I have an ancestor who was the only casuality in the Whiskey Rebellion.
From Wikipedia:
The rebels afterwards hid in the woods, but twenty were captured and paraded down Market Street in Philadelphia. The men were imprisoned, where one died, while two were convicted of treason and sentenced to death by hanging. Washington, however, pardoned them on the grounds that one was a "simpleton," and the other, "insane."
Better to be related to the dead guy than a simpleton or an insane guy.