Three days from today will be December the fourteenth; it will pass unnoticed by most everyone, but in my humble opinion, we should remember – no, we should solemnly celebrate – this day as one during which a for real angel visited our world on the blood-soaked battlefield of Fredericksburg, Virginia during what could only be described as a vicious firefight between elements of the southern Army of Northern Virginia led by Brigadier General Joseph Kershaw and Union soldiers of General Sykes’ Fifth Corps. General Kershaw later gave a written account which supported accounts by soldiers of both armies of the observed exceptional bravery and human compassion by one of the Rebel soldiers.
The Union soldiers had unsuccessfully tried multiple times to overrun Confederate positions, and the results of the charges were horrific – leaving the field in front of a place called Marye’s Heights strewn with some 8,000 dead and dying soldiers in blue. As both sides settled into their respective lines, the Rebs were taking refuge behind a low stone wall which had served to protect them from the Union attempts to advance. Any visible movement at all incurred fusillades of Union fire, but the cries for water from the dying Union soldiers from the day before became heart-rending and eventually unbearable for one of the South Carolina defenders of that low wall. His name was Richard Rowland Kirkland, a nineteen-year-old from Flat Rock, South Carolina. He had seen action during the first Bull Run, Savage’s Station, Maryland Heights, and Antietam, and had seen several fellow soldiers killed including close friends from his home county, but he obviously did not lose his humanity.
Kirkland became so disconcerted from listening to the piteous cries of one of the wounded Union Soldiers that he left his position and went to the brigade headquarters to seek permission from the commanding General Kershaw to take water to the enemy soldier. At first the general balked, informing Kirkland that it would be suicide to try to do what he was asking, but eventually relented, with the condition that Kirkland could not wave a white flag nor show any intent of surrender.
Apparently that was all Kirkland needed, for he went back to the line and prepared to go to the wounded young man. Some accounts have it that Kirkland told his fellow soldiers what he intended to do and gathered their canteens as well as his own and climbed over the low stone wall, not knowing if the Union guys would shoot him, nor if any move he made would be his last, but nevertheless he bravely went to the agonized Union soldier and raised the young man’s head and cradled it so he could take some water.
As mentioned, there are varying narratives of how things went, some claiming all firing ceased as soon as the Union guys saw what Kirkland was up to. Other accounts say he was under constant fire with bullets kicking up dirt all around him, but personally I like to believe the former and that there was plenty of human decency shown by both sides. If that account is correct, there were other heroes in attendance that day on both sides. Some claimed he went around and attended several more wounded soldiers giving several of them much needed water and showed as much compassion as a fellow could in the circumstances. There are accounts that claim he was even able to bring blankets to the enemy wounded.
December 14, 1862 Richard Kirkland showed the incredible bravery and human compassion that led to him becoming known ever after as the Angel of Mary’s Heights, a title he earned for his acts of consummate bravery, risking his life against incredible odds to provide succor to the disabled, dying enemies of his own regiment. He is immortalized with a memorial on that very battlefield commending his actions. He was later (1977) posthumously awarded the Confederate Medal of Honor for his deeds at Fredericksburg.
Kirkland went on to see further action in the Civil War, including at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (where he was promoted to lieutenant) before finally being shot and killed at the battle of Chickamauga. He was, in my opinion, an American hero in the truest meaning of the word. If there were more people with the compassionate heart of Richard Rowling Kirkland in the world, just imagine what it might be like.
As mentioned earlier, there are varying narratives of Kirkland’s story and I guess that would be expected. Some stories are probably embellished more as time went/goes on, but in researching the Kirkland story I noticed a curious aspect of it. There seem to be some “historians” who have set out to “debunk” the story as some kind of myth. Maybe it is, but what kind of person would try and disprove a story of heroism of this nature? I guess it takes all kind to make a world, but as far as I’m concerned, events happened as I have chronicled them and whatever underlying motivation(s) a person might have for substantively challenging the story should definitely be considered before believing them.
Remember December the 14th in honor of Richard Rowland Kirkland at Fredericksburg.
MK