A native of Culloden, Georgia, Speer fought in the 1st Kentucky Mounted Infantry, known as the “Orphan Brigade,” so named by its members because of devastating losses suffered at Murfreesboro in January 1863. The brigade felt orphaned also from the time of their departure from Kentucky in 1862, they were cut off from supplies, recruits and even mail and were trapped behind enemy lines. They began to see themselves as abandoned by all that was familiar to them. After the Civil War, Speer became Dean of Law Studies at what would become Mercer University. He later acquired a judgeship and served 33 years as a Federal Judge.
(1848-1918) (Magnolia, lot 1, row H24)
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