When the people of Tuscaloosa County saw the war clouds begin gathering over the Southland, they were among the first to take their stand for the principles and institutions they thought to be just and correct. At the outbreak of hostilities, young men from every corner of the county rallied to the Stars and Bars; Tuscaloosa County gave of her youth unsparingly. Courageous women, in the absence of men, did every form of manual labor by day and knitted and wove for the men at the front by night. Animals being needed by the soldiers, many women stepped into the harness and pulled plows through the fields in order that their loved ones might eat. The war days in Tuscaloosa County were a period of struggle and sacrifice, of hunger and hate, but the people stood well under their burdens.