In a message dated 1/13/04 11:13:01 PM Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: Just having the information on Raleigh County in the Civil War is worth the price of the book. Did you know we had both Union and Confederate soldiers from Raleigh County? Brothers were fighting against brothers. Nyla: Many example of family against family are found in the book. As you & others know, Cook & Shumate are two of my families. Pemberton Cook & Ruth Shumate are my direct line. Pemberton rode with the 7th WV Cavalry. Their sons Andrew & Daniel, also Union soldiers died during the war. Ruth's family was Confederate. 2 of her brothers spent time in Camp Chase prison. Daniel Shumate died there. And there are countless other stories like this one that happened in Raleigh County. Theodore Lang called West Virginia a "child of the storm, born amid the throes of war." WV was unique. It seceded as part of the Commonwealth of VA at the beginning of the hostilities and then halfway through the conflict left the Confederacy to became part of the Union -- again. This only exacerbated the problem. IMHO, the only place in the country that rivaled the amount of kinfolk vs. kinfolk may have been Kansas & Missouri. Sincerely, Mike Peters [email protected]