 Although he was living in Chicago during the American Civil War of 1861-1865, he was directly affected by the war through his direct family.Indeed, in a letter addressed to Andrew Johnson (1808-1875), who served as the 17th President of the United States from 1865 to 1869, sent on September 26, 1865, Presbyterian minister David Xavier Junkin (1808-1880) explained that Leroy's brother, Henry F. Halsey (1815-1887), had been ruined by Union troops, who took over his factory in Alabama.As a result, Leroy was the only one left to support his brother's family in the vanquished South.