I came across quite an interesting story in the April 11th Chambersburg (PA) Public Opinion "Confederate soldier honored with tombstone dedication in Chambersburg cemetery" by Vicky Taylor.
This story involves honor and integrity on both sides, a dying man's last request, a lost grave and a search.
This past Saturday, the 10th, there was a dedication in Cedar Grove Cemetery of a marker to show the last resting place of Confederate Lt.-Colonel Benjamin F. Carter of the 4th Texas who was mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.
Colonel Carter had been an attorney and mayor of Austin, Texas, before joining the Army. The 4th Texas had been at the battles of Antietam and Second Bull Run. At Bull Run, a Union artillery captain named Stern from Chambersburg had been fatally wounded. When he died, Col. Carter gave him his overcoat as a burial shroud.
He also probably wrote a letter to Stern's family in Chambersburg and returned his personal property. (Hardly what you would expect a terrorist to do for an enemy.)
At Gettysburg, Col. Carter's wounds were too serious for him to be taken back to Virginia and was taken to a home in New Franklin where he was captured and taken to a hospital in Chambersburg where he died.
As he lay dying, he asked the doctor and two people present for a decent Christian burial. Feelings were high against Confederates in the town at this time, but with what Carter had done for Stern, the doctor got Alexander McClure to arrange for a burial in the local Methodist cemetery.
The Story Doesn't End Here. --Old B-Runner
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