The first picture (Neely 3) is of my great
grandfather's family. His name was Isaac Neely and his wife was Rhoda Francis
Neely or Fannie as she was called. My grandmother, Effie Neely married Jess
Britt, a few years later. She was Tom Britt's mother and Bettye and Sharon
Britt's grandmother. She is the young woman standing up on the right hand side
of the picture by her brother Arch Neely. At the time of this picture they
were the only two who had not married.
The second picture (Neely 2) is of my great
grandfather, Isaac Neely and my dad Tom Britt and his sister Vyneta Britt.
Isaac fought in the Civil War from Mississippi for the Tishomingo Riflemen,
Company A, 2nd Mississippi. His brother Samuel was the most decorated soldier
of the Confederacy. He was awarded 5 medals of Honor from the Confederacy. He
entered the war at age l9. He was wounded 7 times during the war and
eventually died when he was 21 from a wound received at the battle of Weldon's
Railroad, Petersburg, Virginia. When the war was over Isaac was in
Pennsylvania. He walked all the way home back to Mississippi. He stopped in
Virginia to make sure his brother's grave was marked and it was. However,
today try as I might, along with the battlefield Park Rangers in Virginia,
I've not been able to locate his grave. In Petersburg, there is a mass grave
with 20,000 unnamed Confederate soldiers there. The Park Rangers believe that
he is most likely among them. Isaac and Fannie are buried in the Chillicothe
Cemetery beside his descendants Effie Neely Britt and Jess and Tom Britt and
Sydelle.
