This a poem about the Battle of Gettysburg written by Frank A. Cargill, a Union veteran, written on 5 April, 1920. Frank Cargill had enlisted as a Private at the age of 14, and was mustered in as a substitute in Company G of the 6th New Hampshire Infantry on the 6 June, 1864. Records show that he was wounded at Petersburg, Virginia on 7 July, 1864, barely a month after he enlisted. Private Cargill was mustered out of the service with his unit on 17 July, 1865 at Alexandria, Virginia. Cargill went on to become a doctor and settled in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Dr. Cargill was active in the Grand Army of the Republic, and was the Department of Connecticut Commander in 1930. He died 2 March, 1932 at the age of 83. Even though Private Cargill was not present at the Battle of Gettysburg, the effects of the war he did see show through in his poem. The six page poem is made up of four line verses. The text is hand written in cursive, and for the most part easy to read. It is titled "Pickets Charge" and a sample of the text reads as follows:

On the dawning of the morning, on that anxious July day,faced the dust grimmed hosts of battle, the legions of the Blue and Gray

The crags and hills of Gettysburg, Had drank their fill of scarlet gore, of many thousand patriots, and thirsted yet for thousands more

Our canons doubly shotted, bespattered, trained and primed, manned by sturdy valiant veterans, with their batteries well aligned

Two long days of bloody grapple, midst raging storms of shell and lead, Surged those two contending armies, little time to count the dead

and it continues like that until the last page. The poem is ended with the authors address of Rochester NY./Apr.5 1920/F.A. Cargill. The content of the poem shows that of a man who has seen strife and sacrifice on the battlefield. There are a couple of spots where Cargill went back and edited the original text, marking through the ink and rewriting in pencil. The paper is unlined and has turned a light brown in color. Two straight pins are used to hold the pages together. This will sure add to any Civil War document collection, even though it is barely 100 years old!