1st Rhode Island Light Artillery, Battery E.
Corporal Simpson was more than an ordinary man, and had somewhat of a romantic history. Lieutenant Bucklyn, in a communication to the Providence Sunday Star of June 11, 1882, says:
Ernest Simpson was my company clerk, and had begged permission to go into the battle. I told him we would probably be killed, and he must settle my accounts with the government. During the fight he came to me and asked permission to take charge of a gun. I consented, and in a few minutes his head was shot off. He was a brave and noble soldier, who joined us at York, Pa., attracted by the great reputation of Rhode Island batteries. He had left home (Leipsic, Germany) because his parents opposed a love affair, attempted to commit suicide in London, and joined us with the expectation of being killed. He said I was his only friend in America, and he made a will in my favor, which I now have.
(from The History of Battery E, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, in the War of 1861 and 1865 to Preserve the Union by George Lewis, Snow & Farnham Printers, Providence, RI, 1892)
Corporal Simpson was more than an ordinary man, and had somewhat of a romantic history. Lieutenant Bucklyn, in a communication to the Providence Sunday Star of June 11, 1882, says:
Ernest Simpson was my company clerk, and had begged permission to go into the battle. I told him we would probably be killed, and he must settle my accounts with the government. During the fight he came to me and asked permission to take charge of a gun. I consented, and in a few minutes his head was shot off. He was a brave and noble soldier, who joined us at York, Pa., attracted by the great reputation of Rhode Island batteries. He had left home (Leipsic, Germany) because his parents opposed a love affair, attempted to commit suicide in London, and joined us with the expectation of being killed. He said I was his only friend in America, and he made a will in my favor, which I now have.
(from The History of Battery E, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, in the War of 1861 and 1865 to Preserve the Union by George Lewis, Snow & Farnham Printers, Providence, RI, 1892)
1st Rhode Island Light Artillery, Battery E.
Corporal Simpson was more than an ordinary man, and had somewhat of a romantic history. Lieutenant Bucklyn, in a communication to the Providence Sunday Star of June 11, 1882, says:
Ernest Simpson was my company clerk, and had begged permission to go into the battle. I told him we would probably be killed, and he must settle my accounts with the government. During the fight he came to me and asked permission to take charge of a gun. I consented, and in a few minutes his head was shot off. He was a brave and noble soldier, who joined us at York, Pa., attracted by the great reputation of Rhode Island batteries. He had left home (Leipsic, Germany) because his parents opposed a love affair, attempted to commit suicide in London, and joined us with the expectation of being killed. He said I was his only friend in America, and he made a will in my favor, which I now have.
(from The History of Battery E, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, in the War of 1861 and 1865 to Preserve the Union by George Lewis, Snow & Farnham Printers, Providence, RI, 1892)
Corporal Simpson was more than an ordinary man, and had somewhat of a romantic history. Lieutenant Bucklyn, in a communication to the Providence Sunday Star of June 11, 1882, says:
Ernest Simpson was my company clerk, and had begged permission to go into the battle. I told him we would probably be killed, and he must settle my accounts with the government. During the fight he came to me and asked permission to take charge of a gun. I consented, and in a few minutes his head was shot off. He was a brave and noble soldier, who joined us at York, Pa., attracted by the great reputation of Rhode Island batteries. He had left home (Leipsic, Germany) because his parents opposed a love affair, attempted to commit suicide in London, and joined us with the expectation of being killed. He said I was his only friend in America, and he made a will in my favor, which I now have.
(from The History of Battery E, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, in the War of 1861 and 1865 to Preserve the Union by George Lewis, Snow & Farnham Printers, Providence, RI, 1892)
