Colonel Thomas Leslie Faulkner 
T.L. Faulkner was a primary force in Autauga County in recruiting efforts for the Confederacy. He was responsible for the formation of the “Autauga Guards” an Independent Company of which he was Captain. The company was organized at Kingston in July 1861 and offered their services to the Confederate Army. The Army could not receive them due to the lack of having firearms for them, but informed the company that if they could arm themselves, they were needed, and could report to General Polk at Columbus, Kentucky. Faulkner set upon arming his company with shotguns and bowie knives. The knives were manufactured by T.L. Pruett of Autauga County and are featured on this site. With these weapons, the Autauga Guards, also referred to as the “Shotgun Guards” or T.L. Faulkner’s Independent Company, began training at Autaugaville on August 1, 1861 until ordered to Montgomery to report to General Polk’s headquarters. They were assigned to Colonel Blyths’s 44th Mississippi Battalion, Company G. Later the Company was reorganized into the 24th Alabama Infantry Regiment as Company K. 
Faulkner resigned in 1862, & returned to Autauga County where he formed Captain T. L. Faulkner's detached Cavalry, another Independent Company. This Cavalry Company enrolled at Pollard, AL on June 30, 1863. From that date until February of 1864, it operated with the 6th Alabama Cavalry in the area just north of Pensacola, FL. In the early months of 1864, Faulkner's Company served as part of Chandler's Cavalry Battalion(4 companies). Later the Company became Company A of Livingstons 8th Alabama Cavalry, Clanton's Brigade. Faulkner was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of Livingston's Cavalry, 8th Alabama Regiment. (List of Field Officers, Regiments and Battalions, C.S.A., 1861-1865). Colonel Faulkner survived the War and remained at Autaugaville. He died on March 13, 1907 and is buried in the Faulkner / Hicks family cemetery located off AL State Hwy. 14, just east of the Autaugaville town limits. 
Thomas Leslie Faulkner was born on December 31, 1821 at Langastershire, SC, the son of Thomas Faulkner of Lancaster County, SC. He & his two brothers, John Gillespie and Samuel Hutchinson Faulkner, came to Autauga County in the 1830’s. Thomas married Mary Hicks on September 5, 1850. They were wed only a few years when Mary died without children. Thomas then married Mary’s sister, Elizabeth Hicks. Thomas and Elizabeth had three known children, William, Mary, and Bulah. There may have been other children. The Faulkner home was one of Central Alabama’s earliest and best examples of the "plantation plain" style house, more correctly known as the extended "I" house. It was built ca. 1835, and is now in nearly complete ruin (though the frame remains sound). All that remains of this once-grand house is only the shell. Some of the original woodwork is still intact and includes unusual painted panel doors and chair rails. The remnants of the home are located in a pasture just off AL State Hwy 14 at the intersection of County Road 21, just before Autaugaville's east town limits. It is owned today by the Autauga Farming Company. 
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