Gettysburg Kids Who Did the Impossible! by Christianson Gregory;

Author:Christianson, Gregory;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY/Military/United States
Publisher: Savas Beatie
Published: 2019-05-07T00:00:00+00:00

Watercolor by Gettysburg artist Tom Rooney

“Missy, where should we place this wounded soldier?” the stretcher-bearer asks Tillie. She stands inside the barn among a sea of wounded, each waiting a turn with a physician to determine his medical fate.

Since late afternoon, Tillie has experienced a profound change from teenage schoolgirl to caregiver. After a quiet morning, the scene at the Weikert farm, located at the base of the Round Tops, becomes bedlam.

Soldiers rush past them to the front, then a torrent of wounded stream back to the farm. The house, and all the outlying structures, are taken over by Union medical staff.

At first, Tillie is occupied with ladling water to quench the soldiers’ thirst and wet their bandages. Everywhere she hears the cries for help and the groans of pain. “What more can I do?” she wonders as darkness begins to fall.

Tillie notices movement in a corner of the basement. Holding her lighted candle in one hand and a water bucket in the other, she sees a wounded officer lying on the hay-littered cellar floor.

“My name is Tillie Pierce, General. Would you like some water?”

“Yes, yes, please,” is his soft response, “and please stay with me for a while.”

“Of course,” Tillie says, reaching down to tilt his head toward the ladle, “but only for a minute, so you can rest. I promise that I will come to see you first thing in the morning.”

“Now don’t forget your promise,” the general replies. His head falls back onto a pillow of hay.

“No indeed,” Tillie says as she walks back toward the cellar door. Her words disappear into the darkness, along with the light she carries.

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