The man laying on the ground is Confederate General Lewis Armistead, wounded during Pickett’s Charge, considered the climatic attack of the battle. The man coming to his aid is Union Captain Henry Bingham.
But why was a Union soldier helping his enemy?
Short answer, it’s because they were both Free Masons.
Captain Bingham heard General Armistead’s coded message “…my poor mother is a widow”—a distress code used by Free Masons at the time.
But it’s what happened between them that is most interesting. Suffering from several wounds, General Armistead handed over all of his possessions to Captain Bingham with a message to have them delivered to the Union General on the other side of the battlefield —General Winfield Scott Hancock.
Excellent article.
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