Remembering My Great Grandfather .... Gasp ... A Confederate Soldier!

You can find some amazing things on the internet.  I just googled my great grandfather's name and found, among other things, his paybook from a short stint he apparently served with "Captain Marshall's Battery, Arkansas Light Artillery."  There is no readable date there but I know the service must have been short because he served almost the entire war in the 6th Arkansas Infantry and units that succeeded it as casualties took their toll.

The second record I found was even more interesting.  It is a summary of his prisoner of war record.  Edward was apparently captured a few days after the Confederate disaster at Nashville.  The records show he was captured on New Year's Eve, 1864, five months before the end of the war.  The fact that he had lived through the hell of places like Shiloh is a miracle.  Here is a list of the battles his unit (and by inference he himself) fought in:

Battle of Rowlett's Station, Kentucky, December 17, 1861

Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, April 6–7, 1862.[28]
Siege of Corinth, Mississippi, April–June 1862.
Kentucky Campaign, Kentucky, August–October, 1862
Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862.
Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, December 31, 1862 – January 3, 1863.[29]
Tullahoma Campaign, June 24 – July 3, 1863.
Battle of Liberty Gap, Tennessee, June 24–26, 1863.
Chickamauga Campaign, Georgia, August–September, 1863.
Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, September 19–20, 1863.[30]
Chattanooga Campaign, September to November 1863.
Battle of Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, November 25, 1863.
Battle of Ringgold Gap, Georgia, November 27, 1863.[31]
Atlanta Campaign, May to September 1864.
Battle of Rocky Face Ridge, Georgia, May 5–11, 1864.
Battle of Resaca, Georgia, May 14–15, 1864.
Battle of New Hope Church, Georgia, May 25 – June 4, 1864.
Battle of Pickett's Mill, Georgina, May 27, 1864.[3]
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 27, 1864.
Battle of Peachtree Creek, Georgia, July 20, 1864.
Siege of Atlanta, Georgia, July 22, 1864.
Battle of Jonesboro, Georgia, August 31 – September 1, 1864.
Franklin–Nashville Campaign, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee, September 18 – December 27, 1864

Battle of Spring Hill, Tennessee, November 29, 1864.
Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864.
Battle of Nashville, Tennessee, December 15–16, 1864.

Political correctness be damned, I refuse to be ashamed of this man.  He fought with a unit known for its courage under fire.  He fought for a cause he believed in alongside his brothers, friends and neighbors.  He fought under legendary leaders like Hood and Cleburne.  He served well.  And, when the war was over, he came to Oklahoma and made a life for himself and his family on the frontier of one of the toughest places on earth at the time.  There is nothing to be ashamed of in that story.