JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
Because this Tyson Brothers image of Gettysburg's Letterman Hospital includes a woman who is probably nurse it's one of my favorites. Not knowing who any of these eye witnesses to history were can drive you a little crazy although I live in hope the nurse is Sophronia Bucklin. Who were they? What's their story?
If you snip around some of the massive tifs images of post battle Gettysburg can give you chills. Letterman above a town emerging from shambles.
Some of these ' story behind the image ' photos could belong to other forums. Both ' Soldiers Tales ' and the Gettysburg forum have a claim- if anyone wishes it moved, please say so? I'm smitten with what's behind nearly all ACW photos - the stories that happened in a place, who was there, what was that war?
This one from Letterman could be apocryphal but the date seems to confirm the story. 1864, so it'd be the recent past. I can't find it challenged either which tended to happen when stories were too outrageous. It was war. A lot of crazy stuff happened.
It does make it more remarkable. By 1863 the Confederacy was feeling the pinch.
It isn't embellished, something the apocryphal stories have in common. You know, someone sacrificing themselves heroically dashing in front of their noble, fallen comrade, taking the bullet shot by cowardly villains. If you can dash quickly enough to intercept a bullet, you'd also still be alive because there's a blue, bullet proof suit under your uniform.
The trouble with dismissing some of these because they can't be sourced is, we may miss a lot. I'm not saying this is true- Letterman's tents didn't fold until November, 1863. Between August and November, an awful lot of wounded passed through there. Each man had a story.