Another of the men buried on the John Edward Plank farm, Jesse Ricks Pittman’s story is particularly tragic. As men began to enlist in 1861 and as photography improved, photographers reminded the public to have their men sit for photos “before it’s too late,” as one heavy ad intoned. The photo here is a pre-war image of Jesse Ricks Pittman (left), his older brother John Pittman (center and standing), and their younger brother (right), believed to be Thomas. Jesse was described as having a dark complexion with blue eyes and light hair (the hair doesn’t look too light, right?). The men look serious, as most men did in these photography sessions. Of course, no one projected how bad the war would be, and the Pittmans could not have known that Jesse would never come home, that his remains would lie on the John Edward Plank farm for years before being moved to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.

John and Jesse enlisted together in the 11th Georgia in July 1861—Thomas was too young to enlist and seems to have stayed home. Their naive views of war would not last long. They were part of the Seven Days’ Battles. The boys both emerged from these unscathed, but their fortune would not last. At the Battle of Second Manassas, John was gravely wounded and discharged for disability. A few months later, he returned to service but was captured, then exchanged a few months later. He was last noted in service records working in a hospital ward in 1864—a position often given to servicemen whose injuries or illness prevented them from frontline service.

As hard as John suffered, Jesse was less fortunate. Healthy going into the Battle of Gettysburg, he was engaged with his unit on the second day, which collided with the 17th Maine around the stonewall at the Wheatfield of the Rose Farm. Casualties for the 11th were horrendous—201 men out of 308 or 65%.

It’s difficult to say where Jesse was mortally wounded and where he died. He was originally noted as killed in action, suggesting that his body likely would have fallen in the Rose Woods. His burial then likely would have been much closer to the Wheatfield; instead, it was recorded as being on the John Edward Plank farm where it remained until it was moved to Richmond in August 1872.

Back home, John made it through the war and proved to be a hearty survivor—he lived to be eighty years old and fathered five children.

Jesse not only left behind his parents and siblings—he had married Fannie Dozier in 1860, and he fathered one child, a girl named Jessie W. Pittman, who was born in 1863 and never knew her father. Jessie lived to be 62 and bore two girls and four boys, one of which, Jesse Pittman Whitaker, she named for her father.