The Civil War is called the war in which brother fought against brother. But few knew of the

“Gettysburg Rebels”: the five privates from that very town who moved south to Virginia in the 1850s,

joined the Confederate army, and returned home as foreign invaders for the great battle in July 1863.




I talk about this story with Tom McMillan, author of Gettysburg Rebels: Five Native Sons Who Came

Home to Fight as Confederate Soldiers. It is the story of Gettysburg’s five native sons who abandoned

their hometown ties to join the Southern cause. But that's not to say they forgot their families

altogether. At least one of these soldiers receive a leave of absence to cross enemy lines at night and

visit his family...while in full Confederate uniform.




Willing to relinquish familial ties, Henry Wentz, Wesley Culp, and the three Hoffman brothers kept

their hometown connections hidden from Confederate leaders—a decision that would ultimately

determine the fate of the Confederacy.