Looking for your Civil War Childers/Childress

I have worked a long time on this project. Many hours of research have went into the production of this site. I hope that it is not only informative to my "couzins", but entertanting as well. Behind every name there is a story, many of them of great sadness. The loss of fathers, sons, and brothers never to return. Many of them too, that did return, returned maimed for life. Familes would suffer the pain of seeing the war ravage their homelands Yet, through all the pain and grief, many of the men returned with a memory of comardry, that would last a life time.

Through out my work I'm sure some will find fault. Most of all in the spellings of their forefathers names, to those that do, I can only say this, I wrote them as I found them, nothing more , nothing less. .....
As you peruse my collection, you must be aware of several things. One, there are no alhpabetacal listings. The reason for this is that, I list the men by regiment and company. Forget what you know of todays world. The armies of the Civil War, were not gathered together from all over and then send to a boot camp. Rather men were enlisted locally, and would remain together with their neighbors, brothers, sons and fathers. So, with in any regiment kin will be found. In-laws, cousins, uncles,etc. all together in the same regiment. Consider this as you view each page. If one finds a couple ofChilders/Childress men in the same unit, odds are that they are kin from the same county, town, or area.

hints, clues, advice and other
FACTORS TO CONSIDER!

1. We all were'nt Rebs, Y'all! Every state had men on both sides. Just
because Grandpa was in the War and was from Alabama, doesn't mean
he was a Reb!

2. It gets Fuzzy in the Border states: In the states of Maryland,
Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas. In Tennesse and West Virginia, as
well it's difficult to sort out who's on what side. So always
check both Union and Confederate rosters.

3. Don't think just because your ancestor died during the war he died in
glory on the field fighting for his county. For every man that
died of wounds, two died from disease. Some of the more popular
disease's were dysentery,diarrhea,typhoid and malaria.

4. Do not limit your self to within a state, if your ancestor lived close to the state line
check across the border!There are many examples of men from
Tennesse joining Alabama troops or Virginia men in Kentucky
Units, etc., etc. When possible I've noted cases I've found, but I can't say I've got them all.

5. Don't worry about spellings!!! We're talking about the Army here. The company clerk was often the man that was foolish enough to hold up his hand where a gruff sergent asked, "anybody here good at "riting"? regardless of his ability. In the South there was no public school system. In the North about 75% of the population had schools that offered at least up to the 8th grade level. That is not to say that all of the Northern soliders took avantage of the fact.

6. Do check out local Libraries in the area where your ancestor lived! Almost all libraries, regardless of thier size will have material about the regiments that were formed in that area during the war. Start looking into the regiments that formed locally, for your ancestor.

7. Remember this, the 1860 census was taken just shortly (just a few months) prior the the beginning of the war.

8. Don't , I repeat, don't even think that because your ancestor was a muscian that he was a young boy, or that because he was a muscian that that couldn't be your man because all drummer boy's where young. NOT! the case. This is a myth.

9. Don't be disapointed if you find your ancestor noted as having deserted. This was not an uncoummon act. Many men did this when he found he was needed at home, to attend to family needs. Early in the war some men would desert go home plant their crops and return! Later, in the war however both armies started to get tough and punished deserters very hard.

(read DESERTED)

10. There was a difference between Regular troops and State troops.(Both sides) . Think on the lines of the state national guard and regular army, with much less control of the guard by the the Federal goverment. Almost total control is in the hands of the state govenor.

11.The term Veteran attached to Union Troops designates that this person had reenlisted.

12. Invalid Corps or later Veteran Reserve,union, (the fellas didn't care for the first name and complained until it was changed!) Provides a clue to the fact that this person was wounded or ill to the point that they could not do regular duty. Yet they were well enough to to "behind the lines guard duty".

13.In general Home Guard troops (Reb) were old men and young boys or men like the above.

14.If you have the idea that the guns they used were quaint ineffective black powder rifes that couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Think again! Enfield and Springfield rifles could kill at 500 yards or more. They also shot a soft lead "minne" bullet that was .577 cal. or about the size of an average person last thumb joint!

15 The reason for so many amputations was not so much the lack of medical skill, but rather the fact that the "ball" from the rifles(see above) shattered the bone on contact.

16.If I mention a Pension of any kind, I've got a copy of it. Some of the writing is hard to read, I did my best. If you care to see the copy drop me an e-mail and Ill sent it to you. Some of the ones from Virginia are great stuff with the pensioner's orginal hand writing. The Yankee ones are simple index cards, but they have important file and id numbers that can get you more information from the Federal Archives.

17.Except for just a couple of our familes, (that I've found anyway)most of our ancestors didn't own slaves.

18. The Southern Calvary, owned their own horse's. This led to a lot of "horse trading" with the locals, wether they liked it or not!

19. Paroled is not Payrolled

20. Paroled can take up two meanings, 1. if you come across the word and it is still during the war it means that rather than being taken prisoner the man was set free on the promise that he would not take up arms until he was exchanged on paper with his counter-part on the other side. Any one caught violating this parole was hung by the way. Almost all of the men captured at Vicksburg were paroled. 2. At the end of the war, men were paroled to the promise of not taking up arms against the United States again. An individual surrender if you will.

21. Don't think just because your man was 40 years old or more he wasn't in the war. Some of our family were in their middle 50's. Some might have been older! In the same light one of our "men" was only 10 or 11. Little J.J. from VA.(this by the way is a great story if you read between the lines) The extremes in age seem to be more Southern by the way.

22. Most eastern KY and TN. men were union.

23. I don't know about brother fighting brother, but Childers/Childers did fight each other at within a few yards at Antienm, Perryville, and at Fort Pillow. At Fort Pillow the 1st Tenn. Cav.CSA Childers/Childress captured the 1st Tenn. Cav. USA Childers/Childress. Both Regiments were formed in the same Counties. So most likely these men knew each other well. The union side of the family by the way ended up at Andersonville Prison. Most are still there today.

24. All men are Privates unless noted otherwise. Or, at least I found no other rank.