With some very distant connections to my New England families, we have been search the Smith family of Union Spring Ala, late of VT and NYS. We found it interesting that Yankees would go South during the coming Storm and we wondered why. Can anyone shed light on this? Attatched to this family are the Butterfields who: Milton was a school teacher, but so far no records have been found to prove where he received his education, or where he taught in Niagara. His Uncle, Wellington taught in Lockport, NY, so Milton may have taught in a school there. In 1849 Milton and Martha settled in Troy, AL until the purchase of land in Union Springs, AL, where they opened their own school. Milton taught Math, Science, History, Government and Music. Milton continued to teach school until the outbreak of the War Between the States (1861). The War Dept records from the US Adjutant General's Office show him as Captain M. Butterfield, of the Alabama 23rd. The Alabama 23rd was captured at the Battle of Vicksburg (June or July 1863) and later exchanged. He stopped at his home in Union Springs prior to returning to the Confederate Army, this was the last time his family ever saw him. He was attached to a scouting party during the siege of Atlanta. Milton was wounded at Stone Mountain, GA near Atlanta, about 19 August of 1864, by unexploded shrapnel, while writing a letter to his wife, and later died of his wounds. He was buried in an unmarked grave by his body-servant and a close friend. Eliz

Eliz Although we tend to think that all men went to war to fight for a "cause", there were many other reasons, including monetary, joining with all your buddies, etc. He was there for 10 years and maybe he considered it home. My suggestion is to look closely at the local history, especially economic in 1848 or so, in both the New York and the Alabama areas he lived in, to see if one might postulate a reason why he would move shift his home from NY to AL in the first place and take up arms for Alabama in the second. He may have had no choice since he was living there conscription was authorized by the Confederacy 16 April 1862 but I do not know who was covered by the act. Mike [email protected] wrote: > With some very distant connections to my New England families, we have been > search the Smith family of Union Spring Ala, late of VT and NYS. We found it > interesting that Yankees would go South during the coming Storm and we wondered > why. Can anyone shed light on this?