By Karen Hall

Editor

A Confederate veteran who has 11 grandchildren still living in Middle Tennessee -- five of them in Marshall County -- had the Southern Cross of Honor placed at his grave on Sunday.

The ceremony took place in the cemetery next to McCain's Cumberland Presbyterian Church, in the little community of McCain's, just off US Highway 31, about six miles south of Columbia.

The man honored was George Washington Pullen, who was born Aug. 12, 1842, in Lawrence County. He joined Voorhee's 48th Tennessee Infantry in Columbia, and was part of the division surrendered at Fort Donelson. Pullen and some others escaped and were sent to Corinth, Miss. There he became part of the 48th Nixon's Infantry Regiment, and later transferred to the 3rd Tennessee Infantry. With them, Pullen took part in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou, Port Hudson, Chicamauga, and Missionary Ridge, where he was captured.

Pullen was among the first Confederates sent to the notorious Rock Island Prison, located on a island in the Mississippi River between Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Ill., where he stayed until the end of the war.

Pullen's descendants believe he joined the "Seven Confederate Knights," a secret organization formed in the prison by men who swore allegiance to the Confederacy. The alternative was tempting: if prisoners would take an oath of allegiance to the Union, they were offered better housing and more food, as well as the possibility of being released to serve in the Union Navy or to fight Indians on the Western frontier.

Pullen stayed in prison until the bitter end of the war, then returned to Middle Tennessee, where he married and made his living as a farmer and a miller. The mill was on Fountain Creek, not far from Campbell's Station, and Pullen ran it until he died on Dec. 31, 1919.

The youngest of Pullen's children, by his second wife, was Felix Bishop Pullen, born in 1913. He is the father of the 11 children who were present at the ceremony Sunday. The oldest in 74, and the youngest is 47. The five who live in Marshall County are Wes, Eugene, Danny, Phillip, and Jeff.

Wes Pullen, Adjutant of Marshall Rangers Camp No. 297, gave the tribute to his grandfather. As at the ceremony held in Lone Oak Cemetery this spring, Parson Tim Morrison of the John R. Massey Camp No. 152 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans gave the invocation and the benediction.

Cathy Gordon Wood, president of Giles County Chapter No. 257 United Daughters of the Confederacy, welcomed participants, and later gave the dedication of the cross. Civil War style rifles and a cannon were fired.

When Morrison spoke in Lewisburg he said, "This stone and iron cross are dedicated to our ancestors and the trials they endured. We are responsible for telling the children the history of their Southern ancestors. We can't rely on the schools to do this. Our Confederate history is omitted in the Yankee history books that permeate the system."

"This is a wonderful way to honor our Confederate veterans," concluded Wood that day. "Nothing is ended until it is forgotten."