Scott County Home Guard
The Scott County Home Guard was a loosely organized group of men from Scott County who pledged an oath of loyalty to the Union and each other during the Civil War. It was organized at the Scott County Courthouse in Huntsville on Dec. 28, 1861.
Members
A total of 71 men signed the oath when the Home Guard was organized on Dec. 28, 1861. Among them:
George Anderson
Berry Bowling
E. Chaney
John Choate
Pleasant Davis
Thomas Dyer
William A. Edwards
John Gabin
Jonathan Garrett
G.A. Garrett
E.J. Garrett
Hugh H. Garrett
James Goad
W.M. Goad
John Goad
Little B. Goad
Aaron Goad
James Goad Jr.
Joseph Griffith
Andrew Griffith Sr.
Joseph Griffith Sr.
J.M. Hamby
Jury Hamby
Andrew Jackson
John Jeffers
Andrew Lawson
A.R. Lewallen
Michall Lewallen
E. Lewallen
Granville Looper
W.M. Looper
Thomas Looper
Michael Low
James McCartt
Sterling McDonald
Benjamin Solomon Newport
W.M. Newport
Calvin Newport
Ezekiel Newport
James Newport
James Newport Jr.
E.J. Newport Sr.
George Pennington
William Phillips
John Phillips Jr.
Julius Reed
William Robbins
John Sandusky
Hiram Sexton
Fountain Sexton
Julian Sexton
James Sexton
Fielding Sexton
Solomon Sexton
John Stringfield
James J. Stringfield
W.M. Stringfield
James Stringfield
W.M. Todd
Samuel Walker
John M. Webb
Lewis Webb
James Wilson
W.M. Wilson
Elihu Wilson
Solomon Young
Matthew Young
Andrew Young
W.M. Young
W.M. Young Sr.
The oath
The oath signed by the 71 men read in part:
“We the undersigned agree and pledge ourselves to each other in a covenant and by our oaths to unite together in a company by the name of a home guard to protect our homes, family, property, and liberties and our neighbors and their property and liberties and also to protect the constitution and the union and not to interfere with any person or persons or their property or liberties that we do not consider interfering with us or ours and for our government we bind ourselves to be controlled and governed by any person who a majority of our company may select for a captain.”
Read Also: Neighbor protecting neighbor: The raising of the Home Guard
Aftermath
The Scott County Home Guard was involved in a number of skirmishes during the Civil War. One of the first was the Battle of Brimstone, which saw Confederate forces under the command of Col. John C. Vaughn arrive at Brimstone Creek with orders to find the home of William H. Robbins, allegedly the first man to sign the Home Guard oath.
Read Also: A marked man: The Battle of Brimstone
At least 25 of the 71 men who signed the Home Guard oath went on to enlist in the Union army. Several of them died in the Union service during the war.