The Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, 1861-1865, Vol. 2, page 389 records: "Yopp, Bill (colored) - Drummer July 9, 1861. Surrendered, Appomattox, Va. Apr. 9, 1865"

His owner, Thomas M. Yopp, was a 1st Lieutenant in the company Bill Yopp served in: Company H, 14th Regiment (Laurens County's Blackshear Guards), Georgia Volunteer Infantry.

The Official History of Laurens County, Georgia, 1807-1941 by Betha Sheppart Hart, reports that: "No man has ever exhibited a finer loyalty nor a greater capacity for friendship than Bill Yopp, a negro man born and raised in Laurens County, belonging to Thomas McCall Yopp. When his master left to join the Army in Virginia, in the early months of the Confederate War, Bill went with him. He went through the War at his master's side. When freedom came, poverty overtook Captain Thomas Yopp, and Bill went out into the world on his own responsibility. A varied career led him here and there over the United States....In time Captain Yopp, an old man, went to live at the Soldiers Home in Atlanta; here Bill found him and devoted the remainder of his life to his former master."

Bill Yopp is the only Black man buried in Marietta's Confederate Cemetary.

Source: http://www.forrestsescort.org/blacks.htm

I'll have to visit Mr. Yopp. You learn something every day. Stan