I couldn't resist. I hoped everyone would enjoy my attempt at humor, especially our beloved webmaster (who is older and shorter than me).

Seriously, genealogy and pre-war history is part of developing an understanding of the participants and the social/political environment in which they lived. We can get off track a little sometimes but its not too difficult to connect back to our primary topic/purpose. We could quite easily trace a curious connection of Major Downing, a representative of the British government, to soldiers and officers in the Union and Confederate Cherokee units.