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Oh, Lordy.” 2nd Lieutenant William G. “Bill” Branyon, Company K, 26th Alabama; killed July 1. A ball struck him in the breast and he fell backwards. Soon a wounded men went back to Branyon, who was already dead. He took his watch from his pocket and sent it to his wife. (February 1922 letter of Jeff E. Tomlin to William L. White)
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God have mercy!” Unidentified young officer of the 43rd North Carolina; killed July 1. (1st Lieutenant Henry E. Shepherd, Company K, 43rd North Carolina, Under Both Flags, by George Morley Vickers)
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Boys, I am ruined.” Private Robert W. Crawford, Company B, 11th Alabama; mortally wounded July 2. He asked Sergeant Fleming W. Thompson to inform his family that he was not afraid to die. (Confederates Killed in Action, by Greg Coco, Gettysburg: Thomas Publications, 2001, p. 90)
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Boys, it is no use carrying me farther, for I am dying.” Major Andrew Jackson Glover, 76th New York; mortally wounded July 1. Glover was speaking to four men who were carrying him off the field in a blanket. (A Newspaper Editor’s View of Gettysburg, by Richard F. Palmer,
http://www.bpmlegal.com/76NY/ed-getty.html)
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Mother, do not grieve; it is best and right; bury me with my comrades on the field.” Corporal William C, Schultz, Company I, 71st Pennsylvania, mortally wounded July 2, died on September 29. Told to his mother in a field hospital, as recorded by nurse Anna Holstein. His brother had been killed at Antietam. (Killed in Action, by Greg Coco, Gettysburg: Thomas Publications, 1992, p. 81)
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Good night, lieutenant, I think that I shall go up before morning.” Unidentified soldier whispered these words to John G. B. Adams, 19th Massachusetts when it was time to extinguish the lights in their hospital tent. He died during the night. (Reminiscences of the Nineteenth Massachusetts Regiment, by Capt. John G. B. Adams, Boston, MA: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1899)
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I am killed.” Private James Johnston, Company K, 4th Michigan; killed July 2. Told to his comrade, James Houghton. (Killed in Action, by Greg Coco; Gettysburg: Thomas Publications, 1992, p. 44)
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I will go home and get a little rest and visit my friends. This thing will soon heal, and I will be back by the time the regiment shall be called into action.” Captain Thomas B. Fox, Company K, 2nd Massachusetts, after being slightly wounded by a minie ball on his ankle. At home he soon contracted a fever that caused delirium and led to his death on July 25. (Captain Everett W. Pattison, Some Reminiscences of Army Life, read before the Commandery of the State of Missouri, 1892, Reprint, Broadfoot Publishing Company, 1982; Busey and Busey, Union Casualties at Gettysburg, 1:152)
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bear witness that I died game.” Captain Joseph H. Gregg, Company I, 137th New York; mortally wounded July 2. Gregg spoke with Col. David Ireland and Lt. Van Voorhis about 24 hours before his death. (July 6 letter to “Friend Selkreg” from Lt. Col. K. S. Van Voorhis, Camp, 137th New York, Littlestown, PA, Civil War Newspaper Clippings, NY Military Museum,
http://www.dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/137thInf/137thInfCWN.htm)
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Tell father and mother that I died doing my duty in a noble cause, and that I am contented.” Corporal Horace S. Barse, Company E, 5th Michigan Cavalry; mortally wounded July 3. Spoken to his brother, Lieutenant Barse, at a field hospital. (New York Times, August 6, 1863, p. 8)