More On Oliver Dart, Jr.-- Part 5: "His Face Torn Off As Though Slashed By a Cleaver"

One account of his wounding has him being left on the field until midafternoon on December 14 when General Lee agreed to let Burnside collect his wounded from the fields below Marye's Heights.  This story has been proven false by available records.

After Dart was wounded, the rest of the 14th pushed on toward the wall and Marye's Heights along with the rest of William F. French's 3rd Division of the 2nd Corps.  Here, Oliver Dart's cousin Charles was mortally wounded while carrying the regimental flag forward.

At the Rowe House, Oliver was temporarily patched up though most believed the wound to be mortal.  Regimental chaplain Henry S. Stevens wrote:  "On the northern porch lay, among others, our Dart, his face torn off as though slashed by a cleaver, and by his side lay Symonds, his eyes swollen with inflammation to the size of eggs, the sand grains showing through the tightly stretched and shining lids."

--Old Secesh