Hello David,

I am helping an elderly friend of mine, Ted Harper, who lives in West Covina find out about his Harper ancestors thought to have been from Covington County and who were in the Confederate Infantry. As you know, my own Mississippi CW reference library is in storage in Sac. So, I thought I might prevail upon you for some help as it appears that at least one of Ted's ancestors enlisted in the Simpson Grays, 39th Mississippi - right on your own home turf. If it is true that he lived in Covington County at the time of the outbreak of hostilities, then it would make sense that his enlistment, if it did not occur in Covington County, would be in neighboring Simpson County.

Ted's great grandpa was Samuel Jackson Harper, born 3/19/1838. He was the son of probate judge Alex Harper of Covington. His brother who was killed at Atlanta was Alexander W. Harper, (Ted's great uncle) born 9/16/1840 and killed 7/28/1864. He may also have enlisted in Covington or Simpson Co., Miss.

The CW Soldiers and Sailors System tells me that there was an S.J. Harper who enlisted into Co. A, 39th Mississippi as a corporal and was discharged as a corporal. Although I do not know the point of discharge. Ted seems to think his S.J. Harper might have been among the men discharged at Appommattox, but is unsure about that.

David, I wondered if you had access to any 39th Muster Rolls or other data that might confirm that the S.J. Harper found in the CW S&S system was, in fact, Samuel Jackson Harper, thought to be of Covington County?

As a side bar, a quote from Samuel Jackson Harper's civil war memories, captured on the occasion of his 93rd birthday (about 1931) said - "No, we did not fight for the perpetuation of slavery. Many of those boys in the Confederate army were the poorest kind of people. They did not own slaves. We fought to preserve our homes against an invading army; and, too, for the constitutional right to run our own business in a peaceful manner," declared the veteran.