152 Years ago, on April 12, 1851, shots were fired at Fort Sumter. The bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter was the first conflict of the Civil War or War Between the States.

Of course, tension between the states had been building since the November election of President Lincoln and already seven Southern states had seceded from the Union and had adopted a provisional constitution as the Confederate States of America. Soon after the Battle of Fort Sumter, they were joined by an additional four states.

I looked through my Grandmother’s scrapbooks trying to find an image of Fort Sumter, but was unable to find one among the many Civil War clippings that she saved. However, one image really caught my eye.

This image is one of many cartoons about the Civil War that were drawn by Frank Andrea Miller who was a cartoonist for the Des Moines Register. This one remembers the role of the many volunteers from Iowa who participated in the war.

Silas Calvin Ramsey – 3rd Iowa Cavalry

My third great grandfather Silas Calvin Ramsey served in the 3rd Iowa Cavalry as a Farrier. I also have a third great uncle, Ellet Bolin, who served with the 28th Iowa Infantry and was killed in the battle of Sabine Cross Roads near Mansfield, Louisiana.

I have other ancestors and relatives who served during the Civil War, but I know that these two served with Iowa Volunteer units.

I need to do a lot more research about the role of my family in the Civil War. I am sure that there are several family members whose service I don’t know about yet.

I am also thinking about a post that I wrote last year after I had read the book Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz. I also read If the South Had Won the Civil War and Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor a little more than a year ago. If you are looking for some good books about the Civil War, I would recommend all three of these.

Steven