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Larry Purtell
Little Meadows
PA USA
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Posts: 1577
Joined: 2004
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May 12, 1863
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From the Lancaster Intelligencer Lancaster PA. May 12, 1863.
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"My goal is to live forever. So far, so good.
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Michigan Dave
Muskegon
MI USA
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Posts: 7602
Joined: 2006
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May 12, 1863
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Wow, costly war!.A lot of very sad widows & mothers! Sometimes I.imagine.a certain type.of wound would get you out of combat, & actually be a relief??
But, Not a happy mothers day.for.many!!!
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"The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."
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Phil Andrade
London
UK
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Posts: 6044
Joined: 2004
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May 12, 1863
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The huge numbers of wounded dwarfed the numbers of men who were confirmed as killed in action.
Six times as many yankees were reported as wounded for every one killed at Chancellorsville. The real toll of the dead, though, was to be greatly increased as large numbers of those wounded perished as their bodies developed gangrene and sepsis. To be wounded in any war is a grim fate : in that one, especially in the circumstances of defeat and abandonment of the field, the horrors were increased.
To add to the fatal reckoning, some of the six thousand Union soldiers reported as missing in action in the Chancellorsville fighting had been killed or left dying, with burning woods threatening a ghastly fate.
Editing: why didn’t I remember to mention what British soldiers in WW1 called a “ Blighty one “ ? That was a wound that was not dangerous, but enough to get you sent home ( Blighty). Did the soldiers of the American Civil War have a comparable wish to get a Blighty One, or was the threat of subsequent infection entailing amputation and death too severe in those days ?
Regards, Phil
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"Egad, sir, I do not know whether you will die on the gallows or of the pox!"
"That will depend, my Lord, on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress."
Earl of Sandwich and John Wilkes
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