Special Correspondence of the Selma Reporter.
GUNTERSVILLE, July 30,’62.
Mr. Williams: Dear Sir – We had quite an exciting time here on Monday, 29th inst. The Yankees arriving in force of some 1,000, consisting of cavalry, infantry and artillery, on the evening of the 27th commenced early Monday morning shelling the town, which they continued all day. I regret to say the wife of Gen. S. K. Rayburn was killed by a shell. Mrs. R. was a most estimable lady. Mr. McNairy, a gentleman from Nashville, who was accompanying his mother, an aged and decrepid lady, was also killed. Mr. B. Mathews was slightly wounded. Several buildings were burnt on the bank of the river and the shells were passed through several buildings in town about three miles from the river. The commenced shelling the town without any notice. They left the river during Monday night, but are still on the north side of the river not far off. Your obedient servant. N.
The Mr. McNairy mentioned above is Henry Clay McNairy, son of the late Dr. Boyd McNairy, of Nashville, and brother of Major Frank McNairy, aid to Maj. Gen. Cheatham.
– Published in The Daily Rebel, Chattanooga, Tennessee, August 9, 1862, p. 2
2 comments:
The Mrs. R. in this article was my ggg grandmother, Evergreen Rainey Findley Rayburn. When she died she left 8 children, and three were under 8 years old. This war was not just between soldiers.
Donna, thank you so much for your story. One of the reasons why I started this blog was because too often the political figures and military officers got the credit, but people often forget that history was made by the soldiers who fought the war and those who remained behind as well.
If you have any thing that you wish to send me to post on this blog, I would be more than happy to do so, and I have a History channel T-shirt for any one wishing to contribute to this blog.
Preferably I would love to post newspaper articles, diaries, obituaries, letters, or other primary source information, but if you would like to write up something on the family I would also consider posting that as well, especially if you can cite any sources.
Thanks for reading.
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