Yes, I understand that too.
Most of my kin that died in the Civil War supporting the Southern Cause never owned
a slave nor believed in it. They were protecting their homes and property such
as it was from invaders.
One man who was wounded at Shiloh while fighting with the 8th Arkansas, was actually
the descendant of people who were on the Mayflower and at Jamestown.
Another man who was wounded at Shiloh and was with the 5th Tenn. was the son
of an Irish blacksmith who lived in Tennessee.
The Guthrie boys owned property and were consdiered upstanding young men of the
time. Two were lost, one died at Shiloh fighting with the 10th Arkansas and his brother
was captured and died in the Yankee Prison. His daddy was a judge in Arkansas. His
brother deserted the 35th Arkansas and was with the Union Cav. in Yankee territory.
I have always thought that man chose life and his family over anything else.
The Guthrie boys' sister was married to a Price who died in the Yankee Prison
in Little Rock. Now they had a few slaves and they all stayed until the widow lost the farm
because she could not pay the taxes during Reconstruction times. They all nearly starved
to death going to the deer lick to even get salt.
The slaves who stayed with the widow had left South Carolina with her in-laws and floated
into Arkansas in 1836. The Price descended from a veteran of the American Revolution and
freed his Black blacksmith when the man turned 60 years of age. I would guess so the man
could die a free man. Yeah, there is a lot to be said.
Thank God I live in the here and now.
Linda