behind AotW

Lieutenant Samuel McBride Pringle of the Palmetto Artillery was mortally wounded at Sharpsburg – “a cannon ball taking off his leg midway between the knee and the foot” – and he died in Winchester, VA a week later.

The letter pictured here is part of one one he wrote from the Richmond “Poor House” to his mother in May 1861. It’s online, along with others he wrote during the war, thanks to Furman University. His photograph was contributed to his Findagrave memorial by Ervin Shaw.