A number of men from Marshall County Mississippi signed this letter, including Marcellus Pointer's father, Dr. David Pointer. The date of June 5, 1862, is two days after Private Pointer's enlistment in the 9th Miss Inf would have expired. This fits in well with my earlier speculation that Dr. Pointer and his wife might have had other plans for young Marcellus than allowing him to be conscripted at that time. They could easily have convinced him to enroll in the proposed partisan ranger company mentioned in the letter. Whatever Marcellus planned on doing, the arrival of Joe Wheeler in Holly Springs on July 20, 1862, with orders to assume command of Chalmers' cavalry brigade, settled the issue for the duration of the war. Pointer's records show that his appointment to Wheeler's staff as an aide-de-camp dates to that very day.
