Northern Confederates

[Josh Beckett]

My Grandfathers Grandfather was a Confederate Vet who saw alot of action during the Civil War. He was raised in Ohio and joined the CSA during the war (his father fought for the North).

Were there any Northern units that fought for the South or was it just a few defections here and there? Id like to find out his unit (if thats even possible).

I know every southern state with the exception of South Carolina had at least 1 unit in the Union Army.

[DennyB]

Josh, I have a friend whose family had a similar experience. One of the men had a family in Mississippi with several children. When he was in his 30s and his children in their teens, his wife died. His business took him North and he met then married an Illinois woman, they had children. When the war broke out, he joined the Union Army while his sons joined the Confederate Army.
In my own family, my G-G-G-G-Grandfather was a Lt in the Virginia Militia during the American Revolution, he was also a slave-owner. His descendants moved West into Kentucky then up into Illinois. My G-G-Grandfather served as a corporal in the 98th Illinois Infantry (mounted) that was part of Wilder's Brigade.
Gen Thomas (US) was Southern born while Gen Pemberton (CS) was born in Pennsylvania. There were many high ranking officers that fought against their home state.
In one battle the 1st Maryland Infantry (US) faced the 1st Maryland Infantry (CS) across the battlefield. This happened more than once where border states units were purposely placed opposing each other.
The were many truces called during seiges (Vicksburg comes to mind) where relatives could meet in "No Man's Land" between the battle lines and visit.

After the war several Southerners came North for work because their homes were wrecked, many Northerners went South (some called Carpetbaggers) for opportunites or various reasons. These people had common ancestors from England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, etc and all pretty well blended in together after a few years. I have read many accounts of reunions that were attended by both Union & Confederate veterans.

[Greg]

Josh,

IMO, the most likely scenario that happened to your G-G-Grandfather was as Denny described - while he lived in a Northern state, he went south to join the Confederate Army, and consequently he would have been in a unit from a Southern state, even though he had not been living in that state. I don't think there were any organized Northern state units in Confederate service, ie no "1st Ohio Infantry CSA" or anything like that, but individuals and even parts of companies in a "state" unit could be from some other location.

My family provides what may be a similar example - family tradition said that my G-G-Gfather had been a Confederate soldier, but even though his family was in Kentucky he had been living in Indiana. A search through Kentucky soldier records from the NARA yielded nothing. It was only when I happened to find a reference in the Ky Adjutant General's Report that listed "independent companies" that I found that he had been in the "Blackburn Guards," a party of about 40 Kentuckians that left the state in the summer of 1861 to join the Confederate Army. As this group tried to get mustered in they didn't have enough men to form a company, but they ended up with a group of Arkansas volunteers also passing through Nashville that also wasn't big enough to form a company, so these organizations decided to combine, and were mustered into service as Company H, 3rd Arkansas Infantry. The Blackburn Guards were consequently the only Kentucky "unit" in the Army of Northern Virginia! Once I found that he had been in that unit I could get his Compiled Service Record from the NARA.

Happily, with the Internet it's a lot easier these days. Start with the NPS Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/ All you really need is the name, though you can designate Union or Confederate, state of origin, etc. And of course there are many other on-line search sites.

Good luck and let us know what you find!

Best,
Greg

[MauserKar98k]

The Soldiers and Sailors system is a great resource, it has helped me find a couple of my Civil War relatives in the past.