Yes, Victoria, it is interesting stuff. The conventional wisdom these days is that the Confederates were all racists fighting to uphold slavery. It just wasn't as simple as that. If you were a poor white farmer of fighting age you were going to be conscripted. If you allowed yourself to be conscripted you didn't know where you were going or what unit you would be serving in. So you instead joined a unit because you knew the men in the unit.
My 2nd great-grandfather, William Wesley Crimm, and his four brothers, all of them poor illiterate farmers in Shelby County, Alabama, who didn't own slaves, were going to be conscripted. So they instead joined the Alabama 44th Infantry Regiment, Law's Brigade, so they could all be together. They were in every major battle and fought like devil dogs. Why? They were fighting to protect each other.
The 44th became a storied unit. On the second day of Gettysburg the 44th got up at 3 AM, marched 25 miles to the battlefield, and were immediately thrown into action. They were the only unit at Gettysburg to capture Union artillery pieces.
Two of my 2nd great-grandfather's brothers died in the War.
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Posted by: mickeycrimm@yahoo.com
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