During the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg, a Confederate officer knelt beside a wounded Union general who was expected to die within hours. The mortally wounded man asked the conqueror to deliver a message to his wife, and the Confederate promised to do so. This chance encounter on July 1, 1863, would lead to a remarkable misunderstanding that lasted nearly 15 years, and its full story is told in the memoirs of Confederate General John Brown Gordon. Writing in his 1904 memoir, Gordon described how his command was directed to the right wing of the Union army when he returned from the banks of the Susquehanna River to Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, with reinforcements for General Robert E.
Lee’s forces. He stated that the arrival did not come at a more precise time, as the battle had already been raging for four or five hours. The battle had already claimed many casualties on both sides by the time Gordon arrived. Confederate General Archer had been captured with a large portion of his brigade.
Confederate Generals Heth and Sickles were wounded. Union General Reynolds, the highest-ranking Federal commander on the field, had been killed, and Hancock had been appointed to command the Union forces. The battle, which may have determined the fate of the Confederacy, was at its height. The Union forces had initially retreated but now advanced after being reinforced, pressing against Lee’s left wing and threatening to encircle him.
The Confederates were resisting every inch of ground, but the southern wing was slowly retreating. Gordon noted that just a few moments more and the day’s battle might have ended in a complete encirclement of Lee’s flank. He was ordered to move quickly to help the Confederates who were under severe pressure. Charging with a loud cry, his command pushed toward the Union line that was formed to protect the Federal flank.
A hand-to-hand clash ensued here. The protected Union line, once broken, meant Gordon’s command was not only on the right wing but also leaning behind it. He noted that any army force that had been deployed in history would have certainly and quickly collapsed under similar circumstances. Howard’s men had no choice but to scatter and flee or drop their weapons and surrender.
Under concentrated fire from the front and flank, it was a miracle that anyone survived. In the violent chaos of his ranks and during a storm of bullets, a Union officer was attempting to rally his men for a last stand. He too fell, pierced by a “minnie” bullet. While riding his horse forward with his rapid lines, Gordon encountered that brave officer lying on his back, with the July sun pouring its rays on his pale face.
He was surrounded by victims of the Union army, and his life seemed to be fading quickly. Gordon dismounted quickly, lifted his head, gave him water from his canteen, and asked his name and the nature of his wounds. It was General Francis C. Barlow of New York, from Howard’s corps.
The bullet had entered his body from the front and exited near the spine, paralyzing his legs and arms. Neither man thought it possible that Barlow could survive for many hours. Gordon called for soldiers who were caring for the wounded and ordered them to place Barlow on a stretcher and carry him to the shade in the rear. Before they parted, Barlow asked Gordon to take the bundle of letters from his pocket and destroy them.
Those letters were from his wife. He had only one request to make. It was that if Gordon survived the end of the war and met Mrs. Barlow, he would tell her about their meeting on the Gettysburg battlefield and about his thoughts of her and his final moments.
Barlow wanted Gordon to assure her that he died doing his duty on the front line, that he was ready to sacrifice his life for his country, and that his greatest regret was that he would die without seeing her face again. Gordon learned that Mrs. Barlow was with the Union army and near the battlefield. Recalling how his own wife accompanied him, Gordon acknowledged that it was not difficult to understand that his sympathy had been particularly stirred by the news of Barlow’s wife being nearby.
After surviving the battle of that day unharmed, Gordon sent a message under a flag of truce to Mrs. Barlow at the end of the day. He assured her that if she wished to cross the lines, she would receive a safe escort to her husband’s side. In the desperate clashes of the following two days and the retreat of Lee’s army, Gordon considered Barlow to be among the noble dead of both armies who had faced their fate proudly.
However, the bullet had not struck any vital spots, and Barlow slowly recovered, although this fact remained completely unknown to Gordon. The following summer, a relative of Gordon with the same initials, General J. B. Gordon of North Carolina, was killed in a battle near Richmond.
Barlow, who had recovered, saw the announcement of his death and had no doubt that he was the Gordon he had met at the Gettysburg battlefield. So for Gordon, Barlow was among the dead. For Barlow, Gordon was among the dead. Almost 15 years passed before either man discovered what had actually happened.
During Gordon’s second term in the United States Senate, the honorable Clarkson Potter of New York was a member of the House of Representatives. Potter invited Gordon to a dinner in Washington to meet General Barlow, who had served in the Union army. Potter knew nothing about the Gettysburg incident. Gordon had heard of another Barlow in the Union army and of course assumed it was that Barlow he was to have dinner with.
Barlow had a similar idea about the Gordon he was to meet. Sitting at Clarkson Potter’s table, Gordon asked Barlow: “General, are you a relative of the Barlow who was killed at Gettysburg? ” Barlow replied: “In fact, I am that man, sir. ” Then came the equally astonishing response: “Are you a relative of the Gordon who killed me?
” Gordon replied: “I am that man, sir. ” No words can convey any idea of the feelings awakened by those astonishing statements. A real resurrection from the dead would not have surprised them more. From that time until Barlow’s death in 1896, the friendship forged between them amidst the thunder of the Battle of Gettysburg was treasured by both men.
Gordon’s account, told in his own words, describes the meeting with an opponent from the other side and the miraculous double resurrection of both men, discovered only 15 years after the war’s end.