Hello everyone John Hoptak here from the Gettysburg National
Military Park and I would like to thank you for tuning into
another installment of our 2021 Winter Lecture series, during
which we are highlighting some of the items we have in our
collections and which are currently on display in the
Gettysburg Museum of the American Civil War. Right here
in the visitor center. Our hope is that the next time you come
to see us or come to visit us and you see these items, you get
to know a little bit about the back story of these incredible
artifacts. Of the American Civil War, now I am standing in the
first day Gallery of this museum and today I want to talk about
two of the items that are in on display in this exhibit case
right here. The first is a civil war officers cap or kepi. It's
made of wool, dyed a deep Navy blue. There's a black leather
visor on the front, running up the side to the very top or
Crown of the kepi is black piping that forms an
Intricate Chasseur pattern on the Crown, and while you
cannot see it, the inside of this kepi is lined with black
and white checkered cotton and blue silk, and there's a
manufacturers mark on the inside that lets us know that this
kepi right here was manufactured by Lang and Company in
Philadelphia, PA. Now the other item I want to talk about is
this Crimson colored sash. Now if we were to unravel this sash
it would stretch for 98.
Inches in length. That's more than 8 feet, even though it's
only about 3 1/2 inches wide at the end. Are these silk tassels
that are each about 6 1/2 inches in length? Now both of these
items were donated to the famous Rosensteel Collection here at
Gettysburg. Unfortunately, we do not know when they were donated,
but we do know who donated them. A woman by the name of Catherine
Cady Corson and now both of these items were typical of
those worn by a Union artillery officer during the Civil War,
and these two items, this cap an this sash were worn here at
Gettysburg, specifically by a Union artillery officer named
Bayard Wilkeson. Now the story of Bayard Wilkeson is both
tragic and compelling, and it has become almost legendary in
the story of Gettysburg.
It is a heroic story of a bright and brave young man committed to
serving his country and hopeful of making a name for himself.
And it's also a tragic story, a story of grief and heartache and
how this conflict. This American Civil War devastated a family.
It is a story that has been told and retold many times over the
years. In fact, even the casual student of the Battle of
Gettysburg is pretty familiar with the story of Lieutenant
Bayard Wilkeson. And what happened here at Gettysburg. But
for those of you who are not familiar, I'm going to tell that
story in just a few minutes. But first, I want to talk to you a
little bit about the young man who wore this cap and this sash
alittle bit more about Bayard Wilkerson. Now he was born on
May 17th, 1844 into a prominent New York family. His mother was
Kate Cady Wilkinson and she was the younger sister.
of famed women's rights advocate, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who of
course, would have thus been young Bayard's aunt. His father
was Samuel Wilkeson, a noted and respected journalist who would
become one of the most widely respected and widely read of all
Civil War newspaper correspondents now Bayard's
great grandparents had immigrated to the United States
from Ireland, his paternal grand Father was actually born right
up the road from us here in
Gettysburg. In Carlisle, PA but he had moved to New York and
became a founder of the City of Buffalo. There he became a very
successful businessman. He acquired great wealth in
shipping and manufacturing. He later became a judge and a
lawyer and he was neighbors with another prominent Buffalo
resident, a fellow by the name of Millard Fillmore. And of
course he would be the 13th President of the United States.
Now I think we could tell by this photograph of Bayard
Wilkeson that he was.
A serious young man from a young age. He worked hard on the
family farm. He was industrious. He was highly disciplined. He
received a first rate education and from a young age. He was
taught the values of public service and civic mindedness of
honor and of the importance of upholding the family's name and
reputation. Now growing up, young Bayard Wilkeson had heard
many times to stories of two of his great grandfathers.
They who fought in the Revolutionary War, one of them
in fact was Colonel Robert Livingston, who commanded a
regiment in George Washington's Continental Army. Perhaps it was
through these stories of his greatgrandfather serving in the
revolution, that kind of instilled an interest in the
military. In young Bayard Wilkeson. Now the Wilkesons
were progressive in their world views. They advocated for
women's rights, and they called for the immediate end or
abolition. Of slavery as a journalist who later worked for
the New York Tribune and New York Times, Samuel Wilkeson
would make his convictions known. He called for an all out
war. A Total War to preserve the Union, yes, but also to destroy
slavery. Now at the outset of the American Civil War, Samuel
Wilkeson worked for Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune
and Greeley sent him to Washington to report from there.
