Dang allergies!.😀
Thanks for posting this!
A fellow named George Armistead was in command of Ft McHenry that evening.
His nephew lead one of General Picket’s brigades a few years later at a place called Gettysburg.
Lewis Armistead, the nephew, was mortally wounded after crossing that stone wall, now immortalized as The Angle. He was captured by the Yankees, and died two days later. (Every time I visit I leave a penny on the stone that marks the spot where he fell.)
Lewis’s friendship,closer to brotherhood, with a Union General named WS Hancock has become a legend. Hancock commanded the troops who repelled the attack, and mortally wounded Lewis Armistead.
The legend says that General Armistead passed on a few personal items, and an apology to Hancock as he was carried to a hospital on Cemetery Ridge. A watch and a Bible with the words “Trust in God and fear nothing” written on a fly leaf.
I buy the legend and the friendship, but not the apology. He commanded a Rebel brigade In defense of his home.
What did that man do that would need to be apologized for?
Maybe he regretted hearing of General Hancock’s severe wound. I can understand that.
But saying Lew Armistead was apologizing for his role in the war, as many suggest is a downright fairytale.
Reon
