THE SECOND AMERICAN CIVIL WAR BLOG CHALLENGE BLOGPOSTS

Welcome to the Second American Civil War Blog Challenge! The rules
for the challenge were these:

"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 who
enlisted to fight? Did any ancestor take part in a battle that took place in
1862? 


Write a blogpost on these questions, or, if you think of another topic to do
with your family history and the Civil War, write about that. Send me the link
after you publish it on your blog by midnight  September 15th and I'll publish
 all the links here ..."


Twelve bloggers(counting myself) submitted fourteen blogposts with stories
that explored their families and the Civil War from various angles. All are well
worth your attention, so let's get started!



Denise Spurlock's ancestor fought on both sides of the Civil War. She tells us
how in  "Ambrose B. Martindale, Confederate Conscript, Union Volunteer" at
Denise's Life in the Past Lane blog.

There was a third approach a man could take to the Civil War and Jacob Snider of
Waynesboro, Pennsylvania took it. Ed Hamilton discusses the consequences in
"A Third Side in the American Civil War" at My Old Ohio Home.


In September of 1861 author Robert Burns Clark's 2x great grandfather  and
great grandfather posed for a picture before they left to fight for the
Confederacy. Robert tells us what became of them, and what he sees when
he looks at that picture in "Marching Off To War".


Fellow Massachusetts  genealogist Sara Campbell contributes two posts inspired
by her research from her Remembering Those Who Came Before Us blog.
The first, "See the World" is the story of a man who served in the Union
Navy across the ocean in Europe.

The second," Civil War Research - Holyoke's Richard Wall" concerns  the history
of a family from Holyoke, Ma, that Sara has "adopted"


Thousands of Irish immigrants to America fought in the Civil War, some for the
Confederacy but most for the Union. Richard Billies' ancestor was one and Richard
writes about him in "Michael Patrick Murphy" at North Against South.


For some time now, TransylvanianDutch blogger John Newmark has been
transcribing records pertaining to the part his and his wife's ancestors played
during the War. He describes them and provides links to the transcriptions
with his "Second American Civil War Blog Challenge" post.

80,000 men from Maine served in the Civil War, including Pam Seavey Schaffner's
3x great grandfather and other members of his family. Pam writers about three
of them in "Oh Brave Brackley Boys of Freeman" at Digging Down East.

Like John Newmark, Dear Myrtle has written a number of posts over the years about
four Civil War ancestors. She gives a brief summary of those posts along with the
links at "2nd American Civil War Blog Challenge". (I found the first one about the
widow claiming a pension especially interesting!)

Holly Timm also contributed two posts. The first, "brother against brother ... "
describes the havoc the war brought to Harlan County, Kentucky.The other tells
about the roles three of Holly's relatives played at Gettysburg and asks the
question, "who were they ... ". You can find both posts at her genealogy musings 
blog.

At Bits And Pieces Les Larrabee recounts the sad tale of one his wifes's relatives
in "Gideon Barnes Came Home to Die"  and tells us how a fellow geneablogger
helped with his research!


Over at Genea-Musings, Randy Seaver uses information from a Civil War Pension
File and online sources to fill in the blanks in "Isaac Seaver - My Only Civil War Soldier"

Russ Worthington takes a different tack on the challenge at his Family Tree Maker 
User blog and shows us how he used the FTM Timeline Feature to help research
his ancestor's Union Army service. Even if you don't use Family Tree Maker, check
out his "The 2nd Americal Civil War Blog Challenge - and FTM2012 Timelines ." 
It might give you some ideas.

Finally, my own 2x great grandfather Asa Freeman Ellingwood returned to the
Union Army after having already served and been discharged for medical reasons.
Find out how in "ASA ELLINGWOOD IN THE VETERANS RESERVE CORPS" here
on West in New England.

That concludes this year's edition of the Civil War Challenge. My thanks to all
the bloggers who took part!

I'll be holding three more of these to coincide with the observance of the 150th
Anniversary of the War, so you all have advanced notice and hopefully find something
in your own family's experiences that you can write a post about for next year,
I look forward to reading it!