Recently, someone posted an old newspaper article on "Old Pensacola" about an aged Bagdad veteran of the great battle of Gettysburg. This certainly stirred my interest of this old warrior's first hand account on the 50th Anniversary of one of America's greatest battles! The old veteran was Jonathon "John" Rourke who was born on February 12, 1844 in, of all places, Lancaster County, PA. In 1850, his family moved to Virginia when he was but six years old, which might explain his identification with the South.
By 1860, he was living with Bickerton W. and Nannie T. Saunders, who was also his employer. Saunders was a "coachmaker" by trade and Rourke was his "coach painter." As the war clouds of Civil War burst over the nation, Rourke enlisted in the Confederate Army in Palmyra, Fluvanna County, VA on April 14, 1862. Here, the 5' 7" Rourke enlisted in Captain Robert H. Poore's Company "C" of the 14th Virginia Infantry Regiment under Colonel James Gregory Hodges. This regiment would serve in Armisted's Brigade of Pickett's Division, Longstreet's Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.
In quick succession, Rourke's regiment fought some of the bloodiest battles in America's history. Hallowed names such as Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Bull Run I & II, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. Then the regiment was ordered north and crossed the Potomac River on June 25, 1863 arriving at the quiet town of Gettysburg on the 3rd of July. There, the regiment took part in Pickett’s famous charge on the right flank of the attack where they broke the Union line at "the Angle" before being thrown back with catastrophic casualties. This became known as the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy", which was the farthest north they ever reached during the war. However, by sheer luck or divine intervention, Rourke was detailed with three other soldiers to guard the stone bridge across Pitzer's Run Creek. Their job was to direct the scattered remnants of the division where to go to be reformed to withstand a Union counterattack that never came. Rourke remained at the bridge until the afternoon of July 4. Rourke's detail had a Confederate flag displayed at the bridge as the remnants of the division straggled back from their disastrous charge.
After a solemn retreat back into Virginia, the regiment still had blood baths aplenty left before the war ended. Such places as Drewry's Bluff, Cold Harbor and Petersburg. But there, he was captured by the US 5th Army Corps and sent to Point Lookout, MD on 4-12-1865 as a POW. In the meantime, his regiment would fight in the battles of Five Forks, Sailor's Creek and finally surrendered on April 9th at Appomattox Court House. Only 57 men were left out of the regiment's original 800-1,000. As for Rourke, he would remain a prisoner until June 17, 1865 when he was paroled and released.
Capt. John Rourke came to Santa Rosa county on April 28, 1866 and began working at one of the local lumber mills. Eventually, he went into the retail grocery business for himself. By 1968, he was listed on the Santa Rosa County voter lists and four years later married Mary Adeline "Addie" Thompson (born 1847) on October 17, 1872. She was the daughter of Bagdad's prominent Benjamin Woodson Thompson (1809-1876) and Mary Olive Sullivan (1818-1855). Her father was formerly a miller but now owned a lumber mill in Bagdad with real estate holdings valued at $17,000 ($533,000 today) and personal holdings of $70,000 ($2,200,000 today).
Rourke would remain heavily involved in the community affairs and businesses in both Bagdad and Pensacola and was a former representative in the lower house of the Florida legislature. But regardless, on the morning of July 31, 1915 he suddenly and unexpectedly slumped down and died from a stroke. After preparation, his remains were carried to the Bagdad Methodist Church where services were conducted by Reverend J. P. Roberts. Afterwards, he was borne to the Bagdad Cemetery and buried. His wife Addie would join him in the cemetery, where she rests beside him in death as she did in life.
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