Lanita, Great point. I know that this happened quite a bit along the Missouri-Arkansas border, but elsewhere, as well. In Lindley Couch's case, this would suggest that he avoided all military service until he was two months short of his 21st birthday, and then was forced to enlist (at the point of a gun?) at Benton Barracks, near St. Louis. I suppose that is possible if Lindley was living with, or visiting, his Couch relatives in the St. Louis area when he was "discovered". This is all speculation, of course, but I would suggest that the fact that Lindley did not enlist in Fristoe's Regiment, along with his three brothers, might mean that he was opposed to fighting for the Confederacy, or that he was living outside of the Oregon County area when his three brothers joined Fristoe. Perhaps Lindley was living with Henry and John Couch, his father's two cousins, some where in the St. Louis area. Though I doubt that Lindley and Henry and John would have been all that close, since Henry and John were both older and married with families in 1864. It is interesting to note that Henry and John Couch enlisted on August 30, and Lindley did not enlist in the same company (voluntarily or at the point of a gun!) until two days later, on September 1. Thanks for making a good point, Lanita. Mike ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lanita Sconce Smith" <ozarkn@grm.net> To: <mo-oregon-history@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 12:10 PM Subject: Re: [MO-OREGON-HISTORY] Lindley Couch in the Civil War > Mike, > > Men in the area were required to join whatever army was in the area or > be shot. I have some who are listed on both sides, same man, different > armies, because of the threats to him and his family. > > Lanita > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > MO-OREGON-HISTORY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message