Delta Kappa Epsilon - University of Alabama

Sighs of Psi 7 FROM THE HISTORIAN in 1925 and found it in a National Cemetery on the battle field of Cold Harbor about five miles from Richmond. It is well kept. The stone has inscribed on it his name, rank and regiment, also the date of his death. This story was told at a D. K. E. gathering in Boston by Herbert N. Gardner, a member of the Fraternity, as an illustration of the spirit of the order. The author of the poem [i.e., John Clair Minot and "Brothers in DKE"] was present and wrote it at that time. EUREKA AGAIN! Luther Rogers' account not only confirms the accu- racy of the conclusions we reached about Edwin's being wounded and captured as told in our previous Sighs article, but he further confirms that the wounded Edwin was indeed "discovered' by a fellow Deke, in accor- dance with Minot's poem. In addition, Luther gives us additional clues as to which of Edwin's two purported graves is the "real" one, as well as how the story reached John Clair Minot and the Theta DKE chapter. Let's examine Luther's account more closely. In L. O. Merriam's account of Edwin's wounding and capture (see previ- ous Sighs article), Merriam states: "On the morning of June 7th, he was sent out in command of the picket line and was shot through the lungs by a rebel sharpshooter. He was so near the enemy's lines that we could not get to him and he was taken by them." In Luther's account, he states, "After it [i.e., the major fighting at Cold Harbor] was over he and his Co[mpany] were doing picket duty. A troop of rebels dressed in Union Coats came up in the rear. They had come around through a gulch which was held by a Penn[sylvani]a Dutch regiment. The pickets supposed they were the relief and only found their mistake when the rebels opened fire. Lt. Rogers was mortally wounded and taken with the other men prisoners to Richmond, he being unable to ride was left at a rebel field, the same day, June 7." So, in both accounts, L. O. Merriam and Luther Rogers agree that Edwin was wounded and captured on June 7 th , while serving on picket duty with his unit, during which he was shot by Rebel fire. 5 However, the two accounts then differ in certain other details. Merriam says that Edwin was shot by "a rebel sharpshooter," which in effect suggests that he was wounded by sniper fire from a lone Confederate marksman. Luther, on the other hand, gives a somewhat differing and more detailed account: A troop of rebels dressed in Union Coats came up in the rear. They had come around through a gulch which was held by a Penn[sylvani]a Dutch regiment. The pickets supposed they were the relief and only found their mistake when the rebels opened fire. Lt. Rogers was mortally wounded…" This seemed to indicate that Edwin's unit was ambushed in a surprise attack by a "troop of rebels" disguised in Union uniform coats, presumably confiscated from Yankee prisoners captured during the recent fighting. The greater level of detail contained in Luther's account led me to believe that his account was probably more accurate, and I was particularly intrigued by Luther's account of a clandestine attack on Rogers' pickets by disguised Rebs. I then again sought input from Mr. Robert Krick of the National Park Service for his take on Luther's account. He replied: "I… caution care with accepting the story about how [Edwin] was wounded. No reason to doubt the geographic details--Confederates emerging unex- pectedly from the rear, etc. But I see, over and over and over, stories about one side or the other dressing in enemy uniforms or waving enemy flags, in the interests of deception. But I don't believe them. The rewards were not worth the risk. Someone caught wearing an enemy uniform was subject to execution. I attribute most of these stories to the incredible disorientation and uncertainty that bedeviled soldiers at every battlefield of the war. Even the simplest things were difficult, or confusing. So I doubt your man was shot by wolves in sheep's clothing. More likely just Confederates in their usual hodgepodge attire. No intentional duplicity, in all likelihood." Mr. Krick's analysis makes sense, and I am inclined to agree with it. Wearing enemy uniforms was tantamount to espionage, which was a capi- tal offense at that time. Luther Rogers' statement that his wounded brother was left in a Confederate field hospital after being wounded, due to his being too seriously injured to be taken as a prisoner to Richmond, is consistent with our prior conclusion in this regard, other accounts having stated that he was left in either a tent or a farmhouse. Then Luther gives us additional information as to the basis for this information: "This much was learned from a wounded man in an Annapolis hospital and from the exchange of prisoners." Luther had pre- viously stated that after being wounded, Edwin had been "taken with the other men prisoners to Richmond…." So, it appears that other members of Edwin's company who were with him on picket duty were also captured in the surprise ambush by Confederate forces on the morning of June 7 th , and that at least one man besides Edwin was wounded. It also appears that, sometime after being captured, these men were sub- jected to a North-South prisoner exchange, at which point they were sent to the Federal parole camps at Annapolis, Maryland, where the referenced "wounded man" was hospitalized. Prior to the war, Annapolis had been (as now) the home of the U. S. Naval Academy. Early in the war, the Federal government chose Annapolis as the location of a camp to house paroled Union soldiers who had been captured, then exchanged, and were awaiting return to active duty, and the Naval Academy was temporarily relocated to Rhode Island. 6 Upon arriving in Annapolis, Edwin's comrades apparently reported his fate, which then made it into the Maine Adjutant General's Reports, and was probably also quickly reported to the Rogers family in Maine, and also made its way into the other early accounts of Edwin's death, as related in L. O. Merriam's account and in the History of Penobscot County. 7 However, since the "wounded man in an Annapolis hospital" and the other members of Edwin's company who were captured with him were sepa- rated from him upon his handover to the subject Confederate field hospital, these men were in no position to know of his subsequent "discovery" by a fellow Deke. This is where Luther's narrative gets really interesting. "It was nine years before we knew anything more about him," writes Luther. So, from the time of Edwin's wounding on June 7, 1864, until sometime around 1873, all the Rogers family knew about Edwin's demise was that (Continued on page 8) 5 "Pickets" were smaller groups of soldiers stationed forward of an army's main battle line, to serve as the army's advanced guard, as well as its "eyes and ears." In the event of an enemy attack, the pickets would generally fall back to the army's main battle line and sound the alarm, rather than try to hold back an entire advancing enemy force. Thus, the picket line was closest to the enemy's lines, and the first to encounter advancing enemy forces). 6 See A Low, Dirty Place: The Parole Camps of Annapolis, Md., by R. Rebecca Morris, 2012. 7 See previous Sighs of Psi article.

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