George Nixon III was born 1821 in Pennsylvania. He was a farmer in Ohio, he and his wife had a large number of children.
When the Civil War started Nixon joined the 73rd Ohio Infantry as a Private in Company B, a company raised in Ross County, Ohio. On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg he was wounded while skirmishing. He was hit in the right hip. Nixon found himself caught between the Union line on Cemetery Ridge and the town area that was held by the Confederates [somewhere near where Tommy‘s Pizza is located today]. His screams of pain in the darkness of July 2nd 1863 drove Union soldier Richard Enderlin to cross into no-mans land and drag Nixon to safety. Nixon was taken to the Eleventh Corps Hospital were he died of his wounds July 10th 1863. He is buried in the Ohio section of the Gettysburg National Cemetery.
It had to have been horrible, regardless of who's side men fought for, that war was terrible. Nixon died a hero, little knowing that his descendant would become president, albeit not a very popular president.
ReplyDeleteI was there and seen the grave, as we were leaving it president Nixon was standing behind us this was before he was president, what a strange feeling, we were just walking around and happen to stop by that grave, its at the end of a row, the only words that were said by him was his great/great grandfather, I ask him if he was ever there before and he said no, we said have a good day and we left. my shock when he became president
ReplyDelete