Any Civil War Buffs on TW?

Since 1989, I've been living in Fredericksburg, VA; a Civil War mecca if there ever was one. But I'm a Yankee by birth and had a Great x3 Grandfather who fought in the 158th Pennsylvania Infantry. I am the proud owner of his original discharge document.

 

I live in King William. I told my wife before we retire that I want to visit all the battlegrounds and monuments etc that is around here. There is some neat revolutionary sites too. People pay for vacations around here to visit these things and here we have them in our back yard.

 

@Fenwick1993 is the resident TW Civil War info super nerd.

 

Now that's a cool thing to have! We don't have any of the paper documents from the countless ancestors that fought. We know for sure of 27 on my dad's side that fought in the war, all for the South. (Mostly from VA, NC, and KY.) Out of those 27, twelve were KIA or mortally wounded, four died of illness, and one died in a prison camp. Our information is woefully incomplete, but we know how hard it is to find surviving southern paperwork. Half the time, it didn't exist to begin with.
So it's really awesome that you actually have that!

One thing I love about living here. I'm in Chesapeake.

You know it!

 

I do have one original picture of a family member. It's interesting, because he appears to be wearing a cavalryman's jacket, but he was with the 26th NC Infantry. Supposedly my Aunt has a bunch that my Grandpaw left to her.

 

I had a now-deceased great-great aunt who was his last surviving grandchild and she had the discharge document. One day I was visiting her (this was back in the 1990s) and she said "I'm old and won't be around much longer. You should have this because I know you'll appreciate it and take care of it." And she took it off the wall and handed it to me. Just like that.

I had another ancestor on my mother's side who was killed at Spotsylvania. I was able to locate the area where his unit fought and where he probably fell.

 

I have recently found some info regarding Revolutionary, 1812 and Civil war records for family via Ancestry.com. Hand written records that have been scanned/archived in various states. For me, particularly Kentucky and Virginia. Widows pensions, census records, things like that.

I have followed my mothers paternal line and found a 10th great grandfather was a Sgt. in the Commander in Chief's Guard, a unit assigned to George Washington, sort of a precursor to the Secret Service.

There is a book by the same name written in 1904 about that unit, and it lists all the troops, their origins, service time, etc, and contains facsimiles of their signatures. The book is an interesting read for anyone who likes history, mostly because you learn some bits about Washington that are not normal school house material.

A few other significant names popped up along the way too. While none of those things really change who I am, they are fun to know about.

 

you had a tornado last night?

 

What unit was he with?

I'd like to get my hands on that!

Friday night was wild here, couple tornadoes and loads of hail.

 

I want to say like the 116th PA Infantry, but I'm not sure. It was a unit from northeast Pennsylvania I'd have to ask my mom; she has all the genealogy info for her side.

The one in the discharge above was in the 158th Pennsylvania. That was a regiment of older soldiers who primarily had non-combat roles like transportation, etc. He spent most of his time pulling guard duty during the occupation of New Bern, NC. They got back to Pennsylvania right after Gettysburg and helped to chase Lee's army back south across the Potomac, so he did see a little action.

 

Library is where I found the one I read. I copied a few pages where G10 was mentioned.

 

Funny, I had a ton of family in the 26th NC, and they were some of the fellows that retreated from New Bern. The skirmishing that took place leading to their abandonment of New Bern/Fort Macon was their first engagement with the federals.

 

Oh my.. Yes please

 

The wife had a Hen Party at our house last Saturday and told me and my dog to get lost. Fine with me; too much estrogen for my taste anyhow.

It just so happened that the Taco was due for a State Inspection so the pooch and I drove down to Williamsburg, VA (Casey Toyota) where I bought it from. After that we drove out to the Cold Harbor battlefield and then to nearby Gaines Mill.

Cold Harbor:

Confederate trenches.




Union trenches, 200 yards east of the Confederate trenches.




Looking west toward the Confederate trenches. On June 3, 1864 men were falling here at the rate of about one man every seven seconds.









Gaines Mill

 

Nice!

 

we ride our bikes down the va capitol trail. Lot's of history.

 

I love the Fredericksburg sites, this spring I'm going to do some searches around my house, i livr along Bull Run creek about 3 miles from the battlefield. The previous owner found a cannon ball in the garden. So i hope to find some relics.

 

My mother has the hat pin/crest of great x2 uncle who was in a New York Cavalry unit.

 

On this day in history, May 9, 1864, Major General John Sedgwick became the highest ranking Union officer to be killed in the Civil War. It was during the Battle of Spotsylvania in Virginia; he was walking up and down the lines admonishing his men for cowering behind trees and in trenches for fear of the random Confederate bullets that were being fired their way. Sedgwick's last words were purported to be "Why are you dodging like this? They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist-" and he was shot dead by a Confederate sniper.

 

Not many people think of Florida in the Civil War... but we did stuff too...

Pics from my local park.





Also... the town of Lynn Haven was established by retiring union soldiers. It's has the only statue honoring union soldiers south of the mason Dixon line.




http://www.cityoflynnhaven.com/photo/history-lynn-haven