General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I just found out that one of my great great grandfathers served on the Confederate side [View all]ashling
(25,771 posts)Mississippi Rifles in the Army of the Tennessee and was killed t the Battle of Peachtree Creek during the Atlanta Campaign
My father's mother's father was wounded twice. The second time he was shot in the hand at Corinth and captured by the Union and then later parolled. He went home to Tuscaloosa, married and came to Texas where he lost his wife died. He then married my again and settled down in Bluff Dale, Tx where he farmed. In the 1880's he was a strong Populist - secretary of the Bluff Dale Lodge of the Texas Farmers Alliance.
People fought for a lot of different reasons - not always the big ones. Some were drafted. Others ... who knows.
Some of these folks went on to become "radical Republicans", Populists (like my dad's gg), even socialists. Some of their kids went on to become FDR Democrats (like my dad) and one of his kids went on to become ... me.