Reaching out to people who’s ancestors fired the first shot of a battle for their unit

Orion.M.E

Private
Joined
Jan 17, 2021
While doing research into my ancestor and with the help of this generous community I found out my ancestor of the 34th Illinois infantry had the honor for firing the first shot of his entire regiment. I believe he had used a “Baby Dragoon” pepperbox pistol. It was at Shiloh and a writing error said he fired the first shot of the whole battle which isn’t true. Honestly I think that this should land him at least a footnote in Shilohs history and I feel pride that this is my past. But I realized that my ancestor would have been one of a few hundred people to fire the very first shot of their whole regiment at Shiloh. Isn’t as good as firing the first but let’s be honest it’s the second best and their wasn’t that much people in that group. So I was wondering if anyone else had an ancestor that fired the first shot to a battle of their regiment, any battle from the war I’m just reaching out to those with similar pasts.
 
While doing research into my ancestor and with the help of this generous community I found out my ancestor of the 34th Illinois infantry had the honor for firing the first shot of his entire regiment. I believe he had used a “Baby Dragoon” pepperbox pistol. It was at Shiloh and a writing error said he fired the first shot of the whole battle which isn’t true. Honestly I think that this should land him at least a footnote in Shilohs history and I feel pride that this is my past. But I realized that my ancestor would have been one of a few hundred people to fire the very first shot of their whole regiment at Shiloh. Isn’t as good as firing the first but let’s be honest it’s the second best and their wasn’t that much people in that group. So I was wondering if anyone else had an ancestor that fired the first shot to a battle of their regiment, any battle from the war I’m just reaching out to those with similar pasts.
A first shot solider- somewhat-Elihu GRiffin,5th AL Inf Battn was the first non mortal wounded Confederate at the battle of Gettysburg. His company was the lead unit for Heth's div on 7/1/1863. He was from Calhoun (now Etowah) County in Alabama
 
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