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My Ggrandfather, born in 1814, yes, he was around 70 when my grandfather was born, fought for the North in the Civil War while in southern Kentucky.

It's amazing how close some of us still are generationally to The War. My grandmother, whom I knew well as she lived to 100, was born in 1871 and experienced Radical Reconstruction as a young girl, including having her family's house burned out by the Freedmen, carpetbaggers and scalawags during the election of 1876. I heard these tales first had. My Mother knew my greatgrandfather, the minister who freed his slaves, well, as he lived into her 20's. She heard the stories of The War firsthand from him and others who lived through it, many of the Confederate veterans. Including some of her grandmother's people from Kentucky who'd fought for the North.

In my Mother's family, it was a big deal when one of her uncles put on the Blue again for the Spanish-American War, and even when her oldest brother enlisted in World War I.

Wow, the similarities do seem to be endless.

My Ggrandfather left Kentucky because of "bushwacker" (their word) killed two of his children.

He moved to Missouri, his wife died and he remarried, and had four sons in his old age.

How wonderful for you to have known your grandmother. No written words can replace those memories.

This "civil war", is gut wrenching because of what it did to families. The "big" picture of the Civil War can be explained, however, the personal family bloodshed is still left unexplained.

It's amazing how close some of us still are generationally to The War.

I was pointing this out to my sons just yesterday. Hatreds and prejudices die hard. Knowing today's children aren't all that far removed from the Civil War, it makes it a little bit easier to understand why there is still mallingering bitterness on the part of both blacks and southerners. Both suffered injustices.