This is a depiction of the actions taken by a Confederate soldier by the name of Richard Rowland Kirkland at Marye's heights during the battle of Fredericksburg.
Recently appointed General Ambrose Burnside had the pressure on him to distinguish himself from George B. McClellan by being aggressive compared to the overly cautious McClellan.
He let that pressure get the best of him, and his army suffered the most lopsided defeat in the American Civil War in Fredericksburg, despite having outnumbered Confederate forces by nearly 2 to 1.
Marye's heights was attacked many times by Union soldiers, but each time, Confederate forces easily drove them back, forcing them to leave dead and dying men behind between the lines.
At night, the shrieks of wounded soldiers were constant, but people from both sides believed they'd simply be shot if they went out to tend to the wounded, and a ceasefire was not agreed upon.
Many men were heard not asking for a doctor, not asking to be patched up, they just wanted water. Kirkland could take it no longer and risked his life by going out and giving water to the wounded and dying men, including those on the other side.
He was henceforth known as the "Angel of Marye's heights", and he would have a statue made in his honor. He died just under a year later at Chickamauga when he was shot in the chest. Would you risk your life for the enemy side?
yes, but only to the extent that I'm against injustice to anyone at all, enemy or otherwise. However, "injustice" is a little bit ambiguous in a war. I'm more of the "enemies should die as swiftly as possible" mindset when it comes to war. There needn't be pain nor boasting - they just have to die faster. That's all that matters. But is it injustice to allow them to die slow and painfully? No, because at any point they could just surrender. If someone surrenders they are no longer an enemy.
I'd like to think so, but reality isn't so idealistic.
In the one war I've been in, our enemies martyred themselves rather than risk capture, even blowing up their own wives and kids with them. Furthermore, we were trained in such a way that finding survivors after the fact was exceedingly unlikely if they didn't outright surrender.
I don't really have enemies. Not at the core of it all. But no I wouldn't risk getting shot in the chest while trying to please dying people who probably would have shot me in the chest in an instant if they saw me trying to help someone in a similar situation. 💀 This is mainly because of my views. I am not religious at all. I believe the only thing that matters is life. So I'd rather get shot in the chest trying to better the living.
Lawful enemy combatant wearing a uniform and fighting under foreign colors, yeah I would. Some insurgent trash that hid amongst the population or worse put on the uniform of my side for an insider attack? No, that trash can bleed out slowly while the scavengers come for their meal.
Hell no, although I'd obviously respect the laws of war.
Back to the story- keep in mind that this was the Civil War, and not a war between people that had longstanding ethnic or religious hatred for each other.
Yes. I'm a human being. Not help that they might hurt me of mine.
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Anonymous
(36-45)
7 mo
Yeah but he was a Confederate so he probably had a plantation of slaves and worked for Adolf Hitler.
🙄
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Asker
7 mo
Very few Confederate soldiers had anything to do with slavery, and I hate to break it to you, those Union boys probably don't give a damn about slavery, either
The war wasn't even about emancipation at all until the start of 1863, only about preserving the union vs Confederates who joined to defend their homeland from who they considered invaders
