Bill Yopp was born in Laurens County, Georgia to slave parents. He was the fourth of (8) children. Like his parents, he was a slave of Jeremiah Yopp, master of two large plantations. When the master passed away, Bill Yopp became the personal property of Jeremiah's son, Thomas Yopp. As children, Thomas and Bill played, hunted, and fished together. Both Bill and Thomas were educated and attended regular church services. They became friends within the confinements of plantation life. When Georgia succeeded from the Union, Bill Yopp accompanied his master, Capt. Thomas McCall Yopp, between battle lines as company drummer of the Blackshear Guards which eventually became attached to the 14th Georgia Volunteer Regiment. Drummer Bill Yopp once said: " I had no inclination to go to the Union side , as I did not know the Union soldiers and the Confederate soldiers I did now, and I believed then as now, tried and true friends are better than friends you do not know". Between campaigns Bill Yopp blackened and shined the shoes of his regiment. He earned 10 cents for his services. After Capt. Yopp was wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines, Ten Cent Bill Yopp, as he was now penned, accompanied his master to a Richmond field hospital and assisted in his recuperation. Returning home for a duration, they rejoined to fight the bloody siege of Fredericksburg, Virginia where the Capt. was injured by shell. Once again, Bill Yopp came to his friend's aid. At the close of the war, Bill Yopp went off to see the world. After travel from New York to California, he visited the capitals of Europe. Realizing that old age had crept up on him, he returned to Georgia finding his friend living in poverty. Capt. Yopp entered the Confederate Soldiers' Home in Atlanta. Bill Yopp made regular visits to the Home taking Capt. Yopp nuts, fruit and other treats. He enlisted others to help in an annual Christmas fund raising campaign for the home's veterans. Each year the campaign became more successful. Proceeds from his autobiography, entitled Ten Cent Bill were donated to the Soldiers ' Home. He often spoke to the veterans at chapel services. As Capt. Yopp's health was failing he spent more and more time at the Captain's bedside. He addressed the attendees at Capt. Yopp's funeral by reminising the time they spent together conveying his respect for a lasting friendship. When Bill Yopp died sometime shortly after 1933, it is estimated that he had reached the mid nineties. After the body of Amos Rucker was disinterred and laid next to his wife, Bill Yopp became the only African-American to lie in the Confederate Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia. Sources: HISTORY of BILL YOPP by R. deT. Lawrence, Atlanta, GA, 1920; THE FORGOTTEN VETERANS by Charles Lunsford, "The Confederate Veteran", November/December 1992, pp.12-15: Dublin Courier Herald, January 27, 1920, p. 4
