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After the battle, Chaplain [William C.] Way [with the 24th Michigan] of Plymouth, found Private John Ryder’s body at the edge of Herbst woods and buried it himself. Two days later, the chaplain encountered John’s brother, Alfred, from the 1st Michigan Cavalry, in a field hospital established at the public school on East High Street. He promptly wrote a letter to Alfred’s father, who hurried to Gettysburg. When the chaplain described the casualties for a hometown newspaper, he noted that Mr. George Ryder was with his son as of July 20. On July 22, Alfred succumbed from his wounds and was buried the next day along with his brother John [whose body was exhumed from Herbst woods] in the graveyard of the German Reformed Church. (The Ryder Family, by Raymond A. Ryder, Michigan History, vol. 46, 1962, pp. 72-75; Advertiser and Tribune, July 20 and 23, 1863, http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/1419/tribune.html)
[Private] “Charles Ruff, Company D [of the 24th Michigan], died yesterday [July 22] and was buried by his parents, both of whom were here, in the cemetery at this place.” (July 23, 1863 letter of Chaplain William C. Way, 24th Michigan, published by the Advertiser and Tribune on July 30. ) [Ruff died in the hospital established in the Lutheran Seminary]
“A lady sits near me who arrived yesterday in search of her son, who was wounded on the 2d day of the battle. Soon after her arrival a messenger came from the hospital – four miles distant – saying that the young man could survive but a short time. It was nearly 9 o’clock p.m. when the mother arrived at the tent where her son, with eight others, lie upon the bed of straw groaning out his precious life. He expired at 5 o’clock in the morning. What were the emotions of that mother during the few hours of consciousness that remained to her child, who but a mother in similar circumstances can tell.” (July 14, 1863 letter of Chaplain Philo G. Cook, 94th New York, published by the Commercial Advertiser, July 18, 1863, New York State Military Museum, 94th Infantry Regiment, Newspaper Clippings)
“Father [local farmer John Cunningham] notified the families of all the Union wounded who were brought to his place. Among many others, the sister of one badly wounded man, Ellen Howard of Meriden, New Hampshire, started at once for Gettysburg. And on the train a stranger engaged her in conversation, asking if, should she find her brother dead, she had money enough to bring the body home. She had not, and he opened his purse and handed her forty dollars. The brother had died [on July 18] before she arrived. (Private Charles F. Howard, Company I, 2nd New Hampshire, Killed in Action, by Gregory A. Coco, Gettysburg: Thomas Publications, 1992)
“July 9, 1 p.m., Hanover Junction. Mr. Chancellor is up to see after his son who lost a leg in the late battle.” (Letters of William F. Norris, Adams County Historical Society) [His son was 1st Lieutenant Henry Chancellor, Company B, 150th Pennsylvania.]
“July 23, Gettysburg. My dear husband, I leave Rush a few minutes to write. Mrs. Hill sits by him. … We moved him yesterday, he stood it as well as we expected. … I talked with the lady into whose home he was brought the day he was wounded. She said he suffered terribly, groaning all the time. The surgeon did not think he would live.” (Mother of Lt. Rush P. Cady, 97th New York, digital document, Hamilton College, New York) [Lt. Cady died the next day, July 24.]
Sarah Hutchins from Baltimore arrived at a field hospital to tend to the wounded, including Corporal Leonard W. Ives, Company A, 1st Maryland Battalion. Ives’ brother, William, hurried down from New York City, arriving before Leonard died on July 14. In December 1863, William and his wife visited Sarah and her husband Thomas Talbott Hutchins, a lawyer, in Baltimore. (All for a Sword, by Jonathan W. White, National Archives, Spring 2012, vol. 44, no. 1)
“July 13, the wife of Lieutenant Mathew Elder, 11th [U.S.] Infantry, is with him. I think all the officers will marry when they see what a wife is at such a time. At least they should.” … “July 24, during the evening his wife hangs over him, pressing her face to his, caresses, kisses and fondles him. But all her love cannot rouse him and a little after 2 a.m. he dies. Mrs. Elder says she had hope, ‘til just a minute ago.’ While she is fondling him, dreading his death, she in anguish breaks out, ‘and this is war.’ What a commentary. And this is war.” … “July 26, I. N. Baker, Lansing, Michigan, with his daughter, Mrs. Elder, embalm in cider the remains of Lt. Elder to take to their own home.” (Diary of Surgeon Cyrus Bacon, 2nd U.S. Infantry)
“July 15, saw Mrs. Lieutenant Malbone F. Watson of the artillery in town looking for a room for her husband who has lost a limb.” (Diary of Surgeon Cyrus Bacon, 2nd U.S. Infantry)
“July 26, Lt. Barber [2nd Lieutenant Amaziah J. Barber], 11th [U.S.] Infantry, has his brother-in-law with him, who goes to town, gets drunk and does not return, leaving his brother to die for himself, as he now will die.” (Diary of Surgeon Cyrus Bacon, 2nd U.S. Infantry) Lt. Barber had earlier written to his family in Burlington, Iowa, that he had lost his left leg above the knee, but he sounded hopeful. (Killed in Action, by Gregory A. Coco)
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