OKAY LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THESE TWO OKAY
On the left we have Lewis Armistead, a general in the southern army. On the right we have Winfield Hancock of the northern army.
These two gentlemen were BFFS. Armistead met Hancock and his wife Almira in 1844. They were super awesome and super close and they were like BROTHERS MKAY.
THESE GUYS FOUGHT IN THE MEXICAN WAR TOGETHER. You know what they say about Brothers in arms? Well that's what these guys are. When you've fought and survived with someone, that creates a bond unlike any other. It's the kind of bond only those who have experienced war could know.
And these two had it. They were brothers in arms.
And then the Civil war happened. Hancock was a northerner. Armistead was southern. Y'see those of the south didn't look at their individual states as one of many that made a whole, they saw their state as their country and thought they should only answer to their state government alone. So when Armistead chose his side with the south he was choosing his family at home and his state and country of virginia. Hancock chose his home and how he was raised. He went to the West Point military school, and he chose the north who he believed to be in the right.
The night before they shipped out they spent the evening together in front of the piano with Almira singing and they were lighthearted until it came for the time for them to part and... It wasn't easy. Imagine you and your best friend having to part to fight on different sides of a civil war? You could very well end up on opposite ends of the field, a gun aimed at the other's head and not even know until the other falls dead.
When Gettysburg came around they discovered they were on the other ends of the field from each other. They both wanted to run up a flag of truce and go across the field and socialize for one last night before the battle, and both of the men they talked to about it (Longstreet, Buford and Chamberlain respectively) said that there shouldn't be any problem with it, however they decided not to. And on July 3rd, the battle of Pickett's charge they were booth shot. Opposite sides of the war. Facing off on a field. And at the same time during the same battle. They both were shot.
However Hancock survived. Armistead did not. Upon the event of his death, Armistead entrusted a package for Almira Hancock to General Longstreet. The package contained his personal bible.
Here is a clip from the INCREDIBLE Gettysburg film about it
iF THAT DOESN'T MAKE YOU WANT TO CRY IN A HEAP AND SOB FOR YEARS I DON'T KNOW WHAT WILL.
THIS WAS A DEPRESSING HISTORY POST I'LL HAVE A HAPPIER ONE ANOTHER DAY.
