From the Battle of Antietam / Sharpsburg Forum
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/brothers-at-war.103924/#post-967518
In April, 1861, John G. B. Adams and his brother, Isaac enlisted in Company A, 19th Massachusetts Infantry. Isaac, as described below, was fatally wounded at Antietam. John, who was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant before the battle, survived the war and would publish his memoirs in a book titled
Reminiscences of the Nineteenth Massachusetts Regiment from which the following is quoted. Another member of Company A was Daniel W. Spofford, whose brother, Phineas had also enlisted. Phineas, however, had moved south before the war and was an officer in the 8th South Carolina. They all came together in the West Woods as Sedgwick's Division of the II Corps attacked Jackson's command in the West Woods.
"I had not seen my brother since we had advanced in line. He was left general guide of the regiment, and his place was on the left. As soon as we halted I went to the company, but he was not there. The following day I searched the hospitals, but could not find him, and on the morning of the 19th, the rebels having left our front, I went where their lines had been and found him, with Jacob Hazen of Company C and George Carleton of Company B, near an old haystack. He had been shot in the right side of the neck, the ball passing out of the left shoulder; it had cut the spinal nerve, and he could not move hand or foot. I saw at once that he could not live and had him placed in an ambulance and carried to our field hospital. It was the saddest duty of my life. We had left home together, and had often talked of a happy reunion around the old fireside when the war should end. Now I must write to my old mother that one of the three who had bade her good-by in '61 would never return.
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While my brother lay wounded on the field inside the rebel lines an officer of the 8th South Carolina came along, and seeing 19 on his cap asked to what regiment he belonged. Being informed that it was the 19th Massachusetts, he said he had a brother in that regiment named Daniel W. Spofford. My brother told him that his brother was wounded in the battle, and might be on the field. He searched for him but did not find him, as he [Daniel] was able to go to the rear before we changed front. Returning, he had my brother carried to the haystack where I found him, and rendered all the assistance possible. The name of the South Carolina officer was Phineas Spofford. Both brothers survived the war. The Union soldier resides in Georgetown, Mass., the rebel in South Carolina, but he often visits his native State."
- Forrest was after his half-brother, Matt Luxton. I don't know the whole story but it seems he turned outlaw, or was thought to have done so. After the war this brother got very sick and his mother came to care for him, stepped on a rusty nail and died. Forrest didn't make it down to Texas, possibly because there were still hard feelings between them. (He might not have known in time, too.) These things went on after the war as well - didn't disappear just because a piece of paper was signed somewhere in Virginia!
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