississippi. By the time of Abraham Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, 1861 most of the slave states (three border states voted to remain loyal to the Union) had followed South Carolina's lead and seceded from the Union. With the firing on Fort Sumpter, a Federal garrison in Charleston Harbor, on April 5, 1861 the question of states rights and of slavery would be settled by the roar of cannon, and the blast of arms and the blood of the Nation's finest. The Civil War had begun. Many believed it would be over in a matter of three months, but it would last four, long, bloody years.

With the outbreak of War, in Attala County companies of soldiers were being organized. The "Minute Men of Attala" was accepted into state service on April 19, 1861. The men of the unit were mustered into service at Corinth, Mississippi on May 13, 1861 and the unit served gallantly throughout the war with the Army of Northern Virginia. The "Long Creek Rifles" were also organized shortly after the outbreak of the war. Organized at Bluff Springs, this unit was mustered into the service of the Confederacy at Corinth on May 28, 1861 and was assigned to Company A of the 15th Mississippi Infantry Regiment. The "Long Creek Rifles" were in numerous engagements including; Shiloh, the siege of Vicksburg, the defense of Resaca, Georgia and the Battle of Atlanta and the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee. They were paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina and returned to Mississippi in December, 1863.

Other military units from Attala included the following:

"Rocky Point Rifles" (Co B, 48th Infantry Regiment)
"Center Marksmen" (Co K, 4th Infantry Regt.)
"Benela Sharpshooters" (Co I, 4th Infantry Regt.)
"Attala Yellowjackets" (Co B, 4th Infantry Regt.)
"Dixie Heroes" (Co D, 30th Infantry Regt.)
"Attala Rebels" (Co C, 40th Infantry Regt.)
"Attala Guards" (Co. D, 40th Infantry Regt.)
"Pillow Guards" (Co. I, 1st Infantry Regt.)
"Attala Rangers" (State Troops)
"Davis Guards" (Co. L, 1st Infantry Regt.)
"Attala County Cavalry" (State Troops)

Many from Attala that did not wish to serve in infantry units, entered the service of the Confederacy by serving in cavalry units. One such unit with a number of Attala County men on its roster was the 5th Mississippi Cavalry which distinguished itself at Shiloh, Bryce's Crossroads and other battles where it served under the command of General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Records maintained in Attala County show that in 1863 there were 1,526 men from Attala County in service; in 1864 the number serving was 1,705 and just prior to the close of the war, there were 1,748. This essentially meant that fully one-third of all white males of Attala County of all ages were in military service with the Confederate States Army. This would translate that about one-half of all adult white males were in the service of the Confederacy when General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Southern forces at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on the 9th of April, 1865.

Although Attala County was not the scene of any major battles during the war, Yankee troops passed through Attala and Kosciusko on a number of occasions. Jason Niles, a prominent Attala County judge made a notation in his diary on February 24, 1864:

"Again clear and spring like. All awaiting the Yankees. Many of the population had disappeared, and the 'Yanks' not coming as soon as we had expected... In a few minutes they came in sight. A few scattered themselves over the town, going to the stables, looking for horses, and one went to the Courthouse, burst' open the office doors, etc. But the main column traversed the street, and made no stay. They took Lewis's 3 mules and 1 horse - took the cash out of Dan Comfort's safe, Dan's Negro boy (Dan), two mules and a horse and whatever goods they could pillage out of his drug store. He opened his safe to them and they took $3, 4, or 5000 in cash - $200 or $300 in gold - took a saddle from Jim Rimmer, old Addkison's purse & saddle & saddle bags. The column was 38 minutes in passing. They took Joab's meat & all his clothes....Negroes talking of following them."

It was about this time (1864) that the Confederate Legislature passed a new military bill and suspended the writ of Habeas corpus for 90 days. Conscription was ordered for those between ages 17 and 50. More and more families were seeking exemption from military service, and deserters and bushwhackers were posing a serious threat to law and order.

