Contributed by Annette Burdett
THE FAIRFIELD RECORDER
Thursday, June 2, 1994
Honored as 'Real Son' of Confederacy...
County man counts father as CSA veteran
Sons of Confederate Veterans camps mostly boast rolls of members who are two or three generations removed from the War Between the States, but new SCV Bert Willard of Freestone county lays a rare claim to being an actual son of a Confederate soldier.
Willard's father, Nelson Alexander Willard, served in Co. C, 2nd Tenn. Cavalry, Confederate States of America. From the birth of the father to today covers 151 years of United States History.
The Freestone county man explains easily how he could be a real son of a Confederate veteran---Nelson Willard was 72 years old when Bert Willard, now 79, was born.
Because of his special status as a real son of a CSA veteran, Willard was given the honor of being the first to sign the charter for the Johnson-Sayers-Nettle Camp 1012 SVC when is was formally organized a few months ago. The camp serves Freestone, Limestone and Leon counties.
He also has been presented a special medal designating him as a "Real Son." The medal is the 516th given by the organization to an actual veteran's son and features a silver star hanging on a red and white ribbon.
Camp 1012 adjutant John Carr reports that there are only 124 living real sons who are members of the SVC.
The medal was presented at a special ceremony on May 14 and Willard notes it is an honor to be recognized and presented the decoration. The Freestone county man says he has learned about his father's war service through the SVC and has made application to receive a copy from the national archives in Washington, D.C., of his father's war record.
Willard reports his father did not talk about his war experiences: "I just don't recall him ever saying anything about it."
What is known without the official archival records is that Nelson Willard fought at the Battle of Corinth in a Confederate effort to recapture the vital railroad center in Mississippi in October 1862.
The soldier sustained a wound to the shoulder in the battle.
Confederate forces, which numbered 22,000, failed to recapture Corinth. The battle cost them 505 lives, 2,150 wounded and 2,183 missing.
Nelson Willard moved to Texas with his father, William, in 1870 at the age of 27. He married Elizabeth Ann Bryson and fathered seven daughters.
After Elizabeth died, the soldier married Alma Izora Williams in 1897. At the time of their marriage, Nelson was 54 and Alma was 18.
Willard recalls asking his mother why she married someone as old as his father and she replied "I wanted a home."
Alma's family moved frequently and she often lived in the homes of friends and neighbors, her son explains.
Nelson and Alma Willard had 10 children, of which three survive. In addition to Bert, 83-year old Ben lives in Waxahachie and 88-year old Bess Metzgar lives in Dallas. Willard says his brother is joining the SCV camp in Waxahachie and he plans to attend the ceremony.
The family settled on 110 acres some four miles south of Fairfield where the former Confederate soldier worked as a farmer, growing cotton, corn, vegetables and whatever they needed to live, with his children as his helpers.
"You lived on what you grew on the farm. We had plenty of peas and corn," Willard says.
His father also drew a small pension for his time as a Confederate soldier.
"You had to work and stay right with it until the end to have a living," he notes.
His father worked until he was 80 years old, slowing down after he was injured in a fall in their barn.
Over the years, Nelson Willard attended the Confederate reunions held annually at the W. L. Moody Reunion Grounds in Fairfield, but the children did not participate.
When his father went to town in a horse drawn buggy, his last words with the family were to assign the chores.
"You didn't get to go to town every time someone went," Willard says.
Nelson Willard died at the age of 84 in 1927.
The 79-year old son married Evelyn Emmons 57 years ago and, except for five years spent in Houston as a shipbuilder during World War II, has lived in Freestone county all his life.
"She's the best helper I've ever had an I mean that from the bottom of my heart," he says of Evelyn.
Willard worked as a carpenter for 30 years and raised livestock, fruits and vegetables on the couple's farm.
In 1985, the Willards were named "Texas Gardener of the Year" by Texas Gardening magazine.
The real son also served several years in the 36th Division of the Texas National Guard but was not inducted into active service during WWII because of his age and the fact he had children.
Willard enjoys his"celebrity" status as a real son of the Confederacy and looks forward to learning more about his father's service in the Civil War.