behind AotW

In an article in the National Tribune of 13 October 1892 [pdf] a veteran of the 45th Pennsylvania Infantry wrote to his comrades of his weekend visit to the battlefields on South Mountain and at Sharpsburg, MD 30 years after the combat there.

He mentioned Private Jacob Beirbower of Company B, who was severely injured in action above the Burnside Bridge at Antietam when “a grapeshot struck a top rail [of the fence he was behind], sent it flying through the air,” striking him on the right arm. Both lower arm bones were broken and he later lost the arm to amputation at the elbow.

Big thanks to Jim Smith [@CivilWarOnTour] for the pointer to Bierbower and that fine newspaper account, excerpted above.