JCC Descendents of American Civil War Soldiers

My family moved to America from Italy in the 20's so we don't have any relatives that participated in the Civil War.

 

My mother's family hadn't immigrated from Europe yet at that point, and my father's family was out in Utah being Mormons. AFAIK, nobody involved in the Civil War. So I'm not going to post here.

EDIT: damn.

 

Probably but I'm not sure. My dad's side came over from Wales right around the time of the war, but my mom's side traces back to John Hancock, so there's got to be a relative or two that fought in the war.

 

I have an ancestor on my father's side who fought in the Civil War--even faked his age (as he was too young at the time) to do so. Seeing as I'm a pacifist, however, this isn't really any mark of pride for me. I think he fought on the Union's side, though.

Admittedly well after the Civil War, I also had a great grandfather on my mother's side who was a decorated naval captain, and was in fact fairly legendary in his day. (He had a damned awesome name too: Captain Halford Greenlee.) I doubt he'd be terribly proud of me, though, ha.

It's actually with a fair degree of irony that I attribute my pacifism to the strong degree of empathy that I always try to have, which was inculcated in me from an early age. It's a character trait I learned as a child primarily from my grandmother--i.e. the naval captain's daughter.

 

Confederates have none either, ayuk.

 

I have ancestors that came to America in the early 19th century, but they only ever lived in the North, so no slave guilt here.

 

I have some on both sides on my mom's side. Not sure about my dad's side. My grandma's family was still in Sweden, but my grandpa's family was in the US. I haven't heard any family legends about it, so I don't think that there were any, but you never know.

 

Uncovered some more info. The POW ancestor served in the 26th North Carolina Infantry, Company B. Still haven't been able to figure out where he was captured, though.

The 26th North Carolina lost more men than any other regiment, Confederate OR Union, at Gettysburg; Company F was completely wiped out that July 3rd.

 

All my ancestors were starving in Ireland at that point.

 

http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg/gettysburg-2011/the-battle-for-herbst-woods.html

Stumbled across this article about the 26th North Carolina's charge against the 24th Michigan on July 1st. I got cold chills reading it - especially the section "No Man Can Take These Colors and Live." What makes it even more eriee is that my great-great-great-great grandfather was, in all probability, in the action at Gettysburg.

 

I'm thinking Copperhead.

 

The majority of both sides of my family have been here since the colonial era, and settled in Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, so there's a good chance I have family who fought on both sides of the war. I don't know enough about my genealogy pre-20th century, though, so I really have no details. I don't even know if the Southerners were in the upper class or "poor whites" so I don't know if they were slaveholders. In all likelihood they were lower class. The Northerners might not have been, but then, Pennsylvania hadn't been a slave state for some time by then.

 

Farmers in my family, don't think any had slaves.

 

The only ancestors of mine that were here during that era were CA based Native Americans.

They wanted no part in your Cracker War.

 

Bumping this thread back.

During a random search for my POW ancestor's name, I stumbled across a website that provided a LOT of information we didn't know.

Elias Darling "Darlin" Presley enlisted in Company B of the 26th North Carolina Infantry on Feb. 14th, 1863. He fought and was wounded in the first day's fighting at Gettysburg against the 24th Michigan, the "Iron Brigade", though not seriously, He also participated in Pickett's Charge two days later. Captured at Bristoe Station, Virginia, in mid October 1863. Transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland by the end of that month. There was an exchange of prisoners that Christmas, but Darlin and a cousin were not among those exchanged. He died at the prison in September 1864, just over ten months after his arrival.

According to this website, titled "The Kin of Rock and Roll," Darlin is a 4th cousin 3 times removed to singer Elvis Presley, which means that the branch of Darlin's descendents that includes my mother and me are very, very distantly related to Elvis.

(No, I'm not joking or making stuff up. I'm perfectly serious.)

 

Generally when I am "perfectly serious" and am afraid people might think I am joking or making stuff up, I remedy that by posting some sort of hyperlink to a source that corroborates this information.

 

I provided the website name, but since you asked, here's the specific link:

http://thekinofrockandroll.com/Darlin.htm

 

For sure: my maternal grandfather's grandfather; known for a fact that he was at Gettysburg (Union).

I also have Revolutionary War ancestors. Quite a surprise for someone who thought I was 2nd/3rd generation immigrant on paternal side, and maybe 5th - 7th generation on the maternal side.