Reid Ross tells the story of his family – and, thus, the entire Civil War

DURANGO, Colo. – D. Reid Ross has long been known around Durango as the tireless advocate of affordable housing. Now, however, he’s building a national reputation as one of the country’s most knowledgeable Civil War historians – and all because 30 years ago, he decided to research the “interesting characters” in his family tree.

Indeed, by becoming the “accidental genealogist,” Ross stumbled onto a family history rich with passions for country, President Abraham Lincoln and the abolishment of slavery. His investigations have resulted in perhaps the most comprehensive Civil War tome told from the soldiers’ perspective – Ross’ grandfather and three great uncles: Lincoln’s Veteran Volunteers Win the War: The Hudson Valley’s Ross Brothers and the Union’s Fight for Emancipation.

“You’re talking to a guy who didn’t know he was going to write a book, never intended to write a book… I was just trying to figure out what these guys did,” said Ross, referencing his grandfather and great uncles. “I didn’t know they were Veteran Volunteers. I didn’t know they were so religiously oriented, not just to save the Union, but to wipe out slavery. I had to piece it all together.”

Family history hadn’t been widely discussed during Ross’ youth, though “legend” had it that his grandfather Daniel, while serving in the Union Army, was captured by the Confederates and sent to Andersonville (Georgia), purportedly the worst prison camp ever created in this country. It was a place to start.

“The first thing I had to do was figure out where he was when he got captured, and how come he got captured,” said Ross, who eventually learned Daniel had been on the skirmish line during Sherman’s March to Atlanta. “I didn’t even know the name of his regiment, so it took a long time.”

As it turned out, Ross’ grandfather’s regiment – the 123^rd out of New York – was arguably one of the most literate group of men to serve in the Union Army, which enabled Ross to gather the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of the war. Eight of the men kept diaries and more than 30 of them wrote letters – often volumes. Add to that census information, army records, additional letters, news reports, site visits and more, and Ross was able to piece together Daniel Ross’ and his brothers’ (William, Melancton and John) movements as well as thoughts and emotions. He also discovered that the four of them – all in different regiments – had participated in all the major Civil War engagements.

The Ross’ garage is literally lined with boxes of photocopied documents – a veritable treasure of Civil War history. Ross filed the documents by soldier and in the best chronological order possible.

“When you’re doing a PhD dissertation, you’ve got all your research down. Then you know what you’ve got to work with,” said Ross. “That was not the case with this. I would write up as much as I could based on what I had accumulated up to that point, then set it aside for another three months while I’d collect more. So I was constantly interlineating.”

Ross has an undergraduate degree in economics from Washington University in Saint Louis, and a master’s in urban planning from the University of Chicago, but he decided in 1985, when he and wife Sari were living in Madison, Wis., that he would earn a second master’s from the University of Wisconsin – this one in American history, specifically to assist in organization of his family history.

“I didn’t have a thesis for starters. I was just describing as best I could until it finally dawned on me that I did have a thesis,” said Ross, once realizing the powerful influence the church had on the Ross boys. “These guys were as dedicated soldiers as there were in the Union Army and they were representative of the other 136,000 other Veteran Volunteers who had to have that same religious or other motivation to end slavery. They were Lincoln’s emancipators. They really were.”

The “Veteran Volunteers” were those men who enlisted in the Union Army for three years when the war broke out, and then re-enlisted as battle-hardened soldiers – part of Grant’s effort to keep momentum on the side of the Union during the war. Ross’ grandfather Daniel and his brothers William and Melancton were the Veteran Volunteers. Younger brother John had to wait to enlist until he came of age. Melancton ended up blinded, Will killed and John lost his hearing during their service. Enduring five prisons, Daniel, upon release from the Confederate camps, was part of pivotal events, including serving as the guard of Jefferson Davis following his capture.

“I wanted to put a human face on that war. Typical Civil War books are written by people I call ‘bean counters,’” said Ross, describing the less than alluring history book that presents numbers – battles, soldiers, killed, wounded, miles marched, etc. “In the book, I’ve described why a battle was fought, and what was the consequence of victory or defeat, and what it meant in an overall strategy, by describing the actual battle through the eyes of these guys, the eyewitness participants.”

Of the book, former Fort Lewis College President Joel Jones writes, “”Ross’s extensive and intensive exploration of both primary and secondary sources enabled him to take his family story and transform it into a meaningful statement about both the Civil War and this nation’s divided psyche. His willingness to travel thousands of miles in order to access hundreds of primary sources moves this history beyond another run-of-the-mill `I found these letters in the attic’ chapter in Civil War history.””  

With 2009 being the 200^th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, Ross has been tapped to participate in numerous celebratory events organized by the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Already on his schedule are six Civil War Roundtables in the Washington DC and Boston areas.

Locally Ross will discuss his book, Lincoln’s Veteran Volunteers Win the War: The Hudson Valley’s Ross Brothers and the Union’s Fight for Emancipation, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 6-7:30 p.m. at the Durango Public Library. Published by State University of New York Press, the book is available in Durango at both Maria’s Bookshop and Walden Books.

 “I’m a grandson of a Civil War soldier,” said Ross, who will soon turn 87. “There aren’t that many of us left.”

 

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