Dodging bullets: Our families and the Civil War

           In April of 1865, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia surrendered to the United States Army of the Potomac at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. After the formal surrender, the Confederates marched past the victors and stacked arms – handed over their rifles – as the federal army saluted respectfully.

          The day the AoNV stacked arms remains among America’s most momentous days. The War had not ended. The South still had armies in the field. But the most capable, not to mention celebrated, Confederate army was done fighting. Other surrenders followed.

          Few moments in American history top Appomattox for drama and big-name stars. Robert Edward Lee. Hiram Ulysses Grant. A geeky professor from Maine who turned out to be a heckuva military man, J.L. Chamberlain. Confederate general James Longstreet. AoP commander George Gordon Meade. The list goes on.

          But two men who were technically on the list weren’t there.

          One of my great-great grandfathers was listed as a member of the 23^rd Battalion, Alabama Sharpshooters. The 23^rd, what was left of it, was at Appomattox. My ancestor was not there. He had been wounded at Chickamauga, when the men of the 23^rd Battalion were still part of Hilliard’s Legion. He never rejoined the Confederate army. His wound did not recover sufficiently for him to return to the military. He was still on the muster rolls because the red tape was slow to connect in those days. He had been discharged from service long before the surrender. So, his name was among the members of the AoNV, but he never served in that outfit.

          And it gets better. My wife has an ancestor who served in the 17^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The 17^th Ohio was at Appomattox as well and Amy’s ancestor was on the rolls as a private in that outfit. But it appears this soldier was in a hospital in Louisville, Kentucky at the time of the surrender. He was ill.

          My ancestor never surrendered to my wife’s ancestor.

          More to come: The 17^th OVI was at Chickamauga. Hilliard’s Legion, was part of Brig. General Archibald Gracie’s brigade and helped push the union defenders off of Horseshoe Ridge at Chickamauga. Elements of the 17^th were on the Ridge for part of that fighting. But it turns out that Amy’s ancestor did not join the Union Army until 1864, well after the slugfest on Horseshoe Ridge.

That means my ancestor did not chase my wife’s ancestor off that bloody hill, nor did my wife’s ancestor shoot and wound my ancestor.

Both men survived the war and they died within a month of each other in 1908. They never met.

What does history have for us to study? Lots of stuff. Check out your own ancestors.

Thanks for reading.