The Civil War was raging in 1862, but perhaps no one experienced that more than the Confederate and Union soldiers themselves on September 17, 1862, during the Battle of Antietam. Located in Washington County in Maryland, Antietam held the gruesome distinction of being the bloodiest battle in American history with 23,000 casualties.
Bela L. Burr wasn’t one of them, but he was severely injured in the right shin and left ankle and lay dying in the hot sun that day. Having been enlisted in the Union Army for only a month at the young age of 18, he’d laid there in the blood-soaked cornfield, surrounded by his fellow soldiers already dead and waited for his own death to come.
But even impending death didn’t keep him from crying out for water.
It seemed impossible anyone would hear, let alone help, but angels hovered over those scattered bodies, and one answered his call.
A Confederate soldier by the name of James M. Norton was marching near the cornfield. Moved to compassion, he left the march, well aware that sharpshooters were hidden in the trees with orders to aim at anything that moved. Dropping to his knees, defying the shots ringing out, he carefully shimmied over to Burr and offered him his canteen.
It would be an agonizing 48 hours before Burr was discovered and taken to medical treatment. Doctors determined his injuries were severe enough that he warranted a discharge for disability. Though the bullet couldn’t be removed from his ankle, Burr went on to marry, have a family, and become a successful newspaper editor.
In contrast, James Norton lived and fought through the entire war. Once the war ended, he returned home to marry, divorced his wife, then re-married her. They raised their children while he built himself a career as a builder.
But Bela Burr never forgot James Norton, the angel who helped save his life by the simple act of sharing his canteen. Through the power of his
newspaper, he printed numerous want ads in hopes of learning the Confederate soldier’s identity. Amazingly, a former Confederate officer familiar with the story helped Burr and Norton reconnect. The two soldiers began to correspond regularly, and Bela Burr invited James Norton to his home in Connecticut for a reunion, setting the day for the Spring of 1897.
I wish I could tell you the two soldiers had a happy reunion, but sadly, there is no record of it. Perhaps James Norton became ill and was unable to travel, since he passed away two years later. Who knows? But if the reunion did, indeed, happen, as a newspaper man (and a writer myself), I’d like to think Bela Burr would have graciously and eloquently shared his story with newspapers nationwide.
And that bullet in his ankle he carried around for decades? It was finally surgically removed in the early 20th century. Bela Burr died a few years later on April 29, 1908.
But he kept that flattened piece of lead as well as the late 1890’s X-ray which revealed it was still there, and a small local museum housed the artifacts in his memory.
As I prepared for this blog, the author of one of the articles I read mentioned how he felt it was weird for someone to save a bullet like Bela Burr saved his, including the X-ray. He then included a link to a You Tube video of a young man who saved his. . . Well, I’ll let you decide if it was weird and quirky.
World’s Biggest – Toenail Collection
Did you ever have a quirky collection of something?
Would you have saved your bullet and X-ray like Bela Burr?
What is the quirkiest collection you’ve ever heard or seen?
Don’t forget! MY KIND OF COWBOY is FREE on your favorite platform for a limited time!
THE FULL BLACKSTONE RANCH SERIES
To stay up on our latest releases and have some fun, too, join our Facebook Reader Group HERE!
Pam has written 30 romances, most of them historical westerns, but she's proud of her contemporary sweet romances featuring the Blackstone Ranch series published by Tule Publishing, too! Stay up on the latest at www.pamcrooks.com
Good morning Pam! An interesting article. I can’t think of any strange or odd ball collections. I remember finding an old medicine/asprin glass bottle on great-great granddaddy’s place where his house was on our property. Daddy said it might have been from the 1920’s. Which seemed ancient to me at the time! Mama has many colored bottles. And Daddy had an old window from an old two story place made into a mirror for Mama. He fixed up an old antique corn shuck on a piece of wood and an old grits grinder. Mama had them displayed. Many old farm gadget’s Granddaddy Williams had is displayed on the wall going upstairs. I guess that could be quirky to some people! Hehehe..
Pam, you didn’t say if you had any collections. Do you?
Many blessing!
Hi, Tracy!! I love your descriptions of the antiques in your family!
I should have mentioned my own collections, huh? 🙂 I used to have a stamp collection, and I also collected Precious Moments figurines. I loved Norman Rockwell, and used to collect (and hang) some of his prints.
But I’m at the point in my life that I don’t need that stuff around. Ha! The Precious Moments figurines are in a cabinet in pristine condition, just sitting there, hidden away. Ditto with my stamp collection. (I wonder if those old stamps are worth anything these days??)
Thanks for sharing, dear Tracy!
What a heartwarming story. My innate for happy endings makes me imagine that Bela and James DID have their meet-up, but even if they didn’t, just reconnecting through letters must have been a blessing. Just goes to show the power of even a small act of kindness.