In November, 1864 Lincoln was re-elected. By December 16, 1864 Confederate desertions and efforts to avoid conscription increased, and relief of the poor and destitute was a major concern in Attala County. In early 1865 the reports of the burning of Greensboro, Bankston, Winona, Vaiden and West Station were received. Then news of the collapse of the Confederacy and the burning of Richmond, the surrender of Lee, the assignation of Lincoln eventually reached Attala County. The men from Attala County in the service of the Confederacy surrendered, were paroled and returned home; many would never return.

Soldier sons returning, slaves freed, Confederate currency worthless and the country destitute, the people of Attala County and, indeed, the people of the South would face the difficult days of reconstruction that lie ahead.

There is no reason to believe that George Carr or any of his sons served in the military. George would have been 39 when the war started. George's oldest son, James Robert Carr was only 13 at the outbreak of the war. Yet, some direct descendants of James Robert Carr believe that he entered the war at age 14 and served for a period of time, but no attempt, on my part, has been undertaken to prove or disprove this belief. Henry, the next eldest was only 11 years of age when the war began and would have been only 15 when the war ended.

Since the above paragraph was composed, a J. R. Carr, Pvt Co B of the 1st Mississippi Battalion was located in the book "For Dixie Land I'll take my Stand" by H. Grady Howell. Also, through other research, this individual has been shown on the rolls of the First Mississippi Battalion as James Carr. It is not known if this indeed James Robert Carr of Attala County without benefit of further research of the records held by the Mississippi State Archives and History Department. There are also entries in the rolls for a James Carr having served with Company F' of the 16th Miss Infantry and with Company A' of the the 25th Mississippi Infantry. These are believed to be three different individuals.

Although Company B' (Red Rebels) of the 1st Mississippi Battalion was raised in Holmes County this does not rule out James Robert Carr's having served with this unit. Because of his young age when the war broke out, it is not likely that he enlisted or joined when the initial compnaies were being formed. If he enlisted as an individual at a later date, he would have been assigned to an existing unit already in the field.

The 1st Mississippi Battalion, known as the "sharpshooters", distinquished itself in a number of battles. It took part in the Battle of Corinth in October 1862 and it participated in the Battle of Atlanta in the failed attempt to stop Sherman's March to the Sea. They were present at Resaca north of Atanta, in the trenches in Atlanta proper and they were at Lickskillet Road to the south. The unit was also engaged at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee in late 1864. Franklin was a particularly difficult confrontation for the Southern units and they suffered many casualties. The 1st Mississippi Battalion wintered in Tupelo until the spring of 1865 and fought their last battle at Burtonsville, North Carolina on March 19-21, 1865.

At wars end, the citizens of Attala County, for the most part, survived, the South survived, the slaves were emancipated and the Union was again United. But, for Attala County and the South, hard times lay ahead. The citizens of Attala County spent much time discussing Lincoln's emancipation of the Negro slaves and its effect on the county. In 1865 the United States Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution which abolished enslavement in the United States. The Mississippi Constitutional Convention met in August of that year and Slavery clauses in the former State constitution were derogated and a prohibitory clause inserted. The convention declared null and void acts of the legislature regarding secession. President Andrew Johnson promised to remove troops from Mississippi as soon as possible. Although the white citizens had feared a black uprising, the blacks that had been slaves were under control and were governed without riots or bloodshed. Some, enjoying there new-found freedom left the county, while many others continued to work for their former masters.

In 1868 the United States Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution granting rights and priviledges of American citizenship to African Americans.

The Ku Klux Klan existed in Attala County at this time, but only about 75 men were members. It is said that the organization in Attala County was composed mostly of good men and that they conducted themselves on a high plane. No Klansman was ever arrested or tried in the county which would infer that the Klan was not a very active organization.

Western Union built its first transcontinental telegraph line in 1861, mainly along railroad rights-of-way. In the ensuing years, following the Civil War, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia (1867), President Andrew Johnson faced an impeachment trial and General Ulysses S. Grant was elected President of the United States.