Comments for Poore Boys In Gray

Comment on ‘A scene indescribable in its terrible horror’ by pooreboysingray

pooreboysingray — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:16:59 +0000

The image is from the Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID pga.04038.

Comment on ‘A scene indescribable in its terrible horror’ by Mariann Regan

Mariann Regan — Sun, 19 May 2013 03:55:19 +0000

I remember this terrible site of carnage, this “Bloody angle,” from your book, Poore Boys in Gray. 20 hours! I don’t remember the painting, though. Is it from the Library of Congress.

Comment on Find clues of ancestor’s Civil War service from postbellum artifacts by pooreboysingray

pooreboysingray — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:53:30 +0000

In writing the post, I realized I still had some additional areas I could research and perhaps find more details. Thanks for the comment!

Comment on Find clues of ancestor’s Civil War service from postbellum artifacts by Mariann S. Regan (@MariannSRegan)

Mariann S. Regan (@MariannSRegan) — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:34:01 +0000

These men even look alike! (Maybe it is the beards?) Knowing how long Francis was in the war, I’m sure they must have all felt like blood brothers before the fighting was over. You’re right, it is like researching collateral lines. In our family, there are church members and neighbors that seem to stick with family members over the years.

Comment on Find clues of ancestor’s Civil War service from postbellum artifacts by pooreboysingray

pooreboysingray — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:33:25 +0000

Cyndi, Melvin may be able to help you. Contact him through the Newton County Historical and Genealogical Society at NCInformation@nchgs.org. Let me know what you find out.

Comment on Find clues of ancestor’s Civil War service from postbellum artifacts by Cyndi Gracie

Cyndi Gracie — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:46:57 +0000

Ralph, does Melvin Tingle have any info on Thomas Shockley? My mom’s step-grandmother was a Shockley from AR plus some of her Taylor family married Shockley’s

Comment on Tap Roots movie prompts tapping into ancestors’ past by pooreboysingray

pooreboysingray — Mon, 06 May 2013 19:47:49 +0000

Eric Foner's book requires a lot of heavy lifting from the reader. He has a shorter version, A Short History of Reconstruction, that at 320 pages is half the length of his main history.

Comment on Tap Roots movie prompts tapping into ancestors’ past by Mariann Regan

Mariann Regan — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:47:26 +0000

These are the guerrillas you talk about in your book, Poore Boys in Gray, then! Very interesting story you represent here. I never knew that the “Tap Roots” movie was about Piney Woods Mississippi and Newton Knight.

I’ve been reading in Foner’s “Reconstruction” (huge book, long-term project) that many Confederate soldiers resented fighting for the rich planters, and formed guerrilla bands. Very easy to understand their thinking.

Thanks for this post!

Comment on Has a movie ever inspired you to research your Civil War ancestors? by Mariann Regan

Mariann Regan — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:15:51 +0000

That is amazing to think that the Union troops might have come so close to your family. They ripped up the train tracks and took precious food? No wonder so many yeoman farmers in parts of the South formed a resistance to the Civil War (as I’ve been reading in Foner’s Reconstruction). A terrible time for the entire country.

This is the first I’ve heard of this film. Now that I know more about my family, I can relate to Sherman burning Atlanta and then Columbia. Sigh. Too bad we couldn’t settle the slavery issue back in the 1790 Congress! (True, it wasn’t all about slavery.)

Comment on What meaning can you draw from ancestors’ historical links? by pooreboysingray

pooreboysingray — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:22:27 +0000

Mariann, indeed there are lots of ironies to be found during the Civil War. Another involving cotton is that in 1864 the Confederate government gave itself a near monopoly in cotton. The Southern national government forced planters, big or small, to sell their cotton to the Confederacy at a price set in Richmond. These measures all but took the profit out of growing cotton and ended the commercial production of the staple in Mississippi, a leading cotton state before the war. The results of socialism, in war or peace, are easily predictable.