Recently, I've been thinking about Zebulon Pike, an Army officer who died April 27, 1813 in Canada during the War of 1812. He had one surviving daughter who married a son of President William Henry Harrison. As connected as his family was, what if he also had a surviving son - one who followed his father's military career?
Let's call him Zebulon, Jr, born in 1807, while Sr was away on the "Pike Expedition" (some of you may guess where I'm going with this), and gets his military training at West Point - entering in the summer of 1825, along with classmate Robert E. Lee.
Both graduate with strong records and receive initial assignments with recognition of their respective fathers' careers. They both serve in the Mexican War and are senior leaders by the time the Slavery issue is coming to a head in 1860. Both would be 53 years old.
What happens next? Does the lifelong influence of a yankee like Zebulon, Jr keep REL from joining the Confederacy? Do they both have leadership positions on opposite sides at the beginning of the war? Does Zebulon, Jr become U.S. Secretary of War or enter politics at the encouragement of his sister's father in law?