HAMILTON CALHOUN McCOMAS He had just turned sixteen years old when he pulled out of Cabell County, West Virginia bound for Texas with three of his brothers. It was February of 1847 and they were going off to war with Mexico. It was a fine way for a young man to commence a lifetime of work dedicated to the best of intentions. Ham, as he was known in his youth, was born in 1831. It was the same year that his uncle, David McComas, wrote a well-reasoned piece about the right of South Carolina to secede from the union. Thirty years later some other politicians pulled that article out of the library, dusted it off and used it to start the War Between the States. When Ham got back from Mexico he sobered up,
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