Person:John Lininger (1)

John Lininger was wounded around noon on July 1, 1863 at the Battle of Gettysburg. His brother Philip was killed in the same charge. John ended up in a hospital in Washington, D.C. where he met Walt Whitman, who was volunteering as a nurse. Whitman recorded a few notes about their conversation(s):

"John & Philip Lininer co B, 149th Penn father / Henry Lininger Rockland p o Clearfield co Philip was killed at Gettysburgh Philips aged 20 expression My God, My God, Here I go I am gone too - in Dutch killed in the charge / killed at noon Gettysburgh 1st of July '63 John (aged 18) wounded first at the same time /he supposed Philip was killed too" (pg. 667, Notebooks and Unpublished Prose Manuscripts, Volume II: Washington, The Collected Writings of Walt Whitman)

Philip's final words were spoken in "Dutch," in reality a dialect of German, because the brothers were members of the Pennsylvania Dutch community.

Philip and John enlisted together on August 14, 1862 at Curwensville, PA and were mustered into Co. B of the 149th Pennsylvania Infantry at Harrisburg on Aug. 26.