The death of Waller Tazewell Patton at Gettysburg
Picture caption: “The Death of General Mercer at the Battle
of Princeton, January 3, 1777” by John Trumbull
I was following the death of Waller Tazewell Patton, the
sixth son of John Mercer Patton, at the Battle of Gettysburg on the third day
of the conflict in July 1863; when I came upon Patton’s ancestor - General Hugh
Mercer.
The Presbyterian Scots (and the Irish,) were the back bone
of the American military for many generations.
According to an article in the
Washington
Post. Patton was, “Elected to command the 7th Virginia Infantry, in
July 1863 he met his destiny at Gettysburg, in the debacle on the third day of
the battle that has been immortalized as Pickett's Charge. It has been aptly
described as ‘a magnificent mile-wide spectacle, a picture-book view of war
that participants on both sides remembered with awe until their dying
moment--which for many came within the next hour.’
“Of the more than fourteen thousand men who began the
attack, less than half would return to the safety of their own lines. Among the
first to perish were the officers who led their men into the cauldron of fire.
The men of Pickett's division suffered the worst losses, nearly two-thirds,
including all three brigade commanders. Of the thirteen regimental commanders,
every single one was either killed outright or wounded.
“One of those commanders, lying mortally wounded near a
stone wall that afternoon, was twenty-nine-year-old Col. Waller Tazewell
Patton, whose 7th Virginia had advanced the farthest before it was repulsed.
Terribly wounded in the mouth, he was eventually removed from the battlefield
and taken to a nearby Union hospital in Gettysburg. He was treated with
kindness by a nurse who ministered to him during the final days of his life.
Before the battle he had been troubled by a premonition that he would die that
day.
“The incident in which Tazewell was wounded was witnessed by
an enemy artillery officer, Lt. Henry T. Lee, whose battery had been positioned
just behind the stone wall. During the attack, he saw the two officers jump on
the wall holding hands and instantly fall. The act so impressed him that when
the charge was repulsed he went to look for them. One, a boy of nineteen, was
dead, the other had his jaw shattered and was dying from a ghastly wound.
“The wounded officer motioned to Lee for a pencil and paper
and wrote as follows: "As we approached the wall my cousin and regimental
adjutant, Captain (name forgotten) pressed to my side and said: `Its our turn
next, Tazewell.' We grasped hands and jumped on the wall. Send this to my
mother so that she may know that her son has lived up to and died according to
her ideals."
“Fortunately a close relative was present to offer
consolation, and he noted that Tazewell's only method of communication was to
write, painfully, on a slate board. Foremost in his mind were his God, his
mother, and his country. Shortly before his death, in a poignant letter to his
beloved mother, he reaffirmed devotion to God and asked for her prayers. The
young colonel ended by scribbling on his slate board: ‘Tell my mother that I am
about to die in a foreign land; but I cherish the same intense affection for
her as ever.’ When Waller Tazewell Patton died, on July 23, 1863, he was the
first--but not the last--member of his family to perish in the service of the
Confederacy.”
On January 12, 1777, American Brigadier General Hugh Mercer
dies from the seven bayonet wounds he received during the
Battle
of Princeton.
Mercer’s military service ranged over two continents and
three armies. Born in Rosehearty, Scotland, Mercer studied medicine at the
University of Aberdeen and first served as an assistant surgeon in Bonnie
Prince Charlie’s army of 1745. After the Scots uprising against the British met
its devastatingly bloody end at Culloden on April 16, 1746, Mercer returned to
Aberdeenshire, where he spent a year in hiding before moving to
Pennsylvania in
March 1747.
A Genius for War, by Carlo D'Este. Chapter One: The Pattons
of Virginia
We ne'er shall look upon his like again.--TRIBUTE TO COL.
GEORGE S. PATTON, VMI, CLASS OF 1852
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+++ Dayhoff Carroll +++
