"CAPT. ALONZO JUDSON PURSLEY"
"Capt. A.J. Pursley, of Savannah, Ga., a veteran of the 39th Georgia Infantry, was born in Spartanburg, S.C., in 1844, and moved with his parents to Ringgold, Ga., in 1856. In February, 1861, he left school at Cave Springs, Ga., and, returning home, enlisted the following month in the Ringgold Volunteers (Capt. H.J. Sprayberry), a company that answered the first call for troops, and was enrolled as Company B, of the 1st Georgia Battalion, under Major Larey, a command that was subsequently merged in the 1st Confederate Regiment.
Private Pursley served a year in Pensacola, and then became a private in Company D, 39th Regiment of Georgia Infantry. In this company he rose in rank, until at the reorganization of the remnant of the regiment in the spring of 1865 he was promoted from 1st lieutenant to captain of Company K, one of the two companies into which the regiment was consolidated.
Among the battles in which he participated were Bridgeport, Ala., Tazewell and Cumberland Gap, Tenn., Richmond, Ky., Baker's Creek, Miss., the siege of Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge, Rocky Face, Resaca, Cassville, New Hope Church, Kennesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek, Atlanta (July 22), the siege of Atlanta, Jonesboro, Ga., Columbia, Franklin, Nashville, and the fighting on the retreat to Mississippi.
He was wounded at Baker's Creek and Peachtree Creek, was a prisoner of war on parole after the surrender of Vicksburg until the fall of 1863, and on the retreat from Nashville suffered great hardships, marching barefoot over the snow and ice from Franklin to Tupelo. His last battle was Bentonville, N.C., and his surrender at Greensboro.
From High Point he took home with him a wounded comrade, H.S. Watt, of Griffin, and reached Americus, where his father then lived, with fifteen cents, the residue of the dollar that he had received at the disbandment of the army. He resided in Americus and engaged in farming until 1885, when he removed to Savannah and engaged in business. He was Third Lieutenant Commander of McLaws Camp, U.C.V.
Captain Pursley died at his home, in Guyton, Ala., on November 29, 1912.
(The foregoing sketch was furnished by J.M. Bryant, Superintendent of the Andersonville (Ga) National Cemetery and an intimate friend of Captain Pursley.)"