Welcome to the blogpost roundup for the Fourth Annual American Civil War BlogpostChallenge. These were the suggestions for possible topics I thought
my fellow geneabloggers might want to write about for this year's Challenge:
Did you have ancestors in America during the Civil War? If so, where were they
and what were their circumstances? How did the Civil War affect them and
their family? Did the men enlist and did they perish in battle or die of illness?
On which side did they fight, or did you have relatives fighting on BOTH sides?
How did the women left at home cope, or did any of them find ways to help
the war effort? Were your ancestors living as slaves on Southern plantations
and if so when were they freed? Or were they freemen of color who enlisted
to fight?
Have you visited a Civil War battlefield or monument to those who fought?
It could be connected to your family history, or just one that you've visited
at some point.
If your ancestors had not emigrated to America as yet, what was their life
like around the time of the Civil War?
I didn't get many entries this year but I life to think the quality of the submissions
more than makes up for the lack of quality. I've also added some photos I've
taken over the years of Civil War monuments here in southeastern Massachusetts.
So let's get started!
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| Marshfield Hills Cemetery. Marshfield, Ma. |
The Civil War took a terrible toll on families on both sides, with most or
all of their male family members killed. Ray Nichols tells the story of
one such Southern family over at his Growing The Family Tree blog in
the post Civil War: the Richards family tragedy
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| Civil War Veterans' Plot, Mt.Vernon Cemetery, Abington, Ma. |
Amanda the Librarian of the ABT UNK blog is one of those who had
ancestors on both side of the conflict. Some survived, some didn't. You
can find their story and some pictures as well in Military Monday:
My Civil War Ancestors.
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| Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Abington, Ma. |
After the war, monuments were built all over the country to honor those
who had fought and those who'd died in the war. Doreen from Ohio
of the Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Ohio shares photos of one in her
Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Milan, Ohio post.
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| Civil War Memorial Arch, Abington, Ma. |
The Fold3 website is a great place to find documents relating to the
wartime service of ancestors. John Newmark recently found one that
gave the reason his wife's ancestor joined the Confederate Army and
has published the transcript in Amanuensis Monday: Reasons for
taking up arms on his TransylvanianDutch blog.
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| Civil War Monument, Mayflower Cemetery, Duxbury, Ma. |
My 5x great grandmother Lydia Phelps was the young widow of a
Revolutionary War soldier with three small children when she
married my 5x great grandfather John Ames. One of the descendants
of her son Sampson Reid fought for the Union in the War and was one
of those awarded a high honor for his service. I wrote about it here
on West in New England in AXEL REED, CHICKAMAUGA &
CEMETERY RIDGE.
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| Lincoln Statue, Hingham, Ma. |
talented geneabloggers who took part this year, and urge my readers to leave
comments for them after you read their posts.
Next year will mark the fifth and final year of the Civil War 150th Anniversary
so if you haven't taken part in the Challenge yet, next year will be your last chance.
Or you can wait until 2036 when I run another Civil War Challenge to mark the
175th Anniversary!
1 comment:
I summarized what I knew about my ancestors, sharing links to previous posts, at From Maine To Kentucky.
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