mustering out papers from the (insert here what you call the war from 1861-1865). It allowed me to research where he fought, etc.

Once I got going on the movements of his original unit, I tracked them through all four years until he was mustered out in NoVA in 1865. He'd fought in 12 major battles and over 1200 skirmishes according to the information I could find. Wounded once, completely deaf at war's end, and his mind totally shot. His war pistol, minie ball taken from his leg wound and his papers were all bequeathed to my cousins and me.

One other, unprovable relic was a long, hot-dog-sized piece of wood that looked like it had been cut from a piece of finished furniture. Family legend has it that Grandpa Lucas, whose full name was George Washington Lucas, had gone after being mustered out to the chapel in Old Town, Alexandria where President Washington worshipped, and carved a chunk from a pew or somewhere to get a piece of his namesake's life. Again, that was my family's story and they stuck to it.

[Post edited by PhotoHokieNC at 01/24/2020 10:09AM]