Inside a Civil War Soldier’s 40-Year Quest to Find the Nurse Who Brought Him Back to Health

Captain Augustus Vignos was wounded on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, and he spent the next 40 years trying to find the woman who nursed him back to health

Rebecca Lane Pennypacker Price. M.B. Yarnall/Courtesy of George Rapp

Captain Augustus Vignos of the 107th Ohio Infantry was so determined to find and thank the nurse who cared for him at the XI Corps Union hospital after the Battle of Gettysburg that he carried a photo of Rebecca Lane Pennypacker Price for 40 years.

Vignos was wounded in the right arm on July 1, 1863, during the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. Gangrene developed; his arm was amputated above the elbow at George and Elizabeth Spangler’s farm, and his condition deteriorated.