History of Quitman Rifles. From the New Orleans Picayune, April 22, 1906.
Historic command, organized in 1859, composed of Pike County's pride. Holmesville, Miss., April 21, 1906.
The occasion of the reunion of surviving Confederate veterans at Holmesville raises the curtain and brings to view scenes presented here forty-six years ago. Then the town of Holmesville was the county seat of justice and one of the most lovable spots in South Mississippi, nestling at the foot of a range of hills and situated on a sloping hammock with the beautiful Bogue Chillo River rippling at its feet, nine miles East of the railroad.
Pike County was formed in 1815, and this place was chosen as the seat of justice.
It has been the home of some of Mississippi's greatest men, and its history is full of interesting events.
The surrounding country was peopled by a class of thriving farmers and large cotton planters, the offspring of the hardy pioneer settlers who penetrated its wilds, after Congress had constituted the Mississippi territory in 1798.
The railroad from New Orleans to Jackson, Miss., was scarcely finished and Holmesville was the center of business, drawing its supplies from New Orleans by way of Covington, through ox wagon transportation, and it was also a center for gaiety and resort for the people of New Orleans.
The beautiful Bogue Chillo River furnished the finest facilities for fishing, boating and bathing.
The country was in a flourishing condition and there was perhaps no place that could boast of a happier people.
In 1859 a military company was organized by Preston Brent, a graduate of a military institute in the State of Kentucky.
They named it the Quitman Guards.
The company then was composed of the young men and some of the married men of the town and immediate vicinity.
In the year 1860 the ladies of Pike County formed a ‘Banner Society’ for the purpose of raising funds to have a handsome banner made to present to the Quitman Guards, in which the following named 