August 21, 2013

***There won’t be a post on Friday ... I’m going to Gettysburg! :-) Next post will be Monday, August 26^TH***

Gen. John B. Hood’s Texas Brigade had a lot to live up to. They were already known as some of the Army of Northern Virginia’s best fighters, and they’d sacrificed many of their comrades at Antietam’s bloody cornfield . . . doubtless they fought so fiercely at Gettysburg not only to uphold their title but also to avenge fallen friends. The monument dedicated to Hood’s Texas Brigade at Gettysburg marks the spot where they crossed the fields of Warfield Ridge to attack Weikert’s “Triangular Field”, Devil’s Den, and even Little Round Top.

**HONORED TODAY**

SGT. WILLIAM S. JENKINS

7^TH North Carolina Infantry

Died July 03, 1863 at age 34

After being grievously wounded during the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Charge, Sgt. Jenkins, a man in gray, was shown compassion by a man in blue. The unnamed Union soldier wrote that William asked him to contact his family and say what had happened to him. He managed to say his name and county of birth, but then died before anything further could be done for him. Long after the battle, passersby could identify his grave near the Peter Frey farm along Taneytown Road, but one year it was no longer visible. It is very likely that Sgt. Jenkins is still buried on the battlefield.


(c) 2013 Skies of Blue and Gray