Category: Documents

Dear Nephew-

I received your welcome letter on the night of the 16th, dated 31st of May. I was very anxious to hear from you and you seem anxious to hear from us. We are all up, but not well, except G. W. King.

You wanted to know the results of this skirmish at Jackson, Miss. There were only five companies of the 46th Ga., in it. They were the first five. I know but little about any but Co. D. – which was as follows. Killed, Lt. Gunn, wounded, Lt. L. D. Monroe, severely in the hip and thigh, the ball striking near the hip joint and passing down the bone to the knee joint. Brother G. W. King in the left arm about two inches below the shoulder joint, passing through the flesh three or four inches. I don’t think the bone is effected – very little if at all. Jas. P. Lunsford in the leg a little below the ankle, J. L. Pollard in the left thumb.

Prisoners, Jas. Lawson, Thos. Guy, Lt. L. D. Monroe was taken. The fight lasted but a little while, but was very hot for the time. Men transferred from the 10th Ga. and the 2nd Ga. to this Regt. represent it to be the most desperate fight they were ever in.

The Yanks were on three sides of us when we retreated. We scattered very much from the fact that it was the only chance to escape. There were only seven or eight hundred on our side engaged, while the Yanks had ten or fifteen thousand.

Gen. Johnston did not intend to hold the place, but merely to give the citizens time to leave the town and to move a few of the Government stores, or what he could.

This is a bad country for soldiering. It is a badly watered country. We have to use pond water. It is hot enough for dish water.

I expect we will start towards Vicksburg in a few days, But whether we will get there or not, I can’t tell. We have no direct news from Vicksburg, but what we have is favorable. The report is that Grant has been strongly reenforced.

You don’t say how you are getting along with your music, or anything about your last fight.

I forgot to say how the wounded boys were doing. They were doing finely the last time I heard from them, which was about a week ago. I have not heard from home since I have been in this state.

Nothing more at present.

J. R. King

Co. D. 46th Ga.

Walker’s Division

Gist Brigade

Direct your letters to Jackson, Miss.

John Rufus King was one of three brothers, the three youngest sons of Henry King and Elizabeth Lee, that joined the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Of these, only two would return – John Rufus King and Garry Wood King. The youngest son, Jesse Stephen King, was wounded in the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain and died of his wounds a few days later.

It is said that his body was returned home where his mother dressed him in his Confederate uniform and buried him beneath an apple tree. Family history has it that she never recovered from her broken heart, and she died only two years later, many years before her husband passed away.

In the King family cemetery, located on the ancestral King lands on what is now Fort Benning, a beautiful white marble ledger stone is laid in the same plot as Henry King and Elizabeth Lee. This illegible stone almost certainly marks the grave of Jesse Stephen King.

Unknown date in 1944; unknown newspaper. From the King-Fisher Sisters’ Collection.

Miss Fisher Weds Lt. Hal F. King

SENATOBIA, Miss. – Mrs. Eudina C. Fisher, of Senatobia, Miss., announces the marriage of her daughter, Miss Ora Jeane Fisher, to Lieutenant Hal Foster King, son of Mr. and Mrs. G. W. King, of Cusseta, Ga.

The ceremony took place June 4 at the home of the bride’s grandparents, the Rev and Mrs. A. T. Cinnamond, of Senatobia, Miss., with Mr. Cinnamond officiating. The bride wore a tailored ivory two-piecesuit with matching accessories and a corsage of sweet peas and babybreath.

Mrs. King was graduated from Senatobia High School and attended Bowling Green, Ky., Business College, where she was a member of the Delta Theta.

Lieutenant King was studying electrical engineering at Georgia Tech when he enlisted in the Air Corps. He was a member of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity. He received his wings at Jackson, Miss., Air Field and is now taking training as a fighter pilot in Tallahassee, Fla., where the couple will make their home.

The death certificate of Georgia Rogers lists her date of birth as December 18, 1843 and death as June 1, 1920. Her death was due to spinal cord paralysis, with a weak heart as a contributing cause. Her father is listed as W G Wilkinson, and her mother as Eliza Ann King. The informant was Kate Rogers.

From the Berks County Reading Eagle, August 24, 1947.

Four Killed as Plane Explodes in Virginia

GALAX, Va. Aug 23 [AP] A single-engine plane, groping through the mists that shrouded the rugged peaks of southwest Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains exploded and smashed into a hillside 20 miles west of here today killing its four occupants.

First reports identified the aircraft as an army ship but state police said later it was a Beechcraft civilian trainer from the McKeen Flying School in Columbus, Ga.

The dead were identified as: Maj. Neil Taylor, Greenwood, Miss.; Capt. W. M. Lavancher, Columbus, Ga.; Lieut. George Kish, Fort Benning, Ga.; and Gary Wood King, Columbus, Ga.

Note: McKeen Flying School should probably be King’s Flying School; there were no schools by the name of McKeen in the area. See King’s School of Aviation.

The death certificate of William Henry Harp lists his date of birth as September 20, 1858 and death as September 10, 1923. His death was due to paralysis from unknown causes. His spouse is listed as Minnie Harp, his father as Lafayete Harp, and his mother as Callie King. The informant was R. L. Harp.

The death certificate of Peter Green Wilkinson lists his date of birth as March 22, 1848 and death as July 31, 1926. His cause of death was uremic poisoning due to kidney insufficiency, after a sickness of several months. His spouse is not listed. His father is listed as W. G. Wilkinson and mother as Eliza Ann King. The informant was Mary Rogers.

The death certificate of Miriam Elizabeth Cody lists her date of birth as May 19, 1870 and death as March 26, 1925. Cause of death was hypostatic pneumonia, with a secondary cause of paralysis. Her spouse’s name is listed as W. E. Cody, her father as Wood King, and her mother as Alice King. The informant was Garry W. Cody.

The death certificate of Garry Wood King lists his date of birth as July 7, 1836 and death as December 8, 1925. His cause of death was influenza, of 7 days duration, with senility listed as a contributory cause. His spouse is listed as Alice King, father as Henry King, and mother’s last name as Lee. The informant was G. W. King, Jr.

The World War I Draft Registration Card of Geronimo Way King lists his date of birth as October 24, 1886. His occupation is listed as supply merchant and farmer. He notes that he has attained the rank of private in the state military and has served three years. He is of medium height and build, with dark hair and grey eyes.

The World War I Draft Registration Card of Big John King lists his date of birth as August 15, 1888. His occupation is listed as farmer, and he claims a wife and two children solely dependent upon him for support. He is of medium height and slender build, with black hair and brown eyes.