Sam wilkeson soon became a political and military insider.
He established connections both within the army and within the
administration. He was a gifted storyteller. In fact, in his
book, Imperfect Union author and journalist Chuck Roush would
describe Samuel Wilkeson as quote fearless, fiercely
competitive, opinionated, confrontational, and sometimes
reckless in action and quick to temper. He had an eye for the
most telling details, a flair
for description. And a rare gift of being able to stitch chaotic
events into a broad meaning narrative just in time for the
next day's newspaper end quote. Now by the spring of 1862,
Samuel Wilkeson became what we today would call an embedded
journalist. He traveled with the Union Army of the Potomac on its
drive up the Peninsula and onto Richmond, but he wasn't just a
passive observer or a Reporter of events in some cases.
He became a part of the events, in fact, during the Battle of
Fair Oaks or 7 Pines during the Peninsula Campaign. Samuel
Wilkeson, the journalist, helped to Rally Broken Union Regiments
who were in retreat. In fact, he even earned some praise in
credit by Union generals when they wrote their after action
reports from the battle.
But it was also there at the Battle of Seven Pines that the
Wilkeson family first experienced the tragedy of war.
John Wilkes Wilkeson was a first cousin of Bayard Wilkeson.
He was the son of Samuel's brother John. John Wilkes
Wilkeson was a Lieutenant with the 100th New York Infantry and he
was killed in action at the Battle of Seven Pines. Learning
about this. His uncle the journalist Samuel Wilkinson.
Of course, being embedded with the Union Army, he heard of the
death of his nephew and in the immediate aftermath of that
battle he set out to find the body the remains of John Wilkes
Wilkeson. He searched through the torn landscape. He turned
over the bodies of men wearing blue until finally with the
assistance of a burial party, he was able to find the remains of
his nephew. Now his nephew had been buried in a makeshift
rudimentary battlefield grave but Samuel Wilkeson was able to
secure the body and his father or Sam's brother John came and
sent his son's body home for burial in Buffalo.
The death of John Wilkes Wilkeson will stun the
Wilkeson family. Samuel and Kate were both consumed by grief
over the loss of their beloved nephew. And of course they fear
naturally for their own son, Bayard, who was also in the war
serving his country.
Kate Cady Wilkeson, Bayard's mother. She became somewhat
fatalistic about her son. Perhaps bracing herself for one
day hearing the same terrible news from the battlefield that
her sister in law and brother in law received in the spring of
1862. As Kate Cady Wilkeson wrote, quote when my boy left
home when he left me, I gave him up to death an hope. If a good
soldier, he will prove a brave one, for as she said.
It was better to die than to live a coward end quote.
Her son, Bayard, certainly proved to be a good and a brave
soldier. He had enlisted on October 22nd of 1861 at the age
of 17 years and five months
leaving behind a life of comfort and privilege. In order
to serve, and even though he had no military training or military
experience. Still because of his family's prominence, he was made
a Lieutenant, and ultimately he would come to command Battery G
of the 4th United States Artillery. Here at Gettysburg.
Now Samuel and Kate were naturally worried about their
son, but they realized there was nothing they could do to stop
him from serving as his father, Sam wrote, he had quote.
The war devil in him.
Now, despite his youth and his lack of military experience,
young Bayard Wilkeson very quickly proved to be a natural
leader, acquiring a reputation for firm discipline, efficiency
and one of his superiors would later say that he was quote as
conscientious as he was brave.
Now for his own part, Bayard Wilkeson, as he wrote to his
mother several times, was determined to make a name for
himself in this war. But prior to the Battle of Gettysburg.
Well, Bayard Wilkeson and his battery really had no
opportunities to make a name for themselves. They had seen very
little battle action prior to the Battle of Gettysburg, and
what was worse, or at least as Bayard believed after the Battle
of Chancellorsville. In early May of 1863.
Battery G of the 4th United States was transferred to
the 11th Army Corp. Now the 11th Corp had a terrible reputation
in the army of the Potomac. Many in the army and out of the army
unfairly blamed the 11th corp for the disastrous defeat at
Chancellorsville. This corp was very much maligned and was
heavily criticized, and such was its poor reputation that young
Bayard Wilkeson believed that it would never again be trusted to
be put. Into battle, which is why as soon as he was assigned
to the 11th Corp well he wanted out, he wrote to his father to
try to get his dad to pull some strings behind the scenes and
get his battery transferred out of the 11th Corp. As he
wrote rather matter of factly please Get Me Out of this corp
but Bayard and his battery would not be reassigned, and in fact
the 11th Corp would indeed be once again put in battle. It
would happen here.
