These noble men were among those who first secured and afterward maintained our liberties and Time the great leveler has long since closed the green earth over all that was mortal of every one of them. Many of the citizens of this county served under Jackson in the Florida war and according to tradition Jackson encamped with his troops just below Winchester on one occasion while the Indians were encamped on the opposite side of the Boiling Fork. In the brief but brilliant war with Mexico it is learned that Franklin County furnished:
Capt. George T. Colyar's Company E of the Third Regiment Tennessee Volunteer Infantry commanded by Col. B. F. Cheatham. This company consisting of 115 men rank and file left Winchester in September 1847 and was mustered into the United States service near Nashville about October 10, 1847 and left for Mexico in the same month. Capt. Colyar died January 8, 1848 in the city of Mexico. His remains were sent to his home in Winchester. First Lieut. Sherrod Williams then became captain and continued as such to the close of the war. The company was discharged about July 22, 1848.

The following is a list of the survivors of the company now living in this county:
A. J. Caldwell
John Thurman
F. M. Williams
Ed Jackson
William Adcock
David Smith
Nathan Boone
Gordon McCutcheon

The following are living elsewhere:
T. H. Finch, Texas
W. H. Jones, Lincoln County
M. N. Matthews, Bedford County
Wilson Clark, Alabama
Berry Logan
William Taylor, Moore County
Ed Anderson, Texas
Alpheus Green, Texas
Oliver Posey is a survivor of some other command in the Mexican war and lives in Franklin County.


Source: History of Tennessee, Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1886