Confederatevets.com

[This sketch of Marcus D. L. Pittman, a private in Cobb's Legion of Cavalry, Hampton's Brigade, J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry corps, Army of Northern Virginia, is the tribute of his comrade in arms, his true friend through life, who served and suffered with him as private and also as lieutenant in Company C-Wiley C. Howard.]

Marcus Pittman was born September 25, 1835, in Madison County, Ga., and there resided all his life, with the exception of nine years in Clarke County. He then returned to his paternal homestead, where he died January 24, 1916, in his eighty-first year. He was reared in a farm and was a farmer through life, though he acquired a fairly good education and taught school successfully for a number of years before and after the war. He also studied surveying and filled the office of county surveyor and clerk of the Superior Court for a term of several years in his native county. He was extensively and favorably known in Clarke, Jackson, Banks, Oglethorpe, and other counties adjacent to Madison. He was a man of sterling character and possessed a clear and discriminating mind, having for years acted as justice of the peace in his militia district, besides holding other positions of honor and trust, in all of which he acquitted himself as a man being a useful and patriotic citizen throughout his long life. In December, 1867, he was married to Miss L. E. L. Yearby, who, with five children, survives him.

Comrade Pittman's military career is remarkable in the fact, though capable of leadership he sought no honors and remained a private in the ranks throughout the war, doing his duty well and faithfully always and under the most trying circumstances, enduring hardships with courage and cheerfulness. He enlisted in Capt. W. G. Delaney's company, which went out from Athens, Ga., as part of T. R. R. Cobb's legion of Georgia cavalry. After participating in many hard fought battles, Comrade Pittman was severely wounded while acting as color bearer and was disabled for life. His horse was shot down, and he was wounded in the foot and ankle, while the flagstaff was shattered in the boot. Though the horse fell on him, he still clung to that old tattered flag, holding it aloft until it was seized by another comrade and borne to victory, as so often before. This occurred between Culpeper Courthouse and Gordonsville, August 1, 1863, in one of the many desperate cavalry charges made by Cobb's Legion, commanded by Col. W. G. Delaney, Gen. P. M. B. Young, Col. G. J. Wright, and others, under command of Gen. Wade Hampton, who often said publicly and privately that Cobb's Legion was the best regiment he knew in the Confederate service. Years after the war President Davis while at Macon, Ga., saw this old battle-scarred flag and embraced it reverently, eulogizing the men who had borne it and made it famous with their lifeblood. Later his honored widow in Richmond, Va., stopped the parade long enough to tearfully salute and passionately embrace this famous war relic. This flag is now in the custody of Col. John Clark, of August, Ga., who enlisted in the Richmond Huzzars and was with Gen. T. R. R. Cobb when he was killed at Fredericksburg. What higher honor could have crowned Comrade Pittman's life than to have so heroically borne this famous flag that day? We, his survivors, are proud of him and his noble deeds of daring. We shall cherish his memory as only comrades can until at last we too shall "pass over the river and rest under the shade of the trees"; and his devoted family, who honored him life, will cherish his record both in war and in peace as a heritage far above wordly possessions. His name has been written high on the scroll of fame by his deeds and in his own blood and sufferings for the principles of justice, right, and human liberty.