Did you have any ancestors who fought in the Civil War?
- Thread starter Formerly Rockymtnole
- Start date
Mine came from Norway and Denmark a little after the Civil War
Before this goes political.....who cares. We all should identify for what WE have done for ourselves, our families, and our future generations.
Didn’t intend for it to be political - was just curious.
Mine weren't in this country until after 1900.
I have a document my grandmother gave me. It is her grandfather's certificate of membership in the Grand Army of the Republic (Union vet org.). He served with a Union cavalry outfit in Missouri.
I think the other family members on my mom's side came later.
My grandma on my dad's side did some genealogy as a hobby, but I've never looked through it. I'm assuming my aunt (dad's SIL) probably inherited that stuff.
I know my dad's grandfather moved from Kentucky to Arkansas, so presumably his father would have been wartime age, and in the neutral state liable to have been on either side if in the war.
Of my grandparents generation all the uncles were in WW2. Navy and Marines in the case of my grandparents.
I think the other family members on my mom's side came later.
My grandma on my dad's side did some genealogy as a hobby, but I've never looked through it. I'm assuming my aunt (dad's SIL) probably inherited that stuff.
I know my dad's grandfather moved from Kentucky to Arkansas, so presumably his father would have been wartime age, and in the neutral state liable to have been on either side if in the war.
Of my grandparents generation all the uncles were in WW2. Navy and Marines in the case of my grandparents.
Yes. It was passed-down vividly in our family. On my mother's paternal lineage:
My great-great grandfather was in the 50th Va. Company K in the Army of Northern VA. He joined in June of 1861. He fought in major campaigns of the ANV (Antietam, 2nd Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancelorsville, Gettysburg (at Culp's Hill), and was captured at The Wilderness. He was sent to Point Lookout MD and then Elmira, NY POW camp. He was released in June 1865 and died in 1922. He went to the 1913 Gettysburg Reunion!
He mustered out of Patrick County, VA which was also where my great-great uncle, JEB Stuart was from. They were related, but my GGG was in the infantry, and Stuart was a famous cavalry general. Me, my grandfather and great-grandfather all have the same middle name- Stuart.
My GGG gave away 20 acres to each of the two slaves his father/family had after he returned from the war.
My great-great grandfather was in the 50th Va. Company K in the Army of Northern VA. He joined in June of 1861. He fought in major campaigns of the ANV (Antietam, 2nd Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancelorsville, Gettysburg (at Culp's Hill), and was captured at The Wilderness. He was sent to Point Lookout MD and then Elmira, NY POW camp. He was released in June 1865 and died in 1922. He went to the 1913 Gettysburg Reunion!
He mustered out of Patrick County, VA which was also where my great-great uncle, JEB Stuart was from. They were related, but my GGG was in the infantry, and Stuart was a famous cavalry general. Me, my grandfather and great-grandfather all have the same middle name- Stuart.
My GGG gave away 20 acres to each of the two slaves his father/family had after he returned from the war.
Not that I’m aware of. The ones I know about came from Northern Europe after the Civil War but there are some on my dads side I don’t know about yet.
My dad was in WWII, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. His tank was hit and everyone in the tank was either killed or ran away. He was blinded and couldn’t hear and captured by the Germans. A German doctor brought back most of his eyesight and hearing.
I think Lute fought in that war, and I'm guessing 40+% of us are related to Lute.
Yep, tons on all sides of the family and all for the Confederacy as they lived in Virginia and North Carolina.
My dad’s paternal line (ie my straight paternal line) were among the earliest settlers in Virginia. My family name goes back to Viking invaders from Denmark who initially settled in Normandy France before invading England from France as part of the Norman conquest. The namesake of my family line ended up a minor noble on the Scottish/English border on the western coast of Northumbria. Fastforward a bit and a second son who wouldn’t inherit a title from my “English” ancestors was one of the earliest settlers (1643) in Middle Plantation which would become Williamsburg, Virginia. My ancestor did fight on the noble/crown side of the first civil war/insurrection in North America which was called Bacon’s War or Bacon’s Rebellion (essentially fought because the poor/rebels wanted to just murder natives while the noble/crown side wanted peaceful trade, the last rebel stronghold called “Bacon’s Castle” still stands in Surry across the James River from Williamsburg). Later ancestors of mine in this line fought in the Revolutionary War in a mainline Continental army unit on the side of the Patriots/rebels and a later ancestor fought in the Civil War in the Confederacy side and was killed but his son that was my umpteenth grandfather survived him.