At Gettysburg, PA, and for Bayard, this would be his
first big fight. His first opportunity to make a name
for himself, he and his battery arrived in Gettysburg
on late morning hours of July 1st, 1863, and as he arrived
on the field and let his guns into a position North of
town, he very likely was wearing this cap and this
Crimson colored sash.
I'm now standing on a part of the Gettysburg Battlefield today
that we call Barlows Knoll, but which at the time of the battle
was oftentimes called Blocher's Knoll, and it was here on this
high ground where Lieutenant Bayard Wilkeson positioned his
battery battery G of the fourth US Artillery. Now this was
certainly not a good position for an artillery battery. It is
open, and it's very much exposed now at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Bayard Wilkeson's battery belonged to General Francis
Barlow's division. Of the 11th Army Corp and initially General
Barlow was told to put his men in a position about a quarter
mile or so to the East of us around the almshouse buildings,
and of course, the almshouse no longer stands. Today it is the
buildings of the Adams County Agricultural and Natural
Resource Center, but General Barlow was instructed to put his
men about 2000 infantry along with Wilkeson's battery. All
about a quarter mile or so to the East of us Barlow.
Does not like that position and in one of the battles most
controversial moves, he decided to advance his division all the
way out to this high ground, which really is the only piece
of high ground on this part of the Gettysburg Battlefield. But
in moving his men forward, he advanced them well beyond
support and. Well, he exposed his flanks and especially his
right flank. And as it turned out there's a large column of
Confederate infantry just happened to be advancing
directly toward Barlows exposed right flank. Now Barlows
infantry goes into position just in front of us here along the
tree lined banks of Rock Creek, stretching out on either side of
the Harrisburg Road and Wilkeson deployed four of his
six Napoleon cannons right here on this high ground.
Very soon after that, gunfire broke out, advancing toward this
position, Jubal Early's entire division, coming in from the
North East and advancing more from the North of Brigade of
Confederate Infantry under George Doles the fighting
became intense, almost as soon as Wilkeson ordered to his guns
Unlimbered they came under fire, and especially heavy fire from
Jubal Early's artillery. Just a few 100 yards off in that
direction. Jubal Early's artillery Confederate guns that
outnumbered his own guns by at least three to one. Now during the
fight that ensued here on this high ground, General Barlow
would be seriously wounded and would later be taken prisoner.
And of course, among the casualties. 19 year old Bayard
Wilkeson, now Wilkeson, had made himself seen. He was
sitting atop his horse, a conspicuous figure. He wanted to
encourage his men. He wanted to inspire his men in the midst of
this chaos, this murderous fire.
He also made himself quite a target for the Confederate
Gunners, and soon after he arrived and unlimbered his guns,
a Confederate shot. A cannonball came tearing into Bayard
Wilkeson's horse, killing the animal instantly and horribly
mangling the right leg of Lieutenant Bayard Wilkeson. Now
both rider, an horse, fall to the ground. And what happened
next, well, has become part of the folklore if you will the
legend. Of Gettysburg, even though we're not entirely
certain as to what did exactly happen after this point, now in
his book, Imperfect Union author and journalist Chuck Roush does
a great job in piecing together how their story all came about
from various sources, the most commonly accepted story that has
been told and retold many times, the one that really became part
of the folklore. If you will hear Gettysburg, is that Bayard
Wilkeson. After he falls to the ground was soon rescued from his
lifeless horse by a few of his men, and he propped himself up
between a few of his guns.
He fashioned a tourniquet out of a handkerchief around his right
thigh and using his pen knife, he cut the tendons, the flesh,
the muscle that was still connecting, the lower part of
his leg with the bloody stump up top. All the while he was
continuing to shout out orders for his cannoneers. Now this
story was very widely told by a correspondent for the Boston
Journal named Charles Coffin.
He wrote a very vivid account of the fighting that took place
here on Barlow's Knoll. He told the story first in the columns
of his newspaper, and then after the war in numerous speeches he
delivered across the country and not only does Coffin relate the
story of self amputation, how a wounded Wilkeson used his pen
knife to remove what was left of his leg? But he also wrote that
it was here on this high ground where a thirsty Bayard Wilkeson
is calling out for water. He's handed a canteen.
