# How did the Civil War affect your family? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 7, 2018, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486 "2018-07-07T19:32:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/21 "2018-07-08T01:39:25Z")
Well. Um. I had an ancestor who was a guard at Andersonville. Oops. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/22 "2018-07-08T01:47:04Z")
On a somewhat lighter note, my grandmother’s grandmother was part of an all women militia that formed to keep marauding Yankees out of their town. It seemed necessary, given that the able-bodied men were all fighting at the front. Of course, the front was hundreds of miles away, but never mind. The militia drilled a number of times, put together uniforms of a sort, learned rudimentary shooting skills, and generally kept a watchful eye out for the enemy. They actually lasted until almost the very end of the war, when the Yankees did arrive and the militia women bravely met them in the middle of the road that went through town. The Yankee officer was a gentleman and no shots were fired; the women were uninjured. Which was just as well, or I might not be here now. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/23 "2018-07-08T02:43:36Z")
70-80 years ago, a friend of my grandfather told my highly placed grandfather that my dad was likely to be drafted. My dad did some quick education, got into the navy, and was in a training program during WWII: he didn’t take up active duty until after the fighting stopped. I haven’t heard that the earlier generations were any different. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/24 "2018-07-08T02:55:24Z")
The Civil War resulted in the end of slavery, and the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, which were the first steps in a long line of gradual changes in the law that eventually allowed my non-white, non-Christian parents to immigrate legally in the 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/25 "2018-07-08T03:22:54Z")
My Great, Great, Great grandfather was conscripted into the Confederate army at the age of 15. Apparently he deserted at the age of 17 with a ferocious case of measles and body lice and managed to make his way back home. I wouldn’t have been born if this hadn’t happened, and my extended family enjoys parlaying this story into some vicarious Confederate patriotism. So that’s us, surly deserters. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/26 "2018-07-08T03:40:14Z")
I have no idea. My dad’s side of the family got here in 1633 and one of my great-great(etc.)-uncles signed the declaration of independence, but I’m not aware of anyone in the family fighting in the civil war. If they did, it’d of been for the north, of course. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/27 "2018-07-08T04:41:40Z")
My Great grandfather joined the Confederates with his 3 brothers. One brother died in Arkansas of unknown causes. Another one died of measles at Pine Mountain KY. The Yankees eventually took Pine Mountain and captured ggrandfather and his remaining brother; they were sent to Camp Davis in Chicago. At the end of the war they went home and the brother died the next day of some type of disease. My Great grandfather lived until about 1923. I also had a Great great grandfather who joined the Confederate army but got sick with a chronic illness. He was sent home and died shortly afterwards. I also had a Great great granduncle who fought for the Union. He died soon after the war, probably of diabetes. So there are no stories of heroism and bravery, just people dying of things that could be prevented or treated nowadays. But I’ve heard that’s the way war was up until WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/28 "2018-07-08T04:49:41Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > My maternal grandmothers grandfather was a drummer boy for the North, his brother fought for the south. They lived in Maryland. The drummer boy survived and became a barber. He would have been guarding my great-great-grandfather then. I once worked with someone who was from the Shenandoah Valley. I told her my great-great grandfather probably burned her great-great grandfather’s barn. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/29 "2018-07-08T04:50:51Z")
They probably, like, had to pay higher prices for tobacco or cotton or whatever, in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/30 "2018-07-08T04:52:44Z")
Also my GGGgrandfather on my father’s side was with the underground railroad before the war. My great grandmother on that line was racist and regretted the fact that her grandfather helped slaves escape. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/31 "2018-07-08T04:55:32Z")
They took our slaves ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/32 "2018-07-08T04:59:14Z")
The American part of my family left in a snit when the wrong side won the American War of Independence, so no affect for us. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/33 "2018-07-08T05:01:06Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > Also my GGGgrandfather on my father’s side was with the underground railroad before the war. My great grandmother on that line was racist and regretted the fact that her grandfather helped slaves escape. That’s an extremely odd case of someone from one generation being _more_ racist than the last. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/34 "2018-07-08T05:23:44Z")
The Civil War only affected people on my father’s side of the family since my mother’s side will still in Norway. A number of my distant paternal relatives fought in the Civil War. To the best of my knowledge, nearly all were Union. The most notable was my third great-grandfather, Charles P. Loughry. He came to US from Ireland via Canada and settled in Missouri where he married and had three children before enlisting in the Union Army in August 1862 as was part of the 29th Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Unfortunately, he was wounded during the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou on December 29, 1862, developed dropsy, and died on May 30, 1863. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/35 "2018-07-08T06:07:28Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I had ancestors who were members of the first synagogue in N. America (or any of the Americas, I think). First synagogue of the Americas, in Brazil : [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahal\_Zur\_Israel\_Synagogue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahal_Zur_Israel_Synagogue) (For some reason, I’ve been recently unable to highlight text on this board. Is it just me?) ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/36 "2018-07-08T06:42:08Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > . . . > (For some reason, I’ve been recently unable to highlight text on this board. Is it just me?) > . . . You probably can’t cut and paste either. There’s a thread about this in ATMB. It’s due to a change in Chrome. You can get around it by going to your profile (bottom left) and switching back to the old style (Straight Dope v3 7.3 instead of Sultantheme). However, this will cause you to lose some features that you may miss. [LINK](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=857192) ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/37 "2018-07-08T06:43:41Z")
Lamoral, it isn’t the only odd switch from generation to generation. My grandmother was racist but my mother took part in the civil rights movement (sit ins, covering demonstrations for the FSU newspaper). It is a bit weird how attitudes can vary like that across generations but each generation grows up with its own perceptions of the world. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/38 "2018-07-08T12:55:20Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Well. Um. > > I had an ancestor who was a guard at Andersonville. > > Oops. My ancestors didn’t come to America until long after the Civil War. When Mrs. Geek was researching her genealogy she found family members on both sides of the war. One of them was imprisoned at Andersonville. He survived. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/39 "2018-07-08T13:26:26Z")
It happened before my family came to the US, but my daughter’s best friend was the descendant of a Confederate soldier. She was Black. The ancestor was white, but married an ex-slave once the war ended. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486/40 "2018-07-08T13:56:33Z")
My great grandfather, Thomas Saunders, joined the Union Army as part of a student group at Alfred University, NY who enlisted with New York’s 23rd Regiment, K Company. Tommy, as he was called, was captured at 2nd Bull Run, but as was common at that stage of the war, was released without his weapon to make his way north and stay out of the fighting for a specified amount of time. This was after some discussion about whether or not they should just kill him (in which case, I would not be writing this). His time as a soldier had affected his health and he suffered from lung problems the rest of his life. He also had relationship problems and eventually his wife and children left him in the Dakota Territory. He rambled about for many years, ending up in Montecito, CA, where one morning in 1909, he walked out of the house where he was living with his most recent companion, went into the woods, took out his false teeth, removed his glasses, and shot himself to death. His wife eventually claimed his pension, giving a lengthy deposition as to their life together. This ended up in his pension file, which is where I found it during my genealogy research. I also found a photo of him taken in 1861 at Alfred University, and a letter that he wrote to his comrades while he was on his hiatus from the war. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-civil-war-affect-your-family/817486.md?page=3)