My 8-year old great-grandfather was a civilian casualty at the Battle of Gettysburg.

The Harners lived near Gettysburg. So when the rebels approached, Federal troops evacuated civilians, including my great-grandfather.

Unfortunately, he fell off the wagon. I can’t remember if he broke his arm or his leg. But it seems more likely he broke his arm as he tried to break his fall.

I like to joke that we Harners have been clumsy for generations. For example, read my blog “Spilling Coffee”.

I don’t know how many civilians were hurt during the Battle of Gettysburg. But there was only ONE civilian killed:  Jennie Wade. According to “The Gettysburg Experience”, “[A]t the age of 20, she was [s]hot in the back of the heart from a stray bullet as she bent over her dough tray to feed hungry Union troops, Jenny died instantly at her sister’s rented house.”

When I was 6, I visited Gettysburg with my grandfather and great-aunt Mabel , I remember visiting the house where Jenny Wade was killed.

According to “The Gettysburg Experience”, although Jenny Wade was the sole civilian killed during the battle, a number of additional civilians died after the battle ended, often as a result of touching unexplored ammunition.

Nevertheless, the number of civilian deaths and casualties at Gettysburg was small compared with the number of civilian deaths and casualties in Israel during  the barbaric sneak attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Think of the pictures from Gaza showing piles of rubble and piles of the dead and wounded, including innocent children, during Israel’s war against Hamas.

Think of the millions of innocents killed in the Holocaust, and from the bombings of cities in World War II such as London, Cologne, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.

How barbaric we are compared to the soldiers at the Battle of Gettysburg!

Truly our hearts have become hard!! (Exodus 7:13).

Truly our love has grown cold!!! (Matthew 24:12).

Why? Due to the increase of wickedness!!!! (Matthew 24:12.)

Truly, as individuals and as a civilization, we must be born again!!!! (John 3:3)

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Do you approve of the killing of civilians at Gettysburg, in the bombings of London, Cologne, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, and in Gaza? How? How not? Why? Why not?

Do you try to make excuses for killing civilians at Gettysburg, in the bombings of London, Cologne, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, and in Gaza? How? How not? Why? Why not?

READ MORE

For blogs with related thoughts, please read my blogs “Wishful Thinking:  No Calories from Birthday Cakes”, “Ending Violence: Putting Names with Faces”, “Ending Violence: Embracing the Spirit of Peace”, “Curtailing Force: Replacing Nails with Glue”, and “Spilling Coffee”.

Additional blogs with related thoughts can be found in the READ MORE sections of those blogs.

Few questions are more troubling to me than how we cheer the killing of God’s enemies in some parts of the Bible, yet we claim to be following the Way of Jesus who commands us: “[D]o not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.” and “[L]ove your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:39, 44) Some of my thoughts on this quandary can be found on pages 17-18, 22-24 and 132-136 of my book, The Promised Land, and in my blog “Judas Betrays Jesus: The Love of Money”.