This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/JU.2ADI/369.2 Message Board Post: JULIA ZITELLA COCKE was born November 10, 1840, and died on December 3, 1929. She was selected to present the company flag to the Marion Rifles on the eve of the War for Southern Independence. The flag was made of silk and was the handiwork of Marion artist NICOLA MARSCHALL designed with a coiled rattlesnake under the words “Don’t Tread on Me” in Latin. Zitella’s speech at the presentation held to the theme that the men were going forward in a “just cause.” SUMTER LEA accepted the flag for the company. This ceremony was at-tended by 400 students from Judson and Howard colleges, all dressed in white. Zitella was educated by private tutors and by her mother who was a talented Latin scholar, musician and linguist. She attended Judson College in Marion and graduated with honors. She traveled in Europe and studied music there before settling in Baltimore, Maryland. In Baltimore she taught German and music and engaged in l! iterary work, but moved again to Boston, Massachusetts, where she taught voice and piano while continuing to write. Zitella authored “Doric Reed,” a volume of poems, “Grasshopper Hop,” verses for children, “Cherokee Roses and Other Poems.” Like many writ-ers, she authored a variety of literature including short stories, verses for children and newspaper articles. Her writings were translated into foreign languages and met with favorable critical reviews. Cocke was a creative writer and some called her the greatest poet Alabama ever produced. She was the Poet Laureate of Alabama. [28th Alabama Infantry Muster Roll; Marion Cemetery; Heritage, v II, “Perry County Personalities” pp. 9-11; Owen, Alabama Biography, v III, p. 740]