One of my great grandfathers served in the 119th Illinois Voluntary Infantry, fought his last battle at Fort Blakely, near Mobile. Wounded, wound got infected, almost died in New Orleans hospital. It's said that after the war he walked home from New Orleans to Quincy, Illinois, to save the cost of riverboat transport.
If that seems like a long walk, he had already force-marched several times that far, with a pack & weapon, during the war.
My great grandfather's family was fresh off the boat from Europe, and it's said that his younger brother joined the Confederate cavalry, though we can't prove it. G.G. had two encounters with Nathan Bedford Forrest, and likely admired the Confederate cavalry man's dash & courage. Younger brother might have picked up on that...
I notice quite a lot of people feel the need to justify what their ancestors did. Nobody wants to believe their ancestors did bad evil things. The mind rejects such ideas.
I have no ancestors in this fight. I don't feel the need to justify what any of my people did, because my people were not here in 1861.