My hometown is Austin, Texas. While Texans fought for both the Union (North) and Confederate States of America (South), most Texans fought for the South. Living in Austin, I wasn't sure there was much Civil War history here, but I've learned differently. Austin had three forts built to defend against a Union attack. They were all on the South and Southeast part of town as they thought the Union would attack after arriving by ship from the Gulf of Mexico. They abandoned the forts when they knew the Federal soldiers were not going to attack Austin and now they are all under buildings.  We also had a home for Confederate soldiers. Probably the biggest tie to the war is Confederate General Albert Sydney Johnston is buried in the State Cemetery here in Austin. Johnston was the highest ranking general on either side to be killed during the Civil War. He died at Shiloh after being shot near the Peach Orchard. I learned that there were a lot of battles that had parts of the battlefield called "the peach orchard" - Gettysburg, Shiloh and others.  It's because many of the battles were fought on or near farms and farmers had peach or apple orchards as they did not have grocery stores or refridgerators so they grew there own fruits and vegatables.