 Gettysburg National Military ParkVirtual Tour - Day One The Eleventh Corps Line: Barlow-Gordon Incident |
 General John B. Gordon National Archives |
 Gen. Barlow Miller's History |
In the closing moments of the contest, General Gordon noticed a Union officer attempting to rally his fleeing men. Suddenly, the officer fell, struck down by a rifle shot. While his troops continued their pursuit of fleeing Union soldiers, Gordon rode into the pasture where he came upon the officer- a general, lying pale and weak in a pool of his own blood. The pitiful scene was too much for the young Georgian: "Quickly dismounting and lifting his head, I gave him water from my canteen, asked his name and the character of his wounds. He was (Brigadier)-General Francis C. Barlow of New York and of Howard's corps. The ball had entered his body in front and passed out near the spinal cord, paralyzing him in legs and arms. Neither of us had the remotest thought that he could survive many hours."
 Gen. Gordon attends to Barlow on the battlefield of Gettysburg. from Blood is Thicker Than Water, by Henry M. Field, 1886 |
Gordon immediately saw to Barlow's aid and ordered a group of nearby soldiers to carry the wounded officer to a nearby farm house. Gordon then turned his attention back to the battle, leaving Barlow to the care of others but not before he forwarded a message through the lines to Mrs. Barlow, relating the nature of her husband's wound and his location at a Confederate field hospital. General Gordon marched away from Gettysburg three days later and apparently believing that Barlow was mortally wounded, thought little more about the dying officer. But with his wife's help and the skill of several surgeons, the plucky general recovered and returned to the Union army just before the opening of the Wilderness Campaign in 1864.
The following year, General James Gordon of North Carolina was killed in battle near Richmond. Barlow may have read about the death of this Gordon and believed this to be the same officer who had helped him at Gettysburg. Either way, Barlow neither spoke nor wrote about the incident. To both men, the other had passed on.
After the end of the war at Appomattox Court House, General Gordon returned to Georgia where he served as governor and was later elected United States Senator. It was in Washington where a remarkable reunion occurred, as General Gordon remembered:
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"When I was in Washington, I was invited one evening to dine at Mr. Clarkson N. Potter's. I did not arrive till the guests were seated. Among the others to whom I was introduced I heard the name of Barlow, but took no notice of it till there was a pause in the conversation, when I turned to the gentleman so designated and said, 'Pray, sir, may I ask if you are a relative of the General Barlow who was killed at Gettysburg?' Imagine my astonishment at the answer: 'I am the man!' 'And you, sir,' he asked in reply- 'Are you the General Gordon who picked me up on the field?' I could not deny it. At this he sprang to his feet, and I thought would have leaped over the table. And then he told the story of the scene in which we had met before, at which not only the ladies, but the men around the table found it difficult to control their emotion."* |
The two remained close until Barlow's untimely death in 1896.
*(From Blood is Thicker than Water: A Few Days Among Our Southern Brethren, by Henry M. Field, D.D., George Munro Publisher, New York, 1886.)
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