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At 6:00 A.M. on the 4th of July in 1863, it rained in Gettysburg -- it rained on many of
the 27,000 wounded and dying Confederate and Union soldiers. It rained on the
thousands of dead yet to be buried. As the day wore on, Lee's shattered army left
Gettysburg and Major George Rogers Clark Todd, 10th Georgia Infantry (surgeon in
Semmes' Brigade) headed south, leaving behind the battlefield his brother-in-law,
Abraham Lincoln, would come to consecrate just 4-1/2 months later. Vicksburg fell to
the Union this day. General George Gordon Meade must have in some way felt this to
be a bittersweet victory as his sister, Charlotte, was a resident of Vicksburg, and
married to a Southerner, Alfred Ingraham. The Ingrahams, having sided with the
Confederacy, lost one son in an early engagement of the war, a soldier son-in-law to
disease, and another son at Chancellorsville. General Robert E. Lee's sister, Anne,
along with her husband, William Marshall, sided with the Union, and their son, Louis,
served on the staff of Union General John Pope. This truly was a war of family against
family, brother against brother.
While the Civil War is a remarkable piece of history to study, it brings us all close to the
pain and heartache of what war is truly about. Many lives were lost at Gettysburg. Many
lives were lost in the war. I would like to list every single one, as each was our brother.
To them all, both Confederate and Union, I give my utmost respect for defending with
their lives what they believed in. Each and every one deserves to be remembered for
sacrifice and devotion to a cause thought just. May their souls be blessed and may they
rest in peace. Source.
John Fee was a Methodist minister from Kentucky. His father was a prosperous slaveholding farmer. In Fee's diary, he chronicles the conflicts he had with his father over
slavery. This entry describes how he tried to free a slave named Julett to save her from
being sold and separated from her family:
Intelligence came to me that my brother had advised my father to sell the woman referred
to, for the reason that there were more women in the family than were needed.
I said to my wife: "I cannot redeem all slaves, nor even all in my father's family, but
the labors of Julett and her husband contributed in part to the purchase of the land I yet
own in Indiana, and to sell those lands and redeem her will be in some measure returning
to her and her husband what they have toiled for." My wife said: "Do what you think is
right." I took my horse, rode twenty-five miles to my father's house and spent the night. In
the morning of the next day I sought an opportunity when my father was alone, and
having learned that he would sell, asked what he would take for Julett. He fixed his price.
I said: "Will you sell her to me if I bring to you the money?" He said yes. I immediately
rode to Germantown and borrowed the requisite amount of money by mortgaging my
remaining tract of land for the payment. Whilst there I executed a bill of sale, so that
without delay my father could sign it, before he even returned from the field at noon. I
tendered to him the money and the bill of sale. He signed the bill of sale, and took the
money. I immediately went to "Add," the husband of Julett, and told him I had bought
Julett and should immediately secure by law her freedom. I said to him: "I would gladly
redeem you but I have not the means." He replied: "I am glad you can free her; I can take
care of myself better than she can.” See entire entry here.
When nineteen-year-old Henry Lane Stone joined
the Confederate army,he did not just turn against
the Union, or what he called the "cursed dominion
of Yankeedom," he also defied his family,
especially his father. Stone's parents were natives
of Kentucky, but by 1861 they were living in
southern Indiana with Henry and his four brothers.
They were staunch Unionists, and at least one of
Henry's brothers volunteered for the Union army.
But in August 1862 Henry, a middle child, felt
drawn to fight for the Confederacy. Knowing that
his family would try to stop him, he kept his
decision secret and departed without even leaving a
note. To make his way past Union pickets, he
disguised himself as a poor farmer and headed for
Kentucky to join the cavalry of John Hunt Morgan.
A month later he revealed his whereabouts to his
father: "Pap, I do not regret one practical my
leaving home and every day convinces me I did
right," he explained, yet he realized the personal
cost of his actions. ”I can imagine how your
feelings are, one son in the Northern and another in
the Southern Army," he acknowledged. "But so it
is.... Good times will come again." He signed the
letter, "Your rebelling son, Henry.” Source for
previous three slides: Amy Murrell Taylor, Divided
Family in Civil War America (Chapell Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 2005).
Ezekial Clay
One morning in 1861, Ann Clay, wife of pro-Union Kentucky legislator
Brutus Junius Clay, found her stepson's bed empty but for this note
stating that he had gone to join the Confederate army:
September 24, 1861
B.J. Clay and family,
I leave for the army tonight. I do it for I believe I am doing right. I go of
my own free will. If it turns out I do wrong I beg forgiveness.
Goodbye to you all. You will hear from me soon.
E.F. Clay (Zeke)
After reading the note above, Ann Clay wrote the following letter to her husband.
