by Camille Thrall
My grandfather, Robert Wiley, told me a week ago about my great-great-grandfather, Robert Zubrinsky. He pulled out two old photographs of him. One as a young child, maybe about 14 years old by the look on his baby face, and one of him in his later years with a mysterious mustache and all.
Robert Zubrinsky was a troublemaker, he was always pulling pranks. When the fight of the Civil war was going on, Zubrinsky decided he wanted to join the Army. But the problem was he was too young and his family did not want him to fight, so he ended up running away. the government did not let him into the army. Young Robert Zubrinsky returned home, distraught and disappointed because he did not get into the army.
He ran away once again, and managed to forge his papers and fool the Union army enough to be let in as a musician. In the picture above, Robert is pictured with the uniform he wore as an official musician in the Union army, as a drummer.
He did live to tell the tale of course, and married and had children and grew up out of his trouble maker ways. My grandfather never knew him, as he had died before he was born, but he still had all of the stories and photographs. It is incredibly humbling to know that my great great grandfather helped fight with the union in the United States Civil War.
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