My dad’s maternal line were mainly Scots with a bit of English, Welsh and Irish who settled in North Carolina in the Argyle Colony area before moving inland into the Piedmont around 1740. Unlike my paternal-paternal line and maternal-paternal line there’s nothing particularly interesting about them other than at least one of my direct ancestor was a “regulator” who fought in an insurrection before the Revolutionary War which was called the War of Regulation. That was a confusing mishmash of reasons but essentially my ancestor was on the “regulator” side that was against the crown for a variety of reasons. That ancestor and about 80% of the surviving regulators who were not hung ended up fighting on the Patriots/rebel side of the Revolutionary War. A later ancestor fought on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil War.
My mom’s paternal side is as interesting as my dad’s and can be traced back almost as far but there’s more missing info. We know my oldest known direct ancestor on that side was likely a German from his name but we know he was a Knight of St John’s/Hospitaller who went over near the last part of the Crusades and served initially in Acre and after escaping with some other knights during the Siege of Acre as well as his Jewish wife (it looks like he was a bodyguard of the Hospitaller GrandMaster and evacuated with him rather than fight to the end with most of the rest of the knights) they stayed on Cyprus before taking Rhodes. Although thought to be a celibate order, a pretty hefty chunk of the Hospitallers were not especially higher ups and their bodyguards so my ancestor issued from him. Eventually the Hospitallers moved from Rhodes to Malta and my ancestors followed (sometimes in the knighthood and frequently not as far as we can tell). After Malta fell to Napoleon in the late 1700s, most of the knights there went to Italy but my direct ancestor went to England instead. He stayed there long enough to have kids who were born English to what we believe was an English wife. One of his kids moves to America in the 1840s which coincidentally was when a wave of German settlers were coming over and he did end up settling in the mountains of North Carolina in what is essentially a German settled area. Which is why my living family thought for a long time that we were just standard German settlers from that time period, but birth certificates dug up by a relative show he was in fact an “Englishman” with a German sounding last name. One of his sons was my direct ancestor and he fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War as a teen in later drafts.
On my mom’s maternal side, my grandmother was half Cherokee and half white. My Cherokee side was more interesting as a direct ancestor fought for during the War of 1812 and then was betrayed by Andrew Jackson. His grandson fought with the Confederacy under Stand Watie as part of the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles. After some initial battles where rather than fight white Union troops which they had signed up for, they were forced to fight mainly Creeks and Seminoles who ostensibly supported the Union but really were just trying to flee into Kansas to get away from the bloodshed, a big portion of the Cherokees deserted to the Union. They were replaced by mostly mixed blood Cherokees who were slave owners and supported the Confederacy fully. The reorganised group went on to have a lot of success against white and black troops during the Civil War but we’re unsure if my ancestor was part of the initial group who deserted to the Union cause or stayed with Stand Watie after the dissension. It’s likely he deserted to the Union side as he was full-blooded Cherokee and it was the mixed race Cherokee who more strongly supported the Confederacy. Fast forward and after the Civil War rather than return to reservation lands in Oklahoma he secretly lived with some other “open secret” “Eastern Band” Cherokees in the mountains and Piedmont area of North Carolina. They interbred off and on with the local whites in the area so I’m not 1/8th Cherokee but likely substantially less than that even though my great grandmother would have been as full blooded as any other Eastern Band Cherokee which is to say...maybe half at most likely a quarter as they’re pretty fair skinned there. My maternal maternal’s white side is also from that area and all have at least a tiny portion of Cherokee blood if they were in that part of North Carolina. But they are a Heinz 57 mix of Scots, English, Irish, Welsh and German. On the “white” half of that line I don’t have a Civil War soldier as my direct ancestor of that line has the same last name as his mom. Which is very common in that time, too many men were killed off so that there might be in towns like she lived in 5 or more women for every dude. So I’m sure you can figure out what happened, one of those dudes (probably married or my ancestor would have his name) came knocking and after my female ancestor got knocked up she became a single mom.
