Uncle George was the one Laura was afraid of in "Little House in the Big Woods" because everyone said he was a 'wild man.' "Uncle George had run away to be a drummer boy in the army, when he was fourteen years old," Laura said. In "Pioneer Girl," her unpublished memoirs, she added, "Afterward Uncle George stole a cow and was arrested... Pa said, What could you expect of a boy who had joined the army when he was fourteen, and lived off the country all those years? In the South, when the Union soldiers wanted anything they just took it, and George had got used to that way of doing. All that was wrong with George was that he couldn't seem to realize the war was over and that he was in the North, where he couldn't live off the country any more."
Civil War service records from Ancestry.com also indicate that George may have deserted the army. The enlistment information matches, but his middle initial is given as "A".
Uncle George was the one Laura was afraid of in "Little House in the Big Woods" because everyone said he was a 'wild man.' "Uncle George had run away to be a drummer boy in the army, when he was fourteen years old," Laura said. In "Pioneer Girl," her unpublished memoirs, she added, "Afterward Uncle George stole a cow and was arrested... Pa said, What could you expect of a boy who had joined the army when he was fourteen, and lived off the country all those years? In the South, when the Union soldiers wanted anything they just took it, and George had got used to that way of doing. All that was wrong with George was that he couldn't seem to realize the war was over and that he was in the North, where he couldn't live off the country any more."
Civil War service records from Ancestry.com also indicate that George may have deserted the army. The enlistment information matches, but his middle initial is given as "A".
Family Members
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Peter Riley Ingalls
1833–1900
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Our Babe Ingalls
1835–1835
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William Ingalls
1835–1918
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Charles Phillip Ingalls
1836–1902
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Lydia Louisa Ingalls Stouff
1838–1913
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Polly Melona Ingalls Quiner
1841–1888
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Lansford James Ingalls
1842–1928
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Laura Ladocia "Docia" Ingalls Forbes
1845–1918
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Hiram Lemuel "Hinny" Ingalls
1848–1923
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Ruby Celestia Ingalls Card
1855–1881
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