It could be a wounded solider, a war widow, a free black or former slave that took up arms, a community who either suffered or profited from the war. Anything really, I just feel that we view the Civil War as a Southern war and often negate it's effects on the North.
I'm not entirely sure what you mean or where you got this idea. The war was devastating for virtually every part of the country, including New England. Here's the war memorial from my hometown of Concord, MA: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fW7Qx9ZRHEE/Uy7rTF2c0dI/AAAAAAAAsy4/Ycy5TtwxcFw/s1600/IMG_5234.JPG
As the population of the town in 1860 was recorded as 2246, if we assume that half the town was male, that means that a little over 4% of the male population of the town was killed in the war, nevermind how many others would have been permanently wounded or disfigured.
That would have been pretty horrific for a small community.
