Thanks, Linda. I rarely post pure opinion because opinions are not really debatable. They're based as much on one's life experiences, heritage and upbringing as much as on facts, so all they do is start fights that no one can win.

But, having spent my entire adult life serving under the Stars and Stripes, it's impossible for me to view the boys who served under the same flag 140 years ago as my enemy (though several of my ancestors surely had a different opinion!).

BTW, Linda, you had asked me some time back to keep an eye out for some of your Arkansas Confederate ancestors, and I think I may have found your Fielding Price in the 18th Arkansas Infantry. I ran across a Pvt. F. Price in Co. C (which was recruited in Prairie County), along with several men from his neck of the woods. This man enlisted at Des Arc on March 8, 1862, for three years or the war. He was granted a sick furlough while the regiment was at Corinth in May 1862 (this regiment suffered huge losses from a measles epidemic). He never returned to the regiment and was reported as a deserter in October 1862. There's no age or other identifying factors in this man's record, but Fielding Price was the only F. Price of military age from that part of the State, and F. Price was serving with men who were neighbors of Fielding Price.

Have you ever made the connection?