Children of U.S. Civil War Vets Reminisce About Fathers | National Geographic

[Music] my father louis f gay fought in the war between the states and company air force florida regiment my father historically met president lincoln two separate times my father lived somewhere near lake butler florida where he enlisted in the army and he was sent to cedar key he was guarding the people there and was captured and sent to the north to prison while he was in fort delaware as a prisoner he was exchanged it went back into service where he was with sev in several battles the battle of atlanta the battle of chickamauga and at that time most all of his original company had been killed and there was only about 20 i think left my dad was shot he was at private at the time just being indoctrinated in the army a short time prior to bull run i'm sure he was in the front lines both sides were totally inexperienced as far as wartime battles and stuff both the confederacy in the union they had had no prior experience my dad had gotten a terrific wound through the neck and shoulder with his mini ball breeding for bruce lee he was with two other fellow soldiers who helped him with his wound and according to reports i read later noticing my dad was choking on his own blood tried to alleviate that by using the mouth to mouth such suction which was unheard of during that period and evidently had helped he was captured at that battle and sent to libby prison in richmond virginia [Music] he was held in captivity for about a year a year and a half and the thing that saved his life i believe was at that point in the war there was prisoner exchange which a year or two later was totally out and if he would have been kept in the service with the casualties 50 or 60 000 per battle he would have never made it to the end [Music] my dad was married before to martha rowe they had seven children then she died and my mother had been married before and she had three boys and three girls so she had been a widow for quite a while and then my dad's youngest daughter sally tyson introduced them they got married in 1919 and when he was at the age of 82 i was born my mother was 41. i said i was their last mistake but he said he enjoyed me more than he did as others because when the others came along he was so busy making a living to support them he didn't have the time my father met president lincoln on the invitation of senator doolittle from racine wisconsin and lincoln had known partial history of my father and had known in some detail his imprisonment so during the discussion which evidently was very close and uh very polite um lincoln had asked him if you would like to see some field reports sent in by some field commanders on the battlefield and my father said yes so lincoln had given him the reports to read on the uh thing lincoln had known my father had been severely wounded so he'd ask him to take off his tunic so he could examine the wounds in person and my father said yes and he taken off his tunic in uniform and lincoln had examined the wounds and the shoulder and neck in detail and said they were very terrible lincoln was very concerned how the president were being treated in libby and my father evan and he told them they had been quite fair treatment no torture no of physical abuse and this type of thing i think the war experience changed my dad but he never held any animosity after the war towards the confederates and the southern people my father passed away when i was nine years old he had been in bed for 18 months but the morning he uh died they woke me up about six o'clock and i went in and i get emotional and he said iris be a good girl and he died if he were here today he would say that the men in the north were just like he was they were away from home and families and fighting a war and there was no animosity on his part at all because that's what he said then he said you know we were all away from home [Music] you

Channel: National Geographic

Views: 463,137

Rating: 4.9681311 out of 5

Keywords: national geographic, nat geo, natgeo, animals, wildlife, science, explore, discover, survival, nature, documentary, Eat, The Story of Food, food video, chef, cuisine, food history, cooking, food porn, Food Porn, Behind the Scenes

Id: 3UCRBZ-qlWM

Length: 6min 40sec (400 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 11 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/moose098]

Holy shit, that woman's father was 82 when she was born!

Her mother was in her 40s.

Edit: I remember reading that many Civil War veterans would marry younger women so they could collect their pensions. It was rather common during the Great Depression.

[u/lawvas]

Mind blowing. My great great great grandfather was killed fighting for the Union at Gettysburg and it seems so far removed. This makes it feel closer.

[u/BayArea1227]

What blows my mind here is that the Civil War is about 2 lifetimes away from where we are today. Given how far we have come in that time is pretty incredible...

[u/PM_ME_DOTA_TIPS]

If the people in this video are 90-95, they were born in the 1920’s. If their father was 18 in 1861 and fought he would have had to have been in his late 70’s or early 80’s when he had them??

[u/AustinJG]

This is pretty amazing. :O

[u/Drak_is_Right]

just a few years ago the last living wife of a civil war veteran died.

[u/[deleted]]

i remember in 3rd grade when one of my classmates parents died. When her parents came in for a school activity, they looked really elderly like my grandparents age. This was in 1994 and her dad was probably born in the 1920s and died in his late 70s.

[u/Alieneater]

My grandmother died a few years ago in her nineties, and I remember her telling me during her last year about when she was a girl she went to dances in Vermont where she met these old guys who were Civil War veterans. From me to her to the Civil War. And maybe some of those guys met some of the geezers who fought in the Revolutionary war.

[u/cerebud]

You don’t have to throw research at me. I know he risks. I did my homework when I became a dad in my 40s. I also know that you can test for genetic disorders like Down Syndrome in the first 10-13 week’s to see if it’s viable. And even with your scary stats, 1-32 babies still means the baby will likely be ok. And if it isn’t, the pregnancy could be terminated or brought to term (and many parents of Down syndrome kids and the kids themselves live very happy lives, by the way).