All my life I have been interested in the Civil War and over the last few years I have made a study of each battle fought as I was interested in finding out which battles my grandfather participated in. He was David Secrest, son of Solomon Secrest of Montvale, Virginia living on the Buford place where now stands a tank farm. David Secrest was also father of Tilden Secrest and eight other children. Most of his children lived out their lives in Bedford County, Tilden, my father, lived 90 years there and died in 1964.
The first thing I did was get a copy of grandfather's service record from the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
From this I learned that he enlisted in the Army of the Confederacy on May 18, 1861 shortly after the war begun. He was enlisted by Captian Buford at Lisbon, Virginia (which is now Bedford, Va.) for a period of 1 year.
Two of his brothers also enlisted, James B. Secrest, who died of measles while in the service and Martin V. Secrest who was listed as missing and never heard from again.
David Secrest was assigned to Company "C" of the 42nd. Infantry Division and served with that Company through the war. His service record shows that he was on Company Muster rolls in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864 and 1865.
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