But before he could even take a drink, he hears a infantrymen
lying wound at nearby suffering. So he turned the canteen over to
this wounded infantrymen and Charles Coffin also told the
story that it wasn't until it was perfectly clear and apparent
that the Confederates would overrun this position, that he
allowed himself to be removed from this spot from this part of
the battlefield? Now Coffin the journalist. He must have
heard this from somewhere. Someone must have told him these
stories. From whom, though is not entirely clear, interesting.
Such a dramatic story appears nowhere in the official reports
that were furnished and written after the battle, not from
Oliver Howard, the commander of the 11th Corp, not from Henry
Hunt, the chief of US Artillery, not from Thomas Osborne, the
commander of the 11th Corp Artillery. Not even Lieutenant
Eugene Bancroft, who took command of this battery after
Wilkeson, was wounded another correspondent who was covering
the Battle of Gettysburg wrote that Bayard Wilkeson's right leg
was removed entirely.
By that Confederate shell, an eye witness to the event also said
as much, now it is certain that Bayard Wilkeson did apply a
tourniquet after he was wounded. But what that tourniquet
was, while the accounts differ, was it a handkerchief? Was it a
belt, as some say? Or was it that Crimson colored sash that
is on display in the Gettysburg Museum at the Visitor Center?
Also.
He likely tighten that tourniquet, whatever it was with a
knife, tightening it tighter and tighter and tighter, and perhaps
in the chaos that ensued that surrounded us maybe.
Some eyewitness saw him doing that and instead believed that
he was using that knife to do a self amputation, so the accounts
differ. But what we do know happened is that Wilkeson would
eventually be taken from this spot. Badly badly injured, faint
from loss of blood four men of his battery, got a blanket
placed Lieutenant Wilkeson in and ran a gauntlet of fire back
toward the Adams County almshouse again about 1/4 mile.
Away to the East, these four men arrived at the entrance to the
almshouse and there they were greeted by Major Thomas Osborne,
the commander of the 11th Corp Artillery and Osborne later
wrote that Bayard Wilkeson did his best to appear upbeat and
cheerful, announcing rather dramatically. Hello major. Here
we are. But Osborne, new at a moments glance that the wound
was mortal. These four men carried Wilkeson into the
almshouse and they took him down to the basement where they laid
him on the basement floor right inside the door where there were
many. Other wounded Union soldiers crying in pain,
suffering from their injuries. Now as soon as he was placed on
the almshouse floor. Bayard Wilkeson told these four men to
return to their battery.
They would hold this position for a matter of minutes after
this holding on stubbornly valiantly as an overwhelming
force of Confederates approaching from the North and
from the northeast would eventually overrun this position
and drive the Union 11th Corp all the way back through town to
Cemetery Hill on the other side of Gettysburg. Now in the
meantime, Bayard Wilkeson lay wounded. He lay dying on the
basement floor of the almshouse, and in the almshouse were two
women? One white and one black who was helping to take care of
all of those wounded Union men. Their names unfortunately
have been lost to history, but these were two real heroes of
the Battle of Gettysburg doing their best to provide comfort
and care in the midst of this
madness. They were struck by young Bayard Wilkeson, one of
those two willing women, would tell Bayard Wilkeson's uncle,
John Wilkeson, who was here a few days later that he was in a
stupor. Baird was in a stupor, but yet he could quote answer
every question. They talked of his strength and of his
gentlemanly deportment. And of the several times that he went
into shock. Again, growing faint from the loss of blood to one of
the wounded Union men lying nearby, he said that.
He was done for in the world. Nothing could be done to another
man a little bit later on he said that he will be back with
his battery in no time.
It was in the almshouse
basement. Where Bayard Wilkeson called out for
water. He was handed a canteen and according to these sources
it was there where he handed that canteen off to another
wounded man lying nearby.
Bayard Wilkeson suffered for about 7 agonizing hours.
Until finally drawing his last breath around 10:00 PM on the
evening of July 1st.
He was calling out for his mother in his final moments and
also calling out for his father.
Now it was around the same time either very late on the evening
of July 1st or during the early early morning hours of July 2nd.
