West Virginia Is Looking for the Descendants of Civil War Veterans Who Never Claimed Their Medals

This week holds two major Civil War anniversaries: America's deadliest war started on April 12, 1861, when Southerners who seceded from the Union fired shots at the federal government's Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina, and came to an unofficial end on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to future president Ulysses S. Grant in Appomattox, Va. But, though more than 150 years have passed since those days, the war's story continues to play out.

This week holds two major Civil War anniversaries: America's deadliest war started on April 12, 1861, when Southerners who seceded from the Union fired shots at the federal government's Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina, and came to an unofficial end on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to future president Ulysses S. Grant in Appomattox, Va. But, though more than 150 years have passed since those days, the war's story continues to play out.