William Alexander McCall

Known by Alex, in 1860 he was 17 years old and lived with his parents and siblings in Greensboro in Greene County, AL; his father was a trader. He enlisted there as a Private in Company I (later renamed D), 5th Alabama Infantry on 13 April 1861.

He was with his Company in action near Turner's Gap on South Mountain on 14 September 1862, where they were surrounded and most captured. But,

Captain Williams [Co. D] told him [Capt. Belscher, Co. H] that if he could get anything white, tie it on a ram rod and they would surrender. Alex McCall of Company D, hearing what Captain Williams had said to Captain Belcher, jumped up, threw down his gun and cartridge box, and said, ”You all can stay here, but I am going out.” The men all told him that he would be killed, but he took no notice and started running for his life. The two Federal lines were now so close together that they couldn’t fire on him for fear of shooting one of their own men. They screamed at him to halt, but he just kept on running and made good his escape.

He was appointed 5th Sergeant by January 1863 and was on furlough for 30 days in March and April 1863. He was senior man present and in command of Company D in September 1864, and was with his Company to at least December 1864, the latest record in his military file.

In 1870 he was a farmer in Newton County, MS, but by 1878 had moved to Robertson County, Texas, where his 6th child and namesake was born. He was a farmer there to at least 1910.

His service from his Compiled Service Records,1 online from fold3, as W. Alexander McCall. The quote above from Miles Krisman, citing the Greensboro Record. 2 Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860, 1870, 1900, and 1910. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

02/07/1842; Greene County, AL

01/12/1917; Robertson County, TX; burial in Bremond Cemetery, Bremond, TX