We have a family story about our immigrant ancestor, Ludwig Louis Engel who came to St Clair county as a teenager by himself before 1850. He was born in 1833 and his parents had both died when he was six. He married happily in 1855 and had several children by the time of the Civil War. The story is that he was literally taken from his family and ordered to fight. He cried so long and hard, he was dismissed and sent home by foot. Are their any other such stories? Was this a sign of prejudice by those born in America? He would not have been interested in the issue of slavery whatsoever. It would have been years before his politcal interests took hold. Before 1860 his father-in-law had suffered through some illegal actions against the property he owned. Are these things part of a pattern? There were so many soldiers from St Clair County. Was there a local dynamic against those who did not and would not serve. A thirty year old father from German would not have wanted to leave his family unless they were in danger directly and physically. How good was his English at that point? Did he even have interactions with English speaking people at that time? Did he care whether the South seceded? Did his friends and neighbors care? Thanks so much for any thoughts or data about this slant. Lynn Phifer