Photo by Staff file photo by Skip Lawrence Living history interpreters representing Union troops maneuver on the battlefield during the first day of the 2003 re-enactment of the Battle of Gettysburg. Interactive Map: Our Jamie Bussey takes you through key points of the Battle of Gettysburg

"The Civil War is a part of our history, but it becomes something more when you realize 'the war was fought by someone whose blood runs in my veins,'" said George Wunderlich, the executive director of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick .

Wunderlich's great-great-grandfather, William Wallace Pederick, fought in the Battle of Gettysburg as a member of the 13th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Wunderlich, 44, said Pederick's history makes his two sons feel tied to the area.

"They take a deeper interest, because they see themselves in their relative's place, instead of someone they don't know," Wunderlich said.

Making the connection a reality

A connection with an ancestor led Jason Grabill to dig deeper into Civil War history.

Grabill and his family participated in Civil War re-enactments from 1996 to 2002, serving as members of the Stonewall Brigade. Now Grabill performs as a Civil War medical surgeon re-enactor.

Grabill's interest in history started at age 8. Growing up on his family farm in Johnsville, Grabill found cannonballs and other Civil War artifacts. From then on, military history fascinated him.

"Living on the same ground that troops marched over ... I can't imagine not growing up around history," he said.

Although Grabill enjoyed military history, he did not know he had an ancestor who fought in the Civil War until 1989.

During a visit to Mount Olivet Cemetery, Grabill and his wife, Anna, saw the name Abraham Webster Grabill on a monument dedicated to Frederick County men who fought and died for the cause of Southern rights.

Grabill's parents and grandparents, however, had never heard of Abraham.

"It was very difficult for men to go and serve" the Confederacy, Grabill said. "Families had to disavow them if they did."

That was probably the case with his family, Grabill said.

Through research, Grabill discovered his great-great-uncle, Abraham, fought in the Battle of Gettysburg. He died at Fort Delaware in New Jersey after being captured.

Grabill eventually decided he would do re-enactments as a Confederate soldier. Performing in North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware, Grabill believes he better understands Abraham's experiences.

Knowing the

past for the future

Terry Latschar has ancestors who fought on both sides of the Civil War.

Latschar is a licensed battlefield guide for the Gettysburg National Military Park. She first remembers hearing stories of her great-great-grandfathers from her grandmother, Mary Mullaney.

"She talked about them a lot," said Latschar, who lives in Gettysburg. "She was very proud of them."

Theodore Isaac Hutchinson was a Union soldier and fought with the 88th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. William Swanner was a Confederate soldier and fought for the 37th North Carolina Infantry Regiment.

At one point during the Battle of Gettysburg, the two men actually fought 20 to 30 yards away from each other, Latschar said.

The two men did not meet until after the war.

After surviving the war, the men married and had children, and their children eventually married one another. The men respected each other, but they did get in heated discussions about the cause of the war, Mullaney told Latschar.

Her grandmother's stories sparked curiosity. Her interest in her lineage grew deeper in 1991 after a visit to Gettysburg with her mother and her children.

"Everything I thought was fun as a kid became real as an adult," she said.

For more than a decade, Latschar has worked as a battlefield guide or a park ranger at Gettysburg. She spends her free time researching information about her genealogy.

Latschar has discovered little about her great-great-grandfather's involvement in the Battle of Gettysburg.

"I know that Isaac lost most of his hearing in Pickett's Charge," she said.

Latschar said both men fought all three days.

"Unfortunately we don't have any writings," she said.

0The uniform and letters Hutchinson saved and kept in his home were stolen during his funeral, she said. His real last name was Huden, changed to Hutchinson so he could enlist at age 17.

As for Swanner, because he was a member of the Confederacy, much of his belongings were probably unsalvageable after the war, she said.

While the two men's stories are not entirely clear, Latschar said having members of the family on both sides influences her views on the war.

"I can't, for me, sit here and say one was a good guy and one was a bad guy," she said. "Each side did what they thought they should do."

Latschar said she tries to convey that notion to those who visit Gettysburg. She encourages others to find out about their lineage.

"President Lincoln said something like, 'How can we know where we are going if we don't know where we've been,'" she said, "and so it is important to know what happen in the past, because it is all a part of history and how our country was formed."