May I recommend to all a most compelling book written by a native Marshall Countian, entitled "With Sabre and Scalpel, the autobiography of a soldier and surgeon" by John Allan Wyeth, M.D.,LL.D. It chronicles his growing up in Guntersville and becoming a scout for Nathan Bedford Forrest at age 15, being too young to legally join units of the Confederacy. Later he did join Russell's 4th AL Cavalry and for those whose ancestors were in this unit, you can have an almost day by day account of their activities until his capture and imprisonment. To quote a portion as his mother and father had gone to the prison in Indianapolis to return him to his home at the conclusion of the war," As we came West on the train nothing but lonesome looking chimneys remained of the villages and farmhouses. They were suggestive of tombstones in a grave yard. Bridgeport, Stevenson, Bellefonte, Scotsboro, Larkinsville, Woodville, Paint Rock- in fact every town in northern Alabama to and including Decatur (except Huntsville, which, being used as headquarters, had been spared)- had been wiped out by the war policy of starvation by fire....................Northern Alabama had paid dearly for the devotion of her people to the cause of the South................in obedience to the order to leave it so desolate that a crow flying over would have to carry its own rations. Our county of Marshall had suffered in a double sense, being over run for the last year and a half of the war by bands of marauders who robbed the defenseless people of the little the two armies had left". This is one of the most gripping books I've ever read and tho it will probably be difficult to find, the Birmingham Library has a copy which can be obtained on Interlibrary Loan if your local library is a participant of the program. Enquire and order through your local library. Good reading!