Bob Vick suggested we all post what our families were doing during the Civil War (i.e. time of federal aggression, as he put it). Here goes. My VICK family was still in London, England and Randwick in Gloucester, England. Arthur VICK and Emma VICK, first cousins, did not marry until 1886 and did not arrive in Providence, RI until about 25 years after the fighting stopped. My TODD, TEAL, CLARKSON, RILEY, DUCKWORTH, SCARBOROUGH, ODDIE, WILSON, SHARP, SMITH family were still in various villages in Kildwick and Skipton parishes, West Riding Yorkshire, England. Their descendant did not reach Providence, RI until 47 years after the fighting stopped. My wife's CHENEY family had gone around Cape Horn to the California gold fields and was unheard of for 30 years, next appearing in the Texas panhandle 15 years after the fighting stopped, apparently missing the Civil War all together. Her CHAPPELL family had freed their slaves in Virginia in the late 1700s and moved on to Missouri. One was a preacher and preached abolition in Neosho, MO, from 1856 to 1862, barely escaping a lynch mob at his house. Shortly thereafter he moved to territories in northern Missouri that thought more like him. Most of her other lines (HAMILTON, BINGHAM, HOOVER, SPURLOCK, STEPHENS, EASTHAM, BRIDGEWATER) were likewise in northern Missouri about this time. The relatives in her various other lines that stayed behind in Vermont, Pulaski Co Kentucky, and Switzerland Co Indiana may have participated in the Civil War, but I have not yet research that. My Scottish HEPBURN family and English RASON family were at that time on the island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean, intermarrying with various black families who were probably slaves or free blacks. At this time I don't know if they were Carib Indians or Africans, but they likely were slaves. My approximately 3/4 white-1/4 black grandmother did not arrive in Providence, RI until 53 years after the fighting stopped, instead hazarding a journey from St. Lucia to NYC in the midst of the Great War (now known as World War I). Much research in foreign lands is needed before I can sort all this out. Oh yes, my FOREMAN family was in parts unknown, as I have not been able to trace this line back any earlier than 53 years after the fighting stopped. My thoughts on the Civil War, its purposes, the slavery question, and modern day racism are private matters and not appropriate for discussion on this list. Best Regards, from your approx. 15/16 white and 1/16th black VICK cousin, David A. Todd, Arkansas, USA datodd@arkansas.net