George Washington Buck

“In the midst of one particular lull in the fight, Chamberlain walked among the men to gauge their spirits and do what he could for the wounded. He remembered one solider who had received what looked to be a severe wound across his forehead. The Colonel had him sent to the rear, hoping that with prompt medical attention, he might be saved or at least die in peace. When the fight resumed minutes later, Chamberlain saw him back among his comrades, firing his rifle with a bloody bandage around his head. It struck the Colonel soberly, ‘I shall know him when I see him again,’ he later wrote, ‘on whatever shore!’

In another lull, Chamberlain came upon Private George Washington Buck, a young farmer from Linneus. Buck had been a Sergeant through the fall campaign but had been demoted by Alden Litchfield, a cruel bully of a quartermaster, when Buck was too sick to perform a personal service for him. Now Buck was bleeding badly from a hole in his shoulder and the amount of blood left little doubt of his fate.Chamberlain reassured the soldier as he kneeled over him. ‘My dear boy,’ he remembered saying. ‘It has gone hard with you. You shall be cared for.’ The young soldier apparently managed to whisper a reply to his Colonel. ‘Tell my mother I did not die a coward.’

Moved by his concern, Chamberlain replied, ‘You die a Sergeant. I promote you for faithful service and noble courage on the field of Gettysburg!’

With that, Buck was carried to the rear.”

Strong Vincent

From FB:

“At the Battle of Gettysburg, 26-year-old Colonel Strong Vincent Vincent and his brigade arrived on July 2, 1863. He had started the Gettysburg Campaign knowing that his young wife, Elizabeth H. Carter, whom he had married on the day he enlisted in the army, was pregnant with their first child. He had written her, “If I fall, remember you have given your husband to the most righteous cause that ever widowed a woman.”

Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Sickles of the III Corps had deviated from his orders, moving his corps to a position that left undefended a significant terrain feature: Little Round Top. The chief engineer of the Army of the Potomac, Brig. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren, recognized the tactical importance of the hill and urgently sought Union troops to occupy it before the Confederates could. A staff officer sent by Warren encountered Vincent’s brigade nearby. Vincent, without consulting his superior officers, decided that his brigade was in the ideal position to defend Little Round Top, saying “I will take the responsibility to take my brigade there.” Pvt. Oliver Willcox Norton, Vincent’s brigade standard bearer and bugler, later wrote that he and Vincent made a reconnaissance of the Confederate forces as the brigade was moving into position, “While our line was forming on the hill at Gettysburg I came out with him in full view of the rebel lines. They opened two batteries on us instantly, firing at the colors. Colonel Vincent looked to see what was drawing the fire and yelled at me, “Down with the flag, Norton! Damn it, go behind the rocks with it.”

One of Vincent’s regiments, the 20th Maine, led by Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, has received most of the fame for the defense of Little Round Top, but there is little doubt that the efforts and bravery of Vincent were instrumental in the eventual Union victory. Vincent impressed upon Chamberlain the importance of his position on the brigade’s left flank and then he left to attend to the brigade’s right flank. There, the 16th Michigan Infantry was starting to yield to enemy pressure. Mounting a large boulder, Vincent brandished a riding crop given to him by his wife and shouted to his men “Don’t give an inch!” A bullet struck him through the thigh and the groin and he fell. Due to the determination of the 20th Maine, the 44th New York, the 83rd Pennsylvania and the 16th Michigan Infantry Regiments, the Union line held against the Confederate onslaught. Vincent was carried from the hill to a nearby farm, where he lay dying for the next five days, unable to be transported home due to the severity of his injury.

The commander of the Army of the Potomac, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, recommended Vincent for promotion to brigadier general on the evening of July 2. The promotion was dated July 3, 1863, but it is doubtful that Vincent knew about the honor before he died.

Vincent’s wife gave birth to a baby girl two months later, who died before reaching the age of one and is buried next to her father.

His corps commander, Maj. Gen. George Sykes, described Vincent’s actions in his official report from the battle:

“Night closed the fight. The key of the battle-field was in our possession intact. Vincent, Weed, and Hazlett, chiefs lamented throughout the corps and army, sealed with their lives the spot intrusted to their keeping, and on which so much depended…. General Weed and Colonel Vincent, officers of rare promise, gave their lives to their country.”

— George Sykes, report on the Battle of Gettysburg

Vincent is buried in Erie Cemetery in Erie. He is memorialized by a statue on the 83rd Pennsylvania monument on Little Round Top, by a statue erected in 1997 at Blasco Memorial Library, Erie, and by Strong Vincent High School in Erie. The portion of Little Round Top to the southeast of Sykes Avenue on the Gettysburg Battlefield is known as “Vincent’s Spur”. The 1-112 Infantry of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard stationed in Cambridge Springs uses the call sign “STRONG” in recognition of Vincent’s courage, determination and sacrifice.” 

Barksdale’s Brigade

From FB:

“At the Battle of Gettysburg, Mississippi Colonel William Barksdale’s Brigade arrived with McLaws’s Division after the first day of battle. On July 2, 1863, the plan from General Robert E. Lee was for Longstreet’s Corps to maneuver into position and attack northeast, up the Emmitsburg Road, to roll up the Union left flank. Barksdale’s sector of the attack placed him directly at the tip of the salient in the Union line anchored at the Peach Orchard, defended by the Union III Corps.

At about 5:30 p.m., Barksdale’s Brigade burst from the woods and started an irresistible assault, which has been described as one of the most breathtaking spectacles of the Civil War. A Union colonel was quoted as saying, “It was the grandest charge that was ever made by mortal man.”

Although he ordered his subordinate commanders to walk during the charge, Barksdale himself rode on horseback “in front, leading the way, hat off, his wispy hair shining so that it reminded a Confederate Staff Officer of ‘the white plume of Navarre’.”

The Confederates smashed the brigade manning the Peach Orchard line, wounding and capturing the Union brigade commander himself. Some of Barksdale’s regiments turned to the north and shattered Maj. Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys’ division. Others of his regiments went straight ahead.

By the time his men had gone as far as Plum Run, a mile into the assault, they were counterattacked by a brigade under Colonel George L. Willard. Barksdale was wounded in his left knee, followed by a cannonball to his left foot, and finally was hit by another bullet to his chest, knocking him off his horse.

He told his aide, W.R. Boyd, “I am killed! Tell my wife and children that I died fighting at my post.” His troops were forced to leave him for dead on the field and he died the next morning in a Union field hospital.”

July 2, 2021

On this day in 1961, Ernest Hemingway shot and killed himself at his home in Ketchum, ID. For decades the cause was believed to be depression, but recently medical professionals have come to the belief it was caused by Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy from at least nine concussions.

In this picture you can see the goose egg on his upper left forehead that was caused in 1928 when he accidentally grabbed the cord attached to a cracked skylight causing it to fall on him.

I’d never noticed that bump until it was pointed out in a photo at his home in Key West, but now that I’ve seen it, I see it in every other picture of him, it’s that obvious.

The Golden Isles, Georgia (2020)

From FB:

“Wore my 15-year-old Flash Gordon t-shirt to the grocery store. As I was wheeling my groceries out to the Dad Van, a guy saw me and began to sing the theme song from the 1980 movie.

‘FLASH! Ah-AH! Savior of the Universe!’

Made my day.”

Vienna, Virginia (2006)

This was the winter before we went to Havana. I was finishing RSO school and about to begin six months of Spanish language training.

I guess I was bored this day.