In August 1861, the Inferior Court of White County, Georgia, ordered that the White County Marksmen could use any part of the courthouse they chose to establish a military camp for drill. In 1861 and 1862, Company C, White County Marksmen, 24th Regiment Confederate Volunteer Infantry, and Company B, Cleveland Volunteers, 52nd Regiment Confederate Volunteer Infantry, used the White County Courthouse and the surrounding square as mustering grounds and a training area in the community then known as Mount Yonah. Company C, 24th, began mustering at Denton Springs about May 1861, soon moved to Mount Yonah, trained there for about three months, elected officers in July 1861, and first served in September 1861. The 24th Infantry Regiment was assigned to coastal defense in North Carolina, joined the Army of Northern Virginia in April 1862 under General James Longstreet's command, took part in the last engagement of Clover Hill in 1864, and the reduced regiment surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Company B, 52nd Regiment, began mustering at Loudsville about March 1862, moved to Mount Yonah because of its central location and shelter in the courthouse during bad weather, remained there through March and April, joined a company from Lumpkin County at Mossy Creek, and was activated on May 15, 1862. It took the name Cleveland Volunteers in honor of General Benjamin Cleveland. The regiment served in the Vicksburg Campaign and siege, where it was surrendered on July 4, 1863; after reorganization it served in the Battle of Missionary Ridge, the Atlanta Campaign, and the Nashville Campaign, and the reduced 52nd surrendered at Greensboro, North Carolina, on April 26, 1865, while a detachment surrendered later at Corinth, Mississippi. Company K, Dixie Rangers, mustered at Loudsville in May 1862 into Company D, Infantry Battalion, Smith's Legion, Georgia Volunteers, and in March 1863 Company D became Company C, 65th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Smith's Legion consisted of six infantry companies and six cavalry squadrons, and both an infantry company and a cavalry squadron were raised partially in Union County. The 11th Georgia Cavalry Regiment mustered at Mossy Creek in 1864. During the war, most able-bodied men were far from home, and in 1864 and 1865 wagon loads of corn had to be brought from Athens into White County to avert starvation among many less fortunate families.