That Bayard Wilkeson's father, 46 year old Sam Wilkeson, who
was now working as a newspaper correspondent for the New York
Times, arrived on the Gettysburg Battlefield. He arrived several
miles South of the almshouse, of course, were Bayard breathed his
last. And he arrived at Union Army headquarters, the home of
Lydia Leister, very soon upon his arrival at Union Army
headquarters. Samuel Wilkeson was notified that his son had
been very badly wounded and unfortunately, that was all he
knew at the time. And worse, there was nothing he could do
about it. Confederate soldiers had overrun the position where
Bayard had been stationed. They had overrun the almshouse and
they were now in possession of the town, which meant that Sam
Wilkeson simply could not get
through. To find his son and the questions that were weighing so
heavily on his mind was he being cared for? Was he receiving the
proper medical care? Was he even alive? All these thoughts were
racing through the mind of Samuel Wilkeson a concerned
father. And of course still a newspaper correspondent with the
battle still raging and it will continue to rage over the next
two days. All Sam Wilkeson could do was wait and he waited out
the battle near Union.
Army headquarters behind Cemetery Ridge there with the
other newspaper correspondents. There were about 40 of them in
total and it wasn't until Saturday, July 4th. With the
battle ending that Sam Wilkeson was able to finally venture out
to try to locate his son, the Confederate Army, of course, had
pulled back. They had pulled back from the town, had fallen
back to a position to prepare for their retreat back to
Virginia, and Sam Wilkeson would make his way from. The Lyster
home. And he would walk the length of Cemetery Ridge and he
would locate other Union Army officers. Other artillery
officers that were wearing a similar cap and sash as his
son would wear and he would ask them if they happened to know
anything about where his son might be. Where her son Bayard
might be recuperating or recovering and all day on that
4th of July, Sam Wilkeson would set out on this desperate,
desperate search for his boy. Already by this point he could
hear the groans, the cries of the wounded
And the dying and he could see burial details going about their
grim and grisly work. Nightmarish scenes were playing
out all around Sam Wilkeson as he searched the town as he
searched the battlefield for his son and it was a cool and cloudy
morning with occasional rain. But by the afternoon while the
rain fell heavily, there were some downpours, even some
Thunder that rolled in, and to those who saw him that day.
Samuel Wilkeson. His grief-stricken. He was morose, a
sad man on a sad, desperate mission was his son still alive?
Where was he, had he died and been buried in an unmarked
grave, or had he been taken South with the Confederate Army
during their retreat as a prisoner of war?
For Sam Wilkeson, it must have felt like the aftermath of Seven
Pines all over again, only this time, instead of searching for
the remains of his nephew, he was searching out for his son.
And then at last Sam's questions were answered and it was the
worst possible news at some point on that Saturday, July
4th, Sam Wilkeson learned that his son had indeed died.
And that he had been buried in a makeshift grave right outside
the almshouse grounds on that first days battlefield. He never
quite said when he learned the news, but he made his way to the
almshouse. He uncovered the grave, and he looked upon the
face of his deceased son.
And Sam Wilkeson would spend the entire night there next to
the body of his son.
Near the almshouse.
And it was there and then that the newspaper correspondent
Wilkeson fulfilled his work obligation, writing his dispatch
or post battle report on the Battle of Gettysburg. For the
columns of the New York Times for the readers of thousands of
readers of the New York Times. And it turned out to be quite a
remarkable piece of journalism. In fact, one of the Civil War's
most famous newspaper reports from a battlefield, now
Wilkeson. He described the
battle in great detail, he provided a summary of the events
of the past three days talking about the ebb and the flow of
the Battle of Gettysburg. Of the battles, desperate moments of
its high points and low points, but it was not for its look
really at the tactics of the battle that made this report so
compelling. It was the fact that it was so personal that it
captured his own grief at losing his own son in this battle. Now
Wilkeson he would use this report to pay tribute to his
fallen child, but he began with a confession, a confession that
his words will fail him because it would be impossible for him
to fully convey the extent of his suffering as he began this
very famous Battlefield report
quote. Who can write the history of the battle? Whose eyes are
immovably fastened upon a central figure of transcendently
absorbing interest?
The dead body of an oldest born son crushed by a shell in a
position where a battery should never have been sent. And
abandoned to death in a building where surgeons dare not stay.
