Uncle George

How I became a student of the American Civil War in Kentucky

    My grandmother called him Uncle George, so I do. Actually, he would be my second Great Uncle. He was the only Reb soldier in my family, born in Western Pennsylvania and moved with his family to (West) Virginia, and then down to Kentucky. 

    George W. Seaman joined the Kentucky Fifth Mounted Rifles, not to be confused with the Orphan Brigade, but I had to learn that there were two regiments that took the 5th designation. Lesson number One. 

     I took a chance and sent for Lt. George W. Seaman's record at the National Archives. Finding a complete record of Confederate Soldiers is unusual, but I was lucky. This record substantiated a "Grandmother Story", as told by my grandmother's mother, Mary Jane Seaman, a woman 10th or so from Capt. John Seaman of Hempstead, Long Island 

     George was elected Lieutenant but only had a small mention in the History of Lewis County Kentucky by Ragan. 

More about Uncle George W. Seaman, Lt. CSA

    In my pursuit of my second great Uncle's history, I made a friend of the Vanceburg, Kentucky historian, Dr. William Talley who was, at that time, teaching at McGill University in Canada. I had access to records at my nearby Family History Center and could assist him long distance when he wrote an article for the Lewis County, Kentucky newspaper, Lee County Bulletin.

    Grandmother had told us about a story that George had come home once and hid some important papers in the dress of a baby who was visiting, too. Why? In case his brother David came in, find them, and arrest him. She thought that Uncle David kept away when George was in town.   

    Who was the baby? Why was it there?

   Furthermore, How much was family lore, and how much could be substantiated?