Imperfect Union : A Father's Search for His Son in the Aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg / Chuck Raasch.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Introduction: the probable truth -- Angels above him -- A deathlike stillness -- A nettlesome pain -- You should have seen him -- Jove! What a dish! -- To conscientiously and manfully perform the duties of a journalist -- A self-made man who worships his creator -- If I have watermelons and whiskey ready -- A fanatical, impertinent, revolutionary fellow -- Now General Sherman, tell us your troubles -- A changed man was he -- The yeast which overflows in many columns -- I am 17 years and six months of age -- He was pure in thought and word -- True, steadfast and gentle -- They string you up to a tree damned quick -- A country redeemed, saved, baptized -- In search of captains and children -- The most persistent news hunter in Washington -- An unusually gauzy mystery of enchantment -- Mr. Wilkeson has been constantly attacking the administration -- Howard's Cowards -- They are just like our people -- The sun shining on a piece of hot iron -- Pandemonium! -- Hard times at Gettysburg -- The war devil is in him -- The most fortunate hazard of the day -- I have spiked the gun for them -- A terrible but incredibly fascinating scene -- The marvel is that any of them escaped -- The ground shook -- There was neither vanity or bravado -- Whether living now or dead he could not tell -- Death was in every one of them -- Pursuing his duty with a heavy heart -- A butcher's pen -- Hateful ravages -- They came by the thousands -- How beautiful he looked at her out of his eyes -- I would rather hear he was dead than that he had disgraced himself -- Who can write the history? -- The blood of a brave son printing upon his tortured heart -- More than his proportionate part -- You will almost want to kill him -- Bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh -- He stood at my side -- I know what I saw distinctly with my own eyes -- He would have rather died that way than any other -- Sorrowful joy and profound gratitude.

This vivid exploration of one of Gettysburg's most famous stories--the story of a father and a son, the son's courage under fire, and the father's search for his son in the bloody aftermath of battle--reconstructs Bayard Wilkeson's wounding and death, which have been shrouded in myth and legend, and sheds light on Civil War-era journalism, battlefield medicine, and the "good death."

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