re: What kneelers and confederate flag waivers have in common...

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How old are you that your great grandfather fought in the civil war?!

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Thursday I will be 79 years old. My dad was born in 1894. His dad was born in 1860.

I have two great grandfathers who fought in the war and bunches of great greats. One of my maternal great grandfathers was born in 1833. He was captured early in the war and spent time at the hell-hole prison camp located where the current Univ of Chicago stands = Camp Douglas. Look it up. He survived long enough to be paroled and then lost an arm at the battle of Mansfield (now called Pleasant Hill) He never owned a slave and worked beside blacks as a share cropper during reconstruction. He died in 1913. I heard this from his son, my grandfather.

My fraternal great grandfather joined when he was 15 years old, born in 1845. He was attached to a cavalry unit and also participated in the battle of Mansfield but was never injured. He lived until 1948, and died at 102 years old. I was 10 when he died. and remember him well. He was still in great shape and had all his teeth and black hair. He was one of the last 50 Civil War vets alive when he died.

He told us lots of stories, but most of them were about daily life in the camps. There was one yankee "blue belly" that got captured and they fed him, gave him some tobacco, and a drink of whiskey and let him go. A week later, they captured him again - and the 3rd time they captured him, they told him they would shoot him the next time he tried to get captured just so he could eat their food, smoke their tobacco and drink up their whiskey!!

I wish I had been smart enough to write down all the stuff he told us, and my memory is failing badly now.

All my male ancestors who were old enough were in the war - except one. The great great grandfather whose name I carry decided he was too old (born in 1817) so he hid out in the woods of East Texas instead of joining up. He was able-bodied enough to make it back home enough times to father three kids during the war tho, so I am a little miffed that he shrugged his duty.

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Whenever I display the Rebel Flag it's in hopes of having dialogue with someone that needs educating on the subject.

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