I’m with you, Karen! For Bela to go through all that trouble of searching for James for years, it would have been something pretty serious for their reunion not to happen.
So I’m going to go on thinking they did have that reunion. 🙂
I’m sure I would have saved my bullet and X-ray! I actually have three Civil War bullets in a small presentation box that came from one of the battlefields in my home state of Arkansas. My daughter found them at a thrift shop and bought them for me for Mother’s Day one year, because we share a love of all things Civil War. I’ve heard of people saving their kidney stones.
If the doctor gave me the choice, I would have saved that ol’ bullet and X-ray, too! No doubt Bela’s family knew how long he carried that bullet. It’d be somewhat of an heirloom, wouldn’t it?
Sadly, Bela’s brother was injured in that same battle, but he didn’t survive his injuries and died a few weeks later.
I would have saved it! My grandpa saved rocks and I found out my youngest niece also collects rocks she finds.
Good morning, Barbara! My girls loved to save pretty rocks. And now that they’re older and can travel with their families, they love to hunt for and save seashells to display in a pretty bowl.
I don’t think I have anything quirky that I save. I have a collection of Angels and hearts.
Angels and hearts make for a lovely collection, Kathleen!
I actually have the pieces of hardware from two of my surgeries on my wrist. One is the small plate that I had put in during the first surgery (I did NOT keep the external fixator that was put on then!) and I also have the hardware and screws that I had taken out eight years after my wrist fusion. I wasn’t really going to keep it, but my ortho decided I should!! lol! So, since he decided I needed to keep it, I did. I actually forgot about it, and was on my way out to go home, when the post-op nurse noticed it and came running through the building to give it to me.
Hi, Trudy! Funny how the ortho and his nurse wanted you to keep your hardware! I suspect you weren’t the only one who kept yours!
But you have to admit – it’s a great conversation piece, right? 🙂
I have no desire to keep anything like that. The doctor offered me a picture of a tumor he removed from my uterus. I threw it away. At one time I had a collection of small bells. I kept my favorite and got rid of the rest.
I don’t think I’d keep a photo of a tumor, either Karijean, especially if it was painful. But I would definitely want to see it.
A collection of bells would be lovely! I can see me having bells and tinkling them often..
I don’t have a quirky collection but the strangest collection I’ve personally seen was Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum in Florida. Some odd stuff there. It was many years ago and don’t know if it’s still there.
Hi, Carrie. I’ve been to a Ripley’s before in Branson, and you’re right. ODD STUFF!!!
Hi Pam , wow, what a nice story, I know I also hope that they got to be reunited in person , and if for some reason they didn’t at least they stayed in touch by letters, such as beautiful touching story. I used to collect angel figurines and miniature tea sets but I dont anymore, I have more than enough, and the miniature tea sets are a chore, when I clean them I have to wash every little cup, plate , tea pot , tray and everything else one at a time by hand, it is very time consuming, I do love them though. I also like to paint wooden birdhouses and decorate them. I dont really have anything quirky, but I would have saved the bullet for sure. Have a great day and a great weekend. I really enjoyed this story, Thank you.
Howdy, Alicia! Oh, yes, cleaning the tea pots would be a deal breaker for me, but as the mother of four daughters, a collection of tea sets would be much loved and enjoyed.
So glad you enjoyed Bela and James’ story!
It would be very interesting to know how the reunion of Bela and James went. Considering their history, it should have gone relatively well. It would be interesting to hear what their views on the war and the aftermath were.
I am a saver, so I would likely save the bullet and x-ray.
As for collections, there are I several things I pick up when I find something interesting: teapots, bookmarks, teddy bears. I have my aunts salt and pepper collection (15 medium sized boxes worth), but they aren’t something I display or am going to add to. I keep trying to find a time to get my siblings together and have them take some of them. There are only about 10 pair I plan to keep.
Old books are something I definitely pick up when I can. I have managed to find some interesting ones. That I will add to.
I acquired a rather nice button collection at an auction. It was accidental on the art of the auctioneer. There was a 1942 book about buttons and 3 or for small boxes. I was bidding on the book and he only opened the top box which had old black and brown coat buttons. I paid $3 for it. When I opened the other two boxes I found buttons sorted and attached to cards. They were all from the 1940’s or earlier. I learned a lot about buttons. At the time, just one of the carnival glass buttons was worth more than I paid for the lot.
I heard of someone who collected hair items. There were picture displays fashioned from human hair, mourning jewelry containing hair from a deceased loved one, and other like items.
Thank you for the book. I downloaded it the first day.
Pat, you are certainly well-versed in collections! Yes, I’ve heard of hair items, too. I think you’d have to have the right frame of mind to collect those. 🙂
Gallstones is another collector’s item that requires that same kind of thinking. I’ve heard that they have even been made into earrings. Can you imagine? LOL.
You’re welcome for the book, my friend.