The very popular TV show – “Who Do You Think You Are?” – frequently guides the celebrity who is searching for their roots back to the mid 1800s in America. The recent episode featuring actor Steve Buscemi revealed a great great-grandfather named Ralph B. Montgomery who enlisted in the Union army as a Corporal in 1862 to fight in the 91st PA Infantry.
Leaving a troubled and checkered past behind to enlist, including surviving a planned suicide, Montgomery’s fate did not improve by putting on the blue.
After Fredericksburg, the 91st also fought at Chancellorsville. It was all too much for Montgomery, who deserted again in September 1863.
There is a lengthy scene in the movie Gods and General detailing the action at Fredericksburg.