End Quote. Now, despite his anger at the positioning of his
sons battery out there on that terribly exposed position,
Wilkeson assured his readers and himself that his son's death and
the deaths of so many other young men wearing blue was not
in vain. As he wrote the blood of his son had helped secure for
the United States. Quote A second birth of freedom.
End Quote Now these words would be very reminiscent of those
Abraham Lincoln would later use at Gettysburg some 4 1/2 months
later, and in fact, some historians will tell you they
believe that Abraham Lincoln himself, who undoubtedly read
Wilkeson's report from Gettysburg, was inspired by
Wilkeson's words and themes when he wrote his Gettysburg
Address. Now, after sending his report to the editor of the New
York Times. Sam Wilkinson took his son's body for embalming and
would transport it back home to Buffalo. It arrived there on
July 10th. The entire community turned out to bid farewell to
this young, brave son of a prominent Buffalo family.
The funeral was held the following day on July 11th.
A lengthy procession through the city streets were led by a
military band. There were active duty soldiers and veterans who
turned out and at long last the remains of 19 year old Bayard
Wilkeson were buried in the Wilkeson family plot at the
Forest Lawn Cemetery next to the grave of his cousin John Wilkes
Wilkeson, who had been laid to rest 13 months earlier.
26 years later, there remains of Bayard's father, the Great
journalist Samuel Wilkeson would be laid to rest in the family
plot. He passed away in 1889 at the age of 72.
Sam Wilkeson's wife.
And of course, Bayard's mother Kate Cady Wilkeson would pass
away 10 years later in 1899, now following Bayard Wilkeson's
death at the Battle of Gettysburg. He had a younger
brother named Frank. He was burning to avenge his brothers
death, and he decided to go off and enlist. He lied about his
age. Frank Wilkeson. He was only 16 years old, but he was
able to get into the army and we could only imagine the anxiety
that Kate and Samuel Felt.
Another one of their sons entering the army, but as Sam
would later say, the war Devil was also in Frank and Frank,
Wilkeson would actually go on to serve in Battery G of the fourth
US Artillery, Bayard's battery. He survived the war and after the
war he wrote what is widely regarded today as one of the
best and most authentic personal narratives of the American Civil
War. Entitled turned inside out, recollections of a private
soldier. In the Union Army, clearly he had inherited some of
his father's talent with words and prose. Now the story of
Bayard Wilkeson's fire at final moments here at Gettysburg, has
become the stuff of legend told and retold many times over the
years. Although the details of it are not entirely clear, he
fashioned a tourniquet, but was it his belt? Was it a
handkerchief, or was it this sash. He continued to issue
orders to his Gunners after he had been wounded.
But for how long his right leg was severed, but was that caused
by the shell? Or did he self amputate his leg, as is the
commonly accepted story? Perhaps we'll never know. Accounts do
differ, but there are a number of things that are certain, as
was the case with thousands and thousands of parents across the
North and the South.
Kate Cady Wilkeson and her husband Sam lost a son here at Gettysburg.
And they suffered the pain of losing a child in battle. Bayard
bore his final hours with strength and the story of his
death would be told many times in print and on paper, in books,
in speeches, even illustrations. His death became a symbol of
sacrifice and freedom, and a symbol of masculinity in 19th
century America. And making this story especially compelling, of
course, was the fact that his dad, his father, was literally
on the battlefield.
As his son lay dying.
As a war correspondent, Sam Wilkeson had a job to do at
Gettysburg and that was to furnish the readers of the New
York Times with an account of the Battle of the fighting. That
account, written by a heartbroken Wilkeson while next
to the body of his son in his most trying hour, became one of
the most famous newspaper reports of the entire Civil War.
It's language, so powerful or so argue some historians that they
even helped to inspire Abraham Lincoln when he wrote the
Gettysburg Address. Now the Wilkeson family held onto this
kepi they held onto this sash that once belonged to their son
Bayard, and they passed it down through the generations
eventually, even though we don't know exactly when we know that
these items were donated to the Rosensteel collection here at
Gettysburg. By Catherine Cady Corson who was the daughter of
Bayard's older sister Margaret.
And thus a niece of Bayard now of course. Bayard would never get a
chance to meet his niece and Margaret, his older sister
Margaret would give birth to another child in 1873, a son
that she named Bayard Wilkeson
Corson. If you would like to learn more about this incredible
story, here are a number of books that I do recommend.
And I do want to thank you for tuning in to this
installment of the 2021 Gettysburg Winter Lecture
series.