"We have certainly earned the honor. . . ."

[AndyHall]

I almost forgot -- today, Tuesday, is 150th anniversary of my wife's uncles, James Bradley Ridge and George Bradley Ridge, both of Company K, Fifth Connecticut Volunteers, marching into Atlanta at the head of Sherman's column. Seems like a moment worth remembering. From the regimental history:

September 2d. We all move forward toward the city of Atlanta, leaving our tents standing. Our regiment has the advance, and the Fifth Regiment Connecticut Veteran Volunteers have the honor of being the first Union regiment to march through the streets of the city of Atlanta. We have certainly earned the honor, for we have made a long and tedious campaign, having been 112 days and nights continually under fire, sleeping many nights in the trenches, fighting at every opportunity, always holding the ground and routing those opposed to us, and finishing the campaign with great honor to ourselves, to the State and to the General Government.

General Sherman says that we will rest in the city for thirty days, and I believe him.​

I don't have any Yankees in my own attic, but my wife does. We have a mixed marriage, you see.

 

[mikekj]

I haven't found any Yankees in the woodpile yet, neither.

So far they're all gray. Georgia and Alabama veterans.

 

[TinCan]

One must have a yankee in the family tree, it keeps you humble.

 

[AndyHall]

One must have a yankee in the family tree, it keeps you humble.

What's interesting is that my wife's father was a career enlisted soldier, her mother was in the Army too (that's where they met), and her brother is a retired Reserve physician. So military service is well represented in the last two generations, but until recently they didn't know about the CW stuff.