Unknown Officer, 2nd Rhode Island Infantry, On the Aftermath of Fighting on Matthews Hill

The following incident is given in a letter from a young officer in the 2d Rhode Island regiment:

“After the battle was fought, I went into a grove where the Secessionists had been concealed. I found the ground covered with the dead and dying. The sight was one that I pray never to see again. One poor fellow with his leg blown off called me to him and asked me to shake hands with him. He then asked me if I had any ill feeling toward him. I replied. ‘No; but I am sorry that brothers should be obliged to slaughter each other in this manner.’ The poor follow burst into tears and said he came from Georgia, and that they would have shot him in his own house if he had not come. I saw many heartrending scenes, too numerous to mention.”

Providence (RI) Evening Press, 7/?/1861

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Contributed by John Hennessy