9 Love Stories From The Civil War

Leather, lace, and steel: the Civil War provided the all of the essential ingredients for classic love stories. In honor of Valentine's Day, here are some of the most romantic and heart wrenching tales of the American Civil War.

1. The Minie Ball Pregnancy

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Dr. LeGrand G. Capers of Vicksburg recalled a case of a woman being impregnated with a Minie Ball (a bullet specially made for rifled muskets) that passed through a soldier’s testicles before lodging itself in her reproductive organs.

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After treating her wound, Dr. Capers (pictured) learned that she was pregnant. The soldier and woman were reunited thanks to Dr. Capers and later married. The miraculous "Minie Ball Pregnancy" was widely celebrated in Southern newspapers.

2. Romance on the Run

Linda and Keith Blalock (pictured) wed prior to the outbreak of the Civil War and were loyal to the Union, despite their residency in North Carolina. Keith joined the Confederate Army with the sole intention of defecting to the Union as soon as he was in Northern territory.

Linda (pictured) was determined to follow Keith in his journey. To do so she disguised herself as a man and enlisted in her husband's regiment as "Sam" Blalock. She was soon discovered, however, and forced to leave the army.

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Keith rolled in a patch of poison ivy to convince the doctors he had an incurable disease. The plan worked. Keith and Linda lived a life on the run as Union raiders in the Appalachian Mountains for the rest of the war.

3. "When my last breath escapes me, it will whisper your name."

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Sullivan Ballou, a Rhode Island lawyer, joined the Union Army soon after the bombardment of Ft. Sumter. Ballou wrote a love letter to his wife, Sarah, just days before the First Battle of Bull Run.

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He wrote: "Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battle field."

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"When my last breath escapes me it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often times been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness..."

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"If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the brightest day and in the darkest night—amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours—always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for me, for we shall meet again."

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A cannonball tore off Major Ballou's right leg as he led his men during the battle. He died a week later and was buried in the Sudley Church (pictured) graveyard. His body was later dug up and burned by Confederate grave robbers.

4. The Gallant General

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General George E. Pickett is best known for leading bloody "Pickett's Charge" at Gettysburg. His fellow officers remembered him with "long ringlets flowed loosely over his shoulders, trimmed and highly perfumed, his beard likewise was curling and giving up the scent of Araby."

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He wrote many letters to his wife while he was with the army. After Gettysburg, he wrote: “Oh, God! I can't write you a love letter today, my Sallie, for, with my great love for you and my gratitude to God for sparing my life to devote to you, comes the...moans of my wounded boys, the sight of the dead, upturned faces flood my soul with grief; and here am I, whom they trusted, whom they followed, leaving them on the field of carnage.”

On his deathbed after the war, General Pickett refused painkillers, telling the doctor, "I want to go in my right mind. I would rather suffer pain and know. Please leave me now. I do not want anybody but my wife." Sallie would survive for another 44 years, writing books and traveling the country to tell her husband's story.

5. Anna Jackson: Widow of the Confederacy

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Usually known for his brutal and fearless leadership as a Confederate General, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was a devout Christian and extremely committed to his marriage to Mary Anna Morrison (pictured with their daughter, Julia). The two married in 1857 even though Morrison had said she would never marry a Democrat, soldier, or widower – and Jackson was all three.

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Anna gave birth to their daughter, Julia, in 1862, and Jackson saw the child for the first time in April of 1863. He was shot accidentally by his own men at the Battle of Chancellorsville a few weeks later. Anna rushed to his side and Jackson died with her present. After a period of delirium, his last words were, "Let us pass over the river and rest under the shade of the trees." Anna never remarried and wore mourning clothes for the rest of her life.

6. Died In His Sweetheart's Arms

John Pelham was 22 when war broke out. He rose through the Confederate ranks as an artillery officer, quickly becoming a national hero due to his bravery on the battlefield. Robert E. Lee called him "glorious" and Stonewall Jackson said that with Pelham he "could whip the world."

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While stationed in Culpeper County, Virginia, Pelham struck up a romance with Bessie Shackleford, the daughter of a local judge. He built a plank bridge across the muddy street between their two houses so that they could visit each other with dignity. The young colonel played piano and charades with Bessie her sisters throughout the winter of 1862.

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On March 17, 1863, Pelham was visiting Bessie when he heard cannons booming several miles away, at Kelly's Ford. Although his unit was not engaged in the battle, Pelham left Bessie and rode to the front lines, where he was mortally wounded leading a charge on horseback. He was brought back to Bessie's parlor and died in her arms that night.

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Bessie remembered Pelham in her later years: "You couldn't help being drawn to him. He was really fascinating. He had great blue eyes and lovely golden-brown hair and a beautiful face, beautiful manners, too. He spoke gently and moved quietly....He would answer a question before you had it half spoken and if there was a joke to be played on someone--well, you had to jump faster than you ever jumped before to get ahead of Major Pelham.

We used to dance a great deal too. You didn't get an idea of how strong he was until you danced with him--that was grand. Sometimes I used to just sit and look at him and wonder if it could be true that he was the man they were all talking about, the man who could aim those guns so that they would kill and kill and kill. He didn't look as though he could ever order anybody to be killed. There wasn't a single line of hardness in his face. It was all tenderness, as fresh and delicate as a boy's who liked people and found the world good. I used to say to myself, 'A man like that--this boy?' And that's really what he was, you know, a boy, a splendid boy."

7. Secret Love

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General John Reynolds was commanding troops at West Point when he fell in love with Mary "Kate" Hewitt. Kate, however, was a Catholic, which was not widely accepted at the time. Reynolds kept their relationship a secret so that Kate's religious affiliation would not cost him a promotion.

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Reynolds was shot and killed at the Battle of Gettysburg. His personal belongings were sent to his family and that is when the secret was revealed. Instead of wearing the customary West Point ring, Reynolds had opted for a simple band with the inscription, "Dear Kate."

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The Reynolds family contacted Kate, who insisted that the family keep the ring. Kate then joined a convent since she could never marry Reynolds.

8. Behind Enemy Lines

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Francis (left) and Arabella Barlow married the day after Francis enlisted in the Union Army. Francis was a well-established New York lawyer while Arabella was 10 years his senior and a member of New York high society.

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Wounded and captured at the Battle of Gettysburg, Francis begged Confederate General John B. Gordon to destroy the letters he held from his wife. Instead, Gordon took Francis to Confederate doctors who were overcome by the love between Francis and Arabella. Instead of holding Francis prisoner, they let Arabella behind Confederate lines to care for her husband.

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Arabella took Francis to New Jersey, where he recuperated quickly. He rejoined the Union Army in 1864. Arabella continued to work as a nurse, but this heroic behavior led to her death from heat exhaustion only a few months after they parted. Francis buried his wife, carried out his duties for the rest of the war, and would eventually return to his legal profession – but would never remarry.

9. A Brothers' Bond

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Brothers Patrick (left) and Isaac Taylor served together in the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Regiment. At the Battle of Gettysburg, the Minnesotans made a bayonet charge against vastly superior odds and sealed a breach in the Union line.

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Patrick survived the charge, but Isaac was struck in the head with a shell fragment and killed. Patrick wrapped his brother in a tent and buried him on the field on the morning of July 3. "As we laid him down, I remarked, 'Well, Isaac, all I can give you is a soldier's grave.' I then sat down on a stone and wept."

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