John J. Yerby
Veteran of the Civil War
John Yerby enlisted in Company D of the 15th Mississippi Infantry. Being 54 years old when he enlisted, John was an exception to the norm of young men, sons of farmers, who answered the call to serve. John served as a Private and was present at the Battle of Shiloh. There he was wounded, severely enough to be discharged from the service. He lived to be 92 years old.
The following is a short segment of narrative from A Hard Trip: A History of the 15th Mississippi Infantry, by Ben Wynne:
“The 15th Mississippi Infantry, like many other Confederate regiments, came into being in the spring of 1861. Farmer’s sons filled its ranks. Like all young men destined for battle, the soldiers of the 15th Mississippi were victims of their times. They were born a generation after the Missouri Compromise and were children as debates over the Compromise of 1850 raged in Congress. They were teenagers during the decade of Dred Scott, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and John Brown. Left undisturbed, these farmer’s sons would have rarely set foot outside their county, much less their state, with principle concerns ever revolving around the annual growing season. Even before they were born, however, fate intervened. Most of the families did not own slaves, but the institution doomed them. The young men of the 15th Mississippi did not belong in the Confederate army, but that is exactly where they found themselves in 1861. Like their contemporaries throughout the south, they were ill prepared for war.”
To locate the final, solve:
33 16.7AB
87 38.0CD
A = Add together the first digit of the infantry regiment he served with to the first digit in the year of his death.
B = The fourth digit in the year of his birth.
C = The third digit in the year of his death.
D = The number of times the letter “O” appears on his military marker.