The Alabama in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Wiley Johnson Brand-5th Alabama Calvary

Alan,

I do not have copies of the two letters which Wiley Johnson Brand wrote, but these are a couple of the paragraphs from 1905 mini bio.

I was called to take part in the War for Southern Independence. I joined on the confederate side and served my country as well as I could, though we still met our defeat. I do not agree with all of the politicians statements and beliefs but this is our home. We should be able to govern ourselves without influences. I am not foolish enough to think this war was to benefit the common man. I am aware it was a rich mans' war. But I feel even now, that it was a war that, for the sake of our country, had to take place.

I was fifteen when I joined the war effort (DOB 8/4/1845). I was enlisted in Co. B of the 5th Alabama Regiment Calvary (verbatim)until the end of the war in 1865. The war drug on much longer than any of us expected it to. Even now, our neighbors are still reliving the war. There is still conflict all around our community. Why, my own son, Hezzikah, has married a daughter of Robert Wright. Robert is a neighbor but he is also one of those who took up arms against our Southern Nation.

I know I talk alot about the war. But I seem to think about it a lot more as I get older. Most men I served with were older than myself, but each year their faces get younger and younger in my memory. And I wonder what happened to some of the ones I had to leave lying there, begging for help, for mercy. I had to walk by some of them who were begging for death.

So, you see that he says he was in the 5th Alabama Regiment Calvary. Any such thing? Another family member has posted on the web that he served "as a Private in Co B, 5th Regt., 10th Alabama Calvary, Confederate States Army at Jasper, Alabama."

Thank you so much for your time and energy, Alan. And to Mr. George Martin, I do appreciate the information.

Rachelle

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Re: Wiley Johnson Brand-5th Alabama Calvary