This is my brother, and I have been shooting at him

SWMODave

Sergeant Major
Thread Medic
Joined
Jul 23, 2017
Location
Southwest Missouri
Col. Wood’s battalion of the Sixth Missouri Cavalry was composed of Missourians whose homes were in the southwestern part of the State. They knew the enemy, and were familiar with the country through which they were riding as scouts, and often one or two of these men, disguised as citizens, received valuable information. Some of them had relatives in the Southern army. One day when his command was fiercely pursuing a band of fleeing rebels, Col.Wood found one of his men upon his knees, with his arms around a wounded rebel and shedding bitter tears over him. He looked up and said:

“O, Colonel, I never expected to come to this.”

“What is the trouble?” asked Col. Wood.

“This is my brother, and I have been shooting at him.”

“Well, put him in the wagon and take care of him.” said Col. Wood.

The poor fellow recovered from his wounds, to the great relief of his brother, and also of Col Wood.

Memorial of Samuel N Wood
 
Occasionally, a would-be "Mythbuster" claims that the Civil War was not literally brother-against-brother. This is (particularly tragic) further evidence that those folks need to study more before trying to topple established facts...
Facts are there... I read a account of son shooting father or vise versa ... Im all over relatives shoot relatives might be distant relatives non the less ... 41st Ohio captured the flag of the 28th Ala on November 23rd 1863... Family in both units
 
There's a very sad story, too, of two brothers who came home at the same time for a holiday - one was Confederate and the other Union. The Union brother shot the Confederate brother dead on their parents' front porch.
 
Occasionally, a would-be "Mythbuster" claims that the Civil War was not literally brother-against-brother. This is (particularly tragic) further evidence that those folks need to study more before trying to topple established facts...
In my family tree, I've found 4 brothers who started the war in the same NC Confederate regiment. One ended up sitting out a good chunk of the war as a POW, two ended up joining a NC Union unit, and one remained with the Confederate regiment. Those regiments did fight against each other, and it wouldn't surprise me if they were shooting at each other at some point.
 
My gr-gr-grandfather and two of his brothers fought for the CSA, another brother fought for the Union. Thankfully they were never on opposing sides in the same location.
 
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