My side of the family came over after the Civil War - "I'm not fighting another war for the Kaiser!"
My wife's side of the family has a great story and the love letters to illustrate it. He was in Union army and fell for a pretty girl in the South he saw fetching water. They were of course parted when the army moved on but wrote each other. Both sets of parents disowned them. They married after the war, moved to Iowa and had a huge family.
My wife's side of the family has a great story and the love letters to illustrate it. He was in Union army and fell for a pretty girl in the South he saw fetching water. They were of course parted when the army moved on but wrote each other. Both sets of parents disowned them. They married after the war, moved to Iowa and had a huge family.
Yes. There are gravestones in the family plot with CSA engraved on them. My paternal great grandparents were plantation owners in Georgia. Sherman stayed at their house during his march.
Pic of half Cherokee maternal grandmother?
Yes 2 ancestors died while fighting for the union. They were from Pella before their family moved to Hospers. Irritates me when I see Iowans display the traitor rebel battle flag.
Had one fight for the Union. I don't remember exactly which state he was from. Also had an ancestor fight in the American Revolution.
No. Second generation American.
Edited to add strike-through.
My great-great uncle-in-law was the legendary Colonel Angus.
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Great(x3) Grandfather fought in the 36th Iowa Infantry Regiment.
He had a couple of relatives (cousins, I think) who served in the 7th Iowa Cavalry Regiment, primarily protecting wagon trains headed west from attacks by Cheyenne and Sioux tribes who were not thrilled about the encroachment of white settlers. One of the cousins froze to death at Ft Kearny. That's gotta be a rough way to die.
He had a couple of relatives (cousins, I think) who served in the 7th Iowa Cavalry Regiment, primarily protecting wagon trains headed west from attacks by Cheyenne and Sioux tribes who were not thrilled about the encroachment of white settlers. One of the cousins froze to death at Ft Kearny. That's gotta be a rough way to die.
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Great Great Grandfather was with a regiment from North Carolina. He was with Stonewall Jackson and in a lot of the famous battles in Virginia. He survived them all, which is why I exist.
With a name like Lute, he’s probably a veteran of the Battle of Hafrsfjord some 1100 years ago
Probably. Just no one to ask at this stage. Would’ve been on the Union side.
When my Great-Great Grandfather landed in Scott County in 1858 he was already a veteran of the First Schleswig War (1848-1851). It was the first round of military conflict in southern Denmark and northern Germany rooted in the Schleswig-Holstein Question, contesting the issue of who should control the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.
Yes, my great great grandfather fought for the Union, after emigrating from Germany in 1856. His headstone/monument is fairly prominent at the Guttenberg Cemetery.
My paternal grandmother’s lineage goes back to the Mayflower (last name Palmer), so I’m sure there were some distant relatives from that massive family tree who fought.
I’m not sure about my Mom’s side. I THINK they mostly emigrated here after the Civil War.
My paternal grandmother’s lineage goes back to the Mayflower (last name Palmer), so I’m sure there were some distant relatives from that massive family tree who fought.
I’m not sure about my Mom’s side. I THINK they mostly emigrated here after the Civil War.
From my understanding I'm descendant of George Soule, a passenger on the Mayflower.
Had many people in my family who fought for Virginia. My great grandmother was born in 1892 so some were still alive when she was little. I still remember her insisting they did not fight for the Confederacy, they were fighting for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
My dad's side is thought to be from the Mayflower as well (I think). My grandmother claimed that an ancestor served as a messenger for George Washington. She was college educated (not common in the 1920s /1930s) and not senile
My paternal grandparents didn't get off the boat until 1910 or so. My mom's side goes back to the early colonies. In the civil war I have 2 known ancestors that fought for the CSA. One was a general that was a medical doctor and another who fought for TN. He was made famous in the History of Franklin County by a hilarious story where he hid behind a tree and had to suck in his beer belly every time the "yankees shot", much to the amusement of his fellow troops.
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