Bloody Confederate Letter from Gettysburg.(The Civil War Diaries S1E08)

this letter is stained with my blood [Music] the university grace or company a of the 11th mississippi infantry regiment was nearly entirely comprised of students and faculty from the university of mississippi so many had in fact enlisted that the school was unable to open its doors in 1861 with only five students enrolling these young men fought gallantly throughout the war and their losses were many but none were remembered more vividly in my recollections than that of their efforts at gettysburg during pickets charged up cemetery ridge they pushed farther into enemy lines than any other company and were rewarded for their efforts with a hundred percent casualty rate with every man of the company being killed or wounded as the battle there progressed i went up to my little first aid hospital behind the barn road embankment and under its cover i seated myself for business presently the wounded began to come in crouching for many were killed and wounded before the charge began the first to arrive born on a litter was a princely fellow and favored son of the 11th mississippi i saw in an instant a condition of terrible shock keeping everybody close to the ground i turned him and he pointed to his left arm i quickly exposed it and found that a cannonball had nearly torn it away between the elbow and the shoulder i made some encouraging remark when he smiled and said why doctor that is nothing here's where i'm really hurt and he laid back the blanket and exposed the lower abdomen torn from left to right by a cannon shot largely carrying away the bladder much intestine and a third of the right half of the pelvis but in both wounds so grinding and twisting the tissues that there was no hemorrhage i then surveyed his personality observing the tender devotion on the part of his litter bears and i saw a singularly attractive creature through his deathly power i could detect a sunburned blonde who in health would show a strong and ruddy countenance a large head with a tussled shock of reddish golden locks like a mane with the musculature and form of an athlete deferentially polite there was something singularly self-confident and manly about him without the slightest change of voice he asked doctor how long have i to live a very few hours i replied doctor i'm in great agony let me die easy dear doctor i would do the same for you his soul peered from the depths of his blue eyes and an appeal of anguish that cut me to the heart and i replied you dear noble fellow i will see to it that you shall die easy no word or detail of this scene has faded from my memory there was no thought of the dramatic it was dreadfully genuine and naturally spontaneous in the unconscious creating and acting of a grander tragedy than we might ever hope to play i called for and my hospital knapsack bear jim rao quickly handed me a two ounce bottle of black drop a concentrated solution of opium much stronger than laudanum i poured a tablespoon of it into a tin cup with a little water and offered it but before his hand could reach it a thought flashed into my mind and withdrawing the cup i asked have you no message to leave it startled him and in a low morning whale he cried my mother oh my dolly mother how could i have forgotten you quick i want to write by that time all who are crouching under the low shelter were crowded around oblivious of their own injuries and weeping silently i took my seat on the ground close beside him and lifted him over reclining on my chest his face close to to steady his head his right elbow in the hollow of my right hand to support and steady his arm and a pencil slipped into his hand jim rowell had provided the sheet of paper held on the smooth lid of the hospital knapsack improvised as a desk he wrote rapidly all of this transpired in haste murmuring to himself the words audible to me for i looked the other way he began with the place and the date on the battlefield july 3 1863 my dear mother this is the last you may ever hear from me i have time to tell you that i have died like a man remember that i am true to my country and my greatest regret at dying is that she is not free and that you and my sisters are robbed of my worth whatever that may be i hope this will reach you and you must not regret that my body cannot be obtained it is a mere matter of form anyhow this is for my sisters too because i cannot write send my dying release to miss mary you know j.s cage company a 11th mississippi this letter is stained with my blood he wrote little more than half a page into which he toured with vehemence his whole soul of tenders love never faltering for a word and a message towards the last with the name that he wrote silently conscious of the presence of strangers but the message was too personal and sacred to him for me to trespass for it was holy ground last line he softly repeated aloud i dipped this letter in my dying blood with that he turned down the blanket and seasoned the letter pressed the back of it into his oozing bloody wound and handed it to me giving his mother's address and begging to be sure she got that letter i rose from the ground and had him supported when he turned to me with a reminder of my promise and of his hopeless pain i handed him the cup and he feebly waved it saying come around boys and let us have a toast i do not invite you to drink with me but i drank the toast to you and to the southern confederacy we laid him back on some improvised soft head rest and i rushed off to work amongst the wounded but from virginia i saw that his mother got the letter it's content unrevealed except to herself [Music] if you'd like to learn more about private jeremiah gage the 11th mississippi or the university graze the links to all of the reference material are in the video description below and if you enjoyed today's video be sure to take a shot at the like button subscribe and ring that notification bell to stay up to date with the latest bird dog content

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Id: 0Bbmb8_7HpQ

Length: 9min 4sec (544 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 21 2020