Biographies, Photos and Anecdotes
Company G

Pvt. James Terrell Bailey

The Grenada Sentinel, Oct. 17, 1908

Mr. J. T. Bailey Drops Dead on Duty

Mr. J. T. Bailey found dead at an earlier hour at the Grenada Oil Mill last Saturday night. He was on duty as night watchman, a place he had filled for quite a long while, and had made but a few rounds when some one found him. He was almost lifeless and breathed but a few times afterward. Mr. Bailey was a quiet, unostentatious, peaceable, law abiding citizen. He was kindhearted and obliging and endeavored to cultivate the most cordial relations with all. He was a Confederate soldier and had met the issues of life since the war with the same fortitude that he faced shot and shell during the trying times from 1861 to 1865. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church. He is survived by several grown children all of whom are highly esteemed in the community. His remains were laid to rest in the Hope graveyard eight miles west of Grenada.

Mr. Bailey enlisted in Co. G, 33rd Miss. on April 13, 1862, at Grenada. He was listed as MIA on July 20, 1864, but then appeared on the list of POWs at Camp Douglas, Illinois, July 30, 1864. He signed the oath on June 17, 1865.

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Pvt. Alfred Thomas Childress

Alfred Thomas Childress was a member of Co. G, of the 33rd Mississippi Infantry Regiment. He was enlisted April 1, 1862 in Oakley, Mississippi by Col. Walthall for a period of 3 yrs.  He was wounded on July 20, 1864 at the Battle of Peachtree Creek, near Atlanta and was in the hospital at Macon Georgia.  Records indicate that he was last paid on December 31, 1863. 

Alfred Thomas Childress was born April 1, 1845 in Choctaw County. Mississippi and died October 18, 1915 in French Camp, Choctaw County, Mississippi and is buried at Crape Creek Cemetery.  His parents were William G. Childress and Sarah Pollard Poe.  He came from a family of 7 children.

He returned to Mississippi and married Mary L. Burton around 1869.  They had numerous children; Della Alice, Connie, Lula, Ollie, Oscar C, Doward Douglas, Joanna, & twin boys.

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Pvt. William Barkley Dowdy

William Barkley Dowdy was born March 22, 1838 and enlisted in the Choctaw County Davis Guards (Company G) May 15, 1862. He was shot in the leg July 20, 1864 at the Battle of Peachtree Creek. He told his grandson, he must have been shot by “the best shot in the Union Army”, referring to the small target his emaciated leg presented at the time. After being shot he said he was pulled into a gully in the woods by another soldier he did not know, who told him he would be back after dark to retrieve him. Well after dark, W.B. Dowdy was starting to give up hope, thinking he would bleed to death, figuring the soldier who helped him had been killed or wounded. However, he heard a hushed voice slipping through the woods calling “Soldier, are you still here?”. He was assisted to safety, where he received medical treatment and his leg was saved. He was furloughed the next month (August 22, 1864). He died  March 4, 1916, and was buried in Midway Cemetery in Vardaman, Mississippi.

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Lt. Colonel John Harrod

John Harrod was born December 24, 1826 in Alabama. He was the son of William L. Harrod (October 20, 1786-September 1, 1866) and Sarah Chewning (May 5, 1785-July 16, 1856). At some point his family moved to Cadaretta, Choctaw Co., MS. At the age of 35, he was elected 1st Lieutenant of Co. G, "Sons of Liberty" which later became the "Davis Guards," of the 33rd Mississippi Infantry Regiment. On August 19, 1863 he was promoted to Major of the regiment. Compiled Service Records do not indicate the exact date he was promoted to Lt. Colonel, but it was probably early January 1864. As the war for the 33rd Mississippi Infantry moved into Georgia, it was at New Hope Church, a few miles from Atlanta, that the Lt. Colonel was wounded "while gallantly leading his regiment in an attack" and later died on June 11, 1864.

According to his daughter's recollections of the war,

"He was shot through the hand and the knee, just as he raised up from behind a tree with his hand on his knee. They had discovered the Yankee scouts on the other side of the hill. Father's boys gave the blood curdling Confederate yell and the Yankees fled; and so they were able to carry Father back to camp. The little church was used as a hospital. They amputated his leg, and when it was nearly healed, gangrene set in, and he died, like thousands of others, died for lack of proper antiseptics...They made him a coffin of one of the church doors, wrapped him in his soldiers (sic) blanket, and buried him there in a nameless grave." (1)

Prior to the war, On March 6, 1851, John had married Sophia Ann Coleman Smith (May 8, 1833-June 21, 1902) in Cadaretta, Choctaw Co., MS. They had five children. After the war she and the children moved to California.

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(1) Rogers, Panthea Harrod, Personal Recollections of the Civil War, typescript 1934. Copyright 2000 Jerry L. Waterman.

Pvt. William L. Harrod

William L. Harrod was born October 20, 1786 in Beaufort, SC. About 1806 he married Sarah Chewning (May 5, 1785-July 16, 1856). The family left SC, and by 1818 he was an Elder in Mulberry Baptist Church in Bibb Co., AL, where he was ordained a minister in 1819. At some point William brought his family to Cadaretta, Choctaw Co., MS.

On May 26, 1862, at the age of 75, he joined the "Sons of Liberty" which later became the "Davis Guards" of the 33rd Mississippi Infantry Regiment. (1)  According to his granddaughter's recollections of the war, he was supplying "provisions to the boys of the 33rd" while they were posted in Grenada, MS in late 1862.


William and Sarah had thirteen children, one of whom was Lt. Colonel John Harrod of the 33rd Mississippi Infantry Regiment, who was killed at New Hope Church in the Atlanta campaign. William died September 1, 1866 and is buried in Cadaretta, MS, along with his wife.

(1) Compiled Service Records Nov/Dec 1862.

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4th Corp. John M. High

John M. High was enlisted into Company G on 29 Mar 1862 by Capt. E.C. Walthall in Choctaw Co., MS.  He rose to the rank of Sergeant, but was reduced to rank on 1 Aug 1863; on 10 Oct 1863 he was promoted to 4th Corporal. He served until losing his left arm at Peachtree Creek on 20 July 1864.  He was eventually sent to the hospital at Oxford. MS., and furloughed home where he remained until the end of the war. He was born in 1833 and died in 1912 and is buried at Springhill Cemetery in Webster Co., MS.

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Pvt. Oliver Towles Synnott

Oliver Towles Synnott was in the back lines at Franklin, TN with no shoes; afterwards, he walked home to Eupora, MS. His feet were in such bad shape, that before he was able to plant his crops, he had to lie in bed for a month, as they healed. It is reported that he loved Jodef E. Johnston, which was the way he pronounced his name, and hated Braxton Bragg.

As a child, James D. Synnott, Jr., remembers sitting on his grandfather's lap and asking him why he fought in that war, since the family did not have any slaves? His reply was, "Because those damn Yankees were down here."

Years later, he moved in with his grandson's family, where he stayed until his death in 1932. He is buried at Bluff Springs outside Eupora, MS.

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Captain James. M. Tinnon

James M. Tinnon was born in Giles County, TN. In 1855, the Tinnon family moved to Choctaw County, MS, and settled in the community of Statelands, where J.M. taught school until the outbreak of the war. While he was exempt from military service, as a school teacher, his patriotic fervor caused him to enlist on March 20, 1862, at the age of thirty-three.

Following the war he returned to his wife and young son; taught school off and on, and engaged in farming. He served as postmaster at Alva, Montgomery County, MS for approximately twenty-three years and also operated a store. His remaining years were spent at the Jefferson Davis Home at Beauvoir.

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