Today’s email will be a short one, but that’s what I promised all along.
Visited Appomattox Court House this past weekend. You know the place, right?
Where Lee surrendered to Grant to effectively end the Civil War?
Yep. Well, we went to retrace the steps of my great, great Grandfather on those fateful days in early April, 1865. (But that story is another email and for my Premium subscribers. You can click one of the buttons if you want in.)
This short email is about one particular Confederate soldier buried in the small Confederate cemetery just up the hill from ACH. Only 19 soldiers are buried there. 17 Confederate, 1 Union and 1 Unknown.
The one I’m writing about, whose name is irrelevant, has a unique story. He enlisted in the Confederate Army just 3 days after the opening shots on Fort Sumter, SC. He died in action at Appomattox on April 8th, 1865, just one day before the end of the war. He served over 1,400 consecutive days, only to perish less than 24 hours before the surrender.
The point? You can be lucky, you can be good, you can just feel as if you have divine intervention. But you don’t.
Death finds us all. Live full, live honorably. Go out shooting.
Your ancestors demand it.
Lead from the front!
Semper Fortis
Chief Chuck