Meanwhile, Don splendidly describes how in the spring of 1861 John Caldwell CalhounSanders, a 21-year-old cadet at the University of Alabama, helped organize a company of the11 th Alabama Volunteer Infantry. Primarily from Greene County, the 109 men of Company C,“The Confederate Guard”, signed on for the duration of the war and made Sanders their firstcaptain. They would fight in every major battle in the Eastern Theater under Robert E. Lee.Leading from the front, Sanders was wounded four times during the war yet rose rapidlythrough the ranks, becoming one of the South’s “Boy Generals” at 24. By the time of Lee’sappearance at Appomattox, Sanders was dead and the remaining 20 men of Company Csurrendered with what was left of the brave, formidable Army of North Virginia. Incidentally,
Don’s great-great grandfather was a member of Company C.
