On a chilly Christmas Day in 2023, my family made a visit to Calvary United Methodist Cemetery in Wiconisco Township, Pennsylvania. Many members of my family are interred in this historic cemetery in Dauphin County and so we decided to make a holiday visit to the graveyard.

Close to my grandmother’s grave and those of her family, next to a tall pine tree and several bushes, is the tall, weathered monument to Joseph Workman.

Joseph Workman served in the 96th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War, joining Company G when it was recruited in Wiconisco Township in September 1861.

A year later, he was wounded at the Battle of South Mountain in Maryland in September 1862. He returned to his unit in December 1862.

Workman was severely wounded at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 10, 1864, when he and his comrades charged and briefly captured Confederate trenches. He was shot in the thigh and captured by counter-attacking Confederate soldiers.

Taken to Richmond, Virginia as a prisoner of war, his leg was amputated in an effort to save his life. He succumbed to his wounds on June 9, 1864 at a hospital in the Confederate capital.

On that cold Christmas Day and on this anniversary of his death far from his Pennsylvania home – I remember his service and his sacrifice for his country.

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