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From: "Prentice Stanley" <>
Subject: re "food for thought"
Date: Sat, 5 Jun 1999 10:20:03 -0000

Karin;
Thanks for posting the following. I think you're right on the
money here. Whomever it was that said that most of the soldiers
from the union were drafted was downright wrong. The call to arms
in the north was immediate and overwhelming. Lincoln called for
an army, and he got more than he asked for from almost every
state.

Prentice

> Although I can only speak for my husband's family I happen to know
> that all four of his great-grandfathers enlisted in the army from Ohio to
> fight in the Civil War. We have letters from one side of the family and
> the letters indicate that the reason for enlisting was to preserve the
> Union. On this side of the family six cousins enlisted and one was drafted.
> Of the seven four died in the war of wounds and/or disease.
> Of the four great-grandfathers, one was killed, one was imprisoned,
> but survived, one deserted after the battle of Vicksburg and one came
> through four years of war intact. One was an officer and three were
> enlisted. I agree with M Dixon that many men served in the army during
> this war, not because they had to, but because they felt it was their duty
> to do so. Having lived during WWII I know that that is also the case in
> that war. In this cynical age in which we live, it is sometimes difficult
> to imagine that men and women are not always motivated by self-serving
> motives. Sometimes there are causes that men feel are bigger than
> themselves. May it ever be so. Karin
>
>
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This thread:

• re "food for thought" by "Prentice Stanley" <>