William CiceroLaney, Pvt. Co. E 20th Georgia Infantry, Bennings Brigade, Hoods Division, Longstreets Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. W.C. Laney originally enlisted in the Confederate Army in Whitesville, Harris county, Ga. on June 27th, 1861. Company E; the Whitesville Guards, was sent to Virginia, arriving in Richmond on July 18, 1861. He followed all of the Campaigns of the ANV, and was present when Longstreet was sent to Chickamauga in September of 1863. He survived the seige of Knoxville and returned to Virginia that winter. According to his muster roll, he was captured at the Wilderness, Virginia on May 6th, 1864. W. C. Laney then appears on a roll of Prisoners of War at Point Lookout, Md from May 17, 1864 to Aug 10, 1864 when he was transferred to Elmira, N.Y. to wait out the rest of the war. He was released from the prisoner of war camp at Elmira on June 30th, 1865. His release papers listed his home as West Point, Ga. During the war, his family had moved to Hickory Flat, Randolph county, Alabama. Laney walked from Elmira, N.Y. to Hickory Flat, Al. When he arrived home, family legend says he weighed 78 lbs. Years later he would tell his grandchildren about how the Federal soldiers threw their garbage in the drainage ditches which carried overflow from the latrines as well as drinking water, they would try and get some of their thrown away trash in order to get enough to eat to stay alive.