{"id":4466,"date":"2013-09-28T14:18:16","date_gmt":"2013-09-28T19:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/?p=4466"},"modified":"2013-09-29T09:07:56","modified_gmt":"2013-09-29T14:07:56","slug":"who-is-the-real-sam-wilkeson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/2013\/09\/28\/who-is-the-real-sam-wilkeson\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is the real Sam Wilkeson?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As readers of Blog Divided are well aware, we have been fascinated by the story of Samuel and Bayard Wilkeson, a father and son who were both at Gettysburg, one as a correspondent for the\u00a0New York Times<\/em> and the other as a 2LT for the Union army. \u00a0The son died on the battle’s first day after being wounded by an artillery shell and after amputating his own leg. \u00a0The father discovered his son’s body on July 4, 1863 following more than a day of intense searching. \u00a0Then he wrote a passionate, angry account of what happened for the New York Times,\u00a0<\/em>which closed by resolving that the dead at Gettysburg had “baptised” with their blood, the “second birth of Freedom in America.” \u00a0President Lincoln knew the Wilkesons. The story of the family’s tragedy echoed across the North during the summer of 1863. \u00a0So the connection to Lincoln’s famous phase in the Gettysburg Address, “a new birth of freedom,” seemed overwhelming, intentional, and eminently teachable. \u00a0We first posted about the story of the “Angry Father” <\/a>in July 2010, but then followed up with more details in the summer of 2013, here<\/a> and here<\/a>. \u00a0I spoke about the Wilkeson family during the 150th anniversary commemorations for the Battle of Gettysburg and have been featuring the story in numerous K-12 workshops during the last five years, typically through this handout<\/a>.
\n