Last summer I was given a box full of pictures and papers from my maternal side of the family. This deals Primarily with the GREER family but I do have a few other things from the WOODARD side as well.

One of the most fascinating things for me was a paper written in 1910 that discusses the family history and then a commentary on that paper written in 1970. I learned so much about the family history, and it sparked a renewed interest in the Greers.

One story relayed in the paper was that of "Billy Greer" and how he died in the Civil War. Apparently he ran away from home at the age of 16 to fight in the civil war. There was a great deal of controversy in the family because had at least one uncle who had slaves. Unfortunately Billy lost his life in the war.

"Billy ran away at the age of 16 and volunteered for Civil War Duty. James Greer's will grants $400 for a monument to honor him on his gravesite at Maplewood Cemetery in Emporia. He died 6-2 1862 near Corinth, Mississippi, a member of the 64th Regiment, Ohio Volunteers." written by my grandmother, Caroline Virginia Greer Woodard in 1970.

I went looking for his grave in the Mississippi cemetery where they buried the dead from the Battle of Cornith. It was during this research that I discovered that he had died of typhus not from injuries sustained in the war. I wonder if anyone knew this about him. Did they just tell his family that he died? I don't think that anyone knew that he survived the battle only to get sick and die. In his regiment alone 274 people in Cornith and 160 of those were to disease.

If you have any interesting facts about this battle or Billy and his family feel free to comment!