I wanted to share this wonderfuly funny reply I received when I
wasdistraught at finding I may have a GALVANIZED YANKEE ancestor, the
kind of thing that was only spoken in whispers in my older family. This
man, who has been a wealth of information wrote this, and I laughed till
I cried. I thot I would pass it along. Thanks
marcia

If Rhodum lived on the Missouri-Arkansas border, he could have gone into
either army on any day and been with neighbors. There were plenty of
both bluebellies and graybacks in that region--and side swapping was
very common. An often overlooked reason for so many galvanized yankees
is the simple fact that the Yankees paid an enlistment bonus in CASH! I
have a man in my family who had lost three brothers in the Confederate
cause and still went to Little Rock and joined the Yankees. I wondered
why until I saw what he got. He had joined the cavalry, so what he got
was--a horse, a saddle, a uniform, a rifle, a cutlass, $13 in bonus
money, and three months pay! 
Guess where he was when they next mustered the company--AWOL! He had
taken French leave, and was very probably 100 miles south, back on the
family farm, having buried the cutlass (or thrown it in the river)
burned the uniform, sold the saddle, and was plowing the horse, having
got his revenge for the deaths of his brothers. Anyhow, nothing untoward
came of his adventure. He married three times, had a passle of kids,
owned a lot of land, preached for 40 years and donated land for a
cemetery for his home town. He was a pillar of the community! Your
Rhodum may easily have had such an experience. If that's the only
skeleton in your closet, you can all sing in the choir with a big smile
on your face while thinking about great grandpa Rhodum who had it both
ways and lived to tell about it.
Have a great weekend.

==== SCROOTS Mailing List ====