Captain America Star Chris Evans’ Surprising Ties to the Civil War

Family History
9 May 2016
by Ancestry® Team

The star of Captain America: Civil War, Chris Evans, has some surprising family ties to the U.S. Civil War. A look through Ancestry’s records shows two of his close relatives ultimately gave their lives on opposite sides of the devastating war.

Confederate Connection

Evans’ fourth great-grandfather (his great-great-great-great-grandfather), Daniel Cryer, served as a soldier in the Confederacy.

He was, according to his service record, a member of the Confederate Army’s Company E of Waul’s Texas Legion.

Tennessee Civil War Gen. John B. Hood
Confederates, TN battlefield

Daniel Cryer died in the 1863 Battle of Moscow in Tennessee at the age of 37. He and his fellow soldiers were attempting to burn down a railroad bridge but were thwarted by African-American Union troops who were stationed nearby.

Union Intrigue

John Garvey, Evans’ third great-grandfather, fought in the Union Army. He was old for a soldier (40 years old), so he was put in charge of taking care of the washing and cooking for his regiment.

Union soldier camp
Union soldier camp

His story has an interesting twist: For many years, he was thought to have deserted his unit, as noted in his widow’s pension file.

However four decades after the war, and following a lifetime of research by his son Garvey, it was discovered he was not in fact a deserter.

He had been left behind in Baltimore when he took a furlough and returned to find his regiment gone. While trying to catch up to his unit, he succumbed to illness and died in Ship Island, Mississippi.

More Recent Heroes

In the more recent past, several of Evans’ ancestors served bravely in the Second World War. One, for example, was a private in the U.S. Army.

Another was his great-grandfather George Robert Evans, an officer who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1929.
geroge evans cap am

While the civil war in his latest movie is based completely on fictional characters (playing out as a rift between Iron Man and Captain America), the rich military family history of Chris Evans is very real.

In fact, he has ancestors who fought in nearly every major war in American history.

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