My Dear Husband:
I feel that the only relief to my sad feeling tonight will be to write you. I suppose you have received Mr. Scott's letter
saying Zeke had gone off last night to join the secession army. On Monday Aunt Holloway, Cyrus Miller, and Jimmy
Miller came here, the two former on their way to Illinois. Yesterday Dudley, Zeke and Jimmy went to town and to see
Judge Bedford, came back, sat through supper and then went to the office. At bedtime Jimmy came in the house. I
asked him where Zeke was. Said he would be in in a few moments, and as it was bed time they were soon asked to
their beds upstairs, and Zeke did not make his appearance. The morning Isham went around for him to come to his
breakfast. Said he was not there, he had slept in his bed and he expected he had gone coon hunting this morning.
Jimmy said yes that Judge had asked him to go hunting with him this morning but that Zeke remarked he could not
leave him, so we ate our breakfast and concluded he had gone hunting, and directly after breakfast we went to town as
Aunt Holloway wanted to see the Hickmans and some friends before she left today for Illinois, and I thought no more of
Zeke till I went to the depot and Scott told me he had gone last night. I remarked that I did not believe it, but if he had, he
had disgraced himself. He told me Judge Bedford and Wash Clay had gone with Zeke and that Volney Bedford knew all
about it. I felt so provoked I determined to come by there and give him a piece of my mind.
Zeke rode his brown mare, took a comfort and blankets off his bed, your Sharp's rifle and a few shirts. Ever since you
wrote to me about his having his guns ready, he has been busy making cartridges and I gave him the credit of making
them for you, but Cash tells me he did not leave a load of powder on the place. He will go to town in the morning to get
some, do not be uneasy about us at home. I do not feel afraid and do not suppose I will be troubled. Sidney and Mr.
Hawkins both have offered to stay or attend to anything that is necessary.... I have been very particular about the doors
and have always had the windows down as I did not consider the shutters secure. James Miller lied to us and knew all
about it, and Mr. Bedford thought he was going with them. Aunt Holloway was hurried off by the troubles in Ky. Mrs.
Deingham went to Frankfort today so I suppose Mrs. Tubman came. Do try and get to see them.... Cash is about well.
My love to you, Ma and Sally
Yrs. devotedly
Ann M. Clay (See entire letter here)
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Two Brothers, born in Scotland and building new lives in America found
themselves fighting each other for their adoptive countries at Secessionville in
1862.
They immigrated to America in the 1850's. Confederate James Campbell
settled in Charleston where he worked as a drayman and clerk, joining a militia
company known as the Union Light Infantry, sometimes called 42nd.
Highlanders (probably after the 42nd. British Black Watch Regiment because
of its predominately Scottish ethnicity). His brother Alexander settled in New
York, but spent time in Charleston working as a stone mason on the new U.S.
Customs House being built at the end of Market Street shortly before the war.
While in Charleston he also enlisted in a militia company later identified in
letters from his brother as "the H.G.s" which was probably the Home Guards,
composed of foreign born residents of Charleston. In March 1862, James and
the Union Infantry were consolidated into the Charleston Battalion. In New
York, Alexander joined the 79th. Highlander regiment.
After the war James managed a Plantation and eventually bought land on the
Ashepoo River South of Charleston. he was active in Charleston's St. Andrews
Society and the United Confederate Veterans. Alexander moved to Connecticut
and established a business manufacturing "artistic monuments." They
corresponded with each other and were on good terms after the war. James
died in 1907 and Alexander died in 1909. Source.
West Point
Brothers:
Civil War
Enemies
Union Soldier Marries Confederate Spy
Mary Todd Lincoln
The Civil War ripped Mary Todd Lincoln apart as
it did the nation. She had been raised in a
slave-owning family, but came to abhor slavery.
Her best friend was her seamstress, the freed
slave Elizabeth Keckley. As a well-bred woman
of Kentucky, she was reviled by Southerners as
a turncoat, while Northerners doubted her
loyalty. Six of her close relatives fought in the
war -- all for the Confederacy -- and two of her
stepbrothers and a brother-in-law were killed in
battle. Of one of her dead stepbrothers, she
said, "He made his choice long ago. He decided
against my husband, through him against me.
He has been fighting against us and since he
chose to be our deadly enemy, I see no special
reason why I should bitterly mourn his death."
Yet when her brother-in-law Ben Hardin Helm
was killed fighting for the Confederates, the
Lincolns took in his widow, her stepsister Emilie,
to live with them in the White House. Source. Pic
Source.
Sources
Letters:
http://www.ket.org/civilwar/families.html
http://www.ket.org/civilwar/aamerican.html