An incident, similar to that described by Browning in his poem “An
Incident of the French Camp,” occurred at the railroad cut early on the
first day.
An officer of the 6th Wisconsin Regiment, active in the capture of the
Mississippians belonging to the 2nd and 42nd Regiments, who had taken
shelter in the railroad cut after turning the right of Cutler’s line,
approached Colonel Rufus R. Dawes after the engagement was over. Colonel
Dawes supposed, from the erect appearance of the man, that he had come
for further orders, but his compressed lips told a different story. With
great effort the officer said: “Tell them at home I died like a man and
a soldier.” He then opened his coat, showed a ghastly wound on his
breast, and dropped dead.
[Illustration: Dormitory of Gettysburg College.—The dormitory of
Gettysburg (then Pennsylvania) College sheltered many Union and
Confederate wounded]