This poem was found in a photo album belonging to Emerson Bellamy of Company A, 4th Vermont, written in pencil on the back of a photograph of an unidentified man. According to Private Bellamy's great-great granddaughter Susie Clayton, the man in the photograph may be his brother Henry (also of Company A), who was mortally wounded at the Battle of Funkstown on July 10, 1863, and died five days later.

Emerson E. Bellamy Company A, Fourth Vermont

Henry Bellamy? Company A, Fourth Vermont

The Fourth Vermont was part of the Vermont Infantry Brigade, which was attached to the Sixth Corps. The insignia of the Sixth Corps was the Greek cross; note that both men sport this emblem on their coats. [Thanks to Chuck Ten Brink of the Civil War Artillery Page for this identification.]

Our sincere thanks to Ms. Clayton for sharing this poem and these images and for generously allowing us to reproduce them here.

"If We Knew"