Meet Our Heroes
Sallie Ann Jarrett
The Little Dog of the 11th Pennsylvania
1861–1865 | American Civil War
In the spring of 1861, as soldiers gathered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the men of the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry received a puppy.
She was a small brindle bull terrier.
They named her Sallie Ann Jarrett.
Her name honored the regiment's first colonel, Phaon Jarrett, and a young woman named Sallie Ann.
She would spend nearly her entire life with the soldiers of the 11th Pennsylvania.
Growing Up With the 11th
Sallie grew up with the regiment.
She attended roll calls and drills and accompanied the soldiers on marches.
When the regiment went into battle, Sallie went with them.
During the Civil War, she accompanied the 11th Pennsylvania through campaigns that included some of the war's most significant battles.
Among them were Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and Spotsylvania Court House.
Gettysburg
On July 1, 1863, the 11th Pennsylvania fought on Oak Ridge during the opening day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
As Union forces were driven back toward Gettysburg, Sallie became separated from the regiment.
The soldiers could not find her.
Several days later, members of the 11th returned to the ground where they had fought.
There they found Sallie.
She was among the regiment's dead and wounded.
While the battle had continued around Gettysburg, Sallie had remained on the ground where the 11th Pennsylvania had fought.
She was reunited with the regiment.
And she continued with them.
Wounded
In May 1864, during the fighting at Spotsylvania Court House, Sallie was wounded.
A bullet struck her in the neck.
She survived the wound and remained with the regiment.
The bullet could not initially be removed. According to accounts of Sallie's service, it later worked its way out.
Hatcher's Run
On February 6, 1865, the 11th Pennsylvania fought at Hatcher's Run, Virginia.
Sallie was with them.
During the fighting, she was killed.
Only five days later, a soldier of the regiment described her death in a letter:
“Poor Sallie fell in the front line in the fight… a bullet pierced her brain.”
He also recorded what the soldiers did afterward.
They buried Sallie on the battlefield.
The soldier explained why:
“…so much had they become attached to the poor brute, who so long had shared with them the toilsome march and the perils of battle.”
Sallie Ann Jarrett was buried at Hatcher's Run.
She had spent almost four years alongside the soldiers of the 11th Pennsylvania.
They Remembered Her
The surviving soldiers of the 11th Pennsylvania did not leave Sallie out of the story of their regiment.
When the regiment's monument was erected at Gettysburg, Sallie was included.
Sallie's bronze likeness at the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry monument at Gettysburg.
At the base of the monument on Oak Ridge is the bronze figure of a dog.
Sallie.
Her likeness rests near the ground where she became separated from the regiment during the fighting of July 1, 1863—and where she was later found among its casualties.
The men of the 11th Pennsylvania chose to make their dog a permanent part of the monument that commemorated their service.
More than 160 years after Sallie followed the regiment into battle at Gettysburg, her bronze likeness remains there.
Alongside the soldiers of the 11th Pennsylvania.
Her Legacy
Sallie Ann Jarrett
Brindle Bull Terrier
Regimental Mascot | 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry
1861–1865
Served: American Civil War
Gettysburg: July 1–3, 1863
Wounded: Spotsylvania Court House | May 1864
Killed: Hatcher's Run, Virginia | February 6, 1865
Remembered: 11th Pennsylvania Infantry Monument | Gettysburg National Military Park
Some heroes carried rifles.
One walked beside them on four paws.