The Alabama in the Civil War Message Board

Remembering the McCrary family

Some of us may be familiar with the movie “Saving Private Ryan” and in the movie the Bixby letter from Abraham Lincoln was mentioned.

Wikipedia has a good story about the letter titled “Bixby Letter” Although Mrs. Bixby did not lose five of her sons during the war President Lincoln had the impression she did and so the letter was written.

This is more than just a Confederate soldier but rather about five members of a household who lost their lives during the war. While the compiler does not know the greatest number of members in a household who died during the war, five should be near the top of the list.

Five brothers all residing in Pickens County, Alabama and all serving in Company E of the 25th Alabama Infantry.

Christopher Columbus McCrary killed at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee on April 6, 1862.

Moses McCrary killed at the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia on September 20, 1863.

George Augustus McCrary killed at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, Tennessee on November 25, 1863.

John Edwin McCrary died of disease in Georgia in 1864.

James Madison McCrary died of disease at Camp Chase, Ohio in March 1865.

Another brother Thomas Jefferson McCrary also served in Company E of the 25th Alabama and died in the early 1920's. He had been the head nurse in a Confederate hospital and it might have saved his life.

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