Existing comment:
On May 4, 1864, Colonel John Williams Patterson led his 102d Pennsylvania Volunteers into battle near the intersection of the Brock and Plank roads in the Wilderness.
"... Presently we were under the hottest fire of Musketry that we ever experienced. Here our beloved Colonel fell shot through the face the ball passing entirely through and lodging in his shoulder, poor fellow. He never moaned but ere his body touched the ground the immortal part had flown and before we could have him carried to the rear we were compelled to fall back & had to leave him."
-- Captain D.A. Jones, May 20, 1864
The next day, officers of the 102d recovered Colonel Patterson's body, giving him an impromptu burial near a field hospital. After the war, Almira arranged for the recovery of his body, and he was re-interred again in Pittsburgh in 1867. |