Civil War Ancestors on My Side, and Family Stories

My family (Watsons and Villigers) missed the Civil War. All my Yankees were either too old or too young, even though they lived in prime recruiting states (Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin). Even collateral service was scarce. Two of my mother's maternal grandmother's brothers (Feltons) served; one for just six months. But I guess Dad's 33 years of military service makes up for a lot.

The Civil War always makes me think of my mother. She spent her freshman year of college at The College of William and Mary. Before she moved to Williamsburg, she had never met anyone who gave that war a second thought. And she ran right into people for who did. She used some of her experiences there to explain why she spent the next three years at the University of Illinois.

One of the friends she made at William and Mary told Mom about her 8th grade graduation ceremony. Her grandmother walked up to the door to go in, spotted a picture of Abraham Lincoln on the wall and turned on her heel and walked out, refusing to step foot in the building.

Mom turned in a long paper on the Civil War for a history class at W&M. When it was returned to her, it had red ink all over it. Wherever she had used the term "Civil War" the instructor had crossed it out and written above it "The War Between the States."

Aunt Ruth (Ruth Palmer Short) comes to mind as well. She once told me that she always knew she would never get far in Dallas society because she couldn't join the Daughters of the Confederacy. We laughed because coming over on the Mayflower and fighting in the Revolution just wasn't good enough.

Now my daughter isn't eligible for the UDC either, because her father's ancestor chose not to return to his regiment after spending six months as a POW.