I just found out that one of my great great grandfathers served on the Confederate side

[MuseRider]

71. Mine rode with John Brown

early on, to make Kansas a free state. Went on to be some of the first elected officials when Topeka was made the capital of the state.

There is a civil war park named after other relations in Virginia. Hope to visit it someday. I know absolutely nothing about it, the best I can figure is that it was North then South then North etc.

There is another thread about why parks and monuments are still named after old civil war generals. If you grew up like I did in a family who gave not one crap about history, news or anything other than making it through to the next day then I would say these things are important. When I first learned of these family history people and places, I learned by researching myself, I became aware of an entire different part of our countries history. Sometimes remembering unpleasant things is not the worst thing that can happen but the best because the more you know the less likely you are to forget and repeat.