Anniversary of an uncle's enlistment

160 years ago -- on 10 June 1861 -- Edward Tyson Langley enlisted in the Confederate Army. About a year later, he was wounded in the right hand near Frayser's Farm, Virginia, and had to have his right forearm amputated. He was discharged shortly thereafter.[Source]

I'd like to know what motivated my Uncle "Tise" to join the Confederate Army.

It's unlikely he was "pro-slavery" per se. No slaves are listed at the family's address in the census records. And "with a respectably large concentration of Quakers, Wesleyan Methodists, and other denominations that denounced slavery, the majority of the people in the area weren't concerned with preserving the 'peculiar institution.'" That makes sense -- only 10 percent of Randolph County's population were slaves in the 1860 census.[Source]

Moreover, there was significant pro-Union sentiment in the area. "Unionist groups known as 'The Heroes of America' or 'Red Strings' became active," and "bands of organized men known as 'outliers' hid in the countryside and were a constant source of trouble." Clearly Randolph County was no hotbed of revolution.

So what was it?

I think, in the end, Uncle Tise signed up because he was a young man -- 22 years-old at the time -- and a massive historical event was unfolding. North Carolina's societal and political leaders fostered a climate that made clear a time would come to take a stand on one side or the other.

To that end, Randolph County sponsored recruiting drives featuring free food and entertainment, and the town's young ladies were in attendance. At one such event, Colonel Jesse D. Cox is credited with "urging the boys to join the company if they expected to command the respect of the Randolph women."

So when that day-for-deciding came, he went with the prevailing winds. I think he didn't want to miss out.

It was a fateful decision, and it would cost him.

I wish I could say that my ancestors were always on the right side of history -- that they held the same values as I do now or that they were "ahead of their time" -- but that's not the case. (Heck, that's not even the case with *me* within my own lifetime.) He and I have different views.

Because of that, I don't celebrate my Uncle Tise's service. He supported a cause that I reject; he signed up to defend an institution that should never have been tolerated in the first place, and he paid a price for it. There's little honor in that.

But I've been a single 22 year-old. And I know what it's like to want to be a part of history. So while I disagree with that young man, I'd at least like to think ... I understand him.