Even though the Union Army pushed through town on the morning of July 1st, by the evening this area of the southern portions of the Gettysburg borough was surrounded by Confederate soldiers. Rebel soldiers were in between buildings around this section of town looking for a good place to skirmish with Union soldiers on East Cemetery Hill, which is located near the McClellan duplex. This map below shows the different places that many of the links on this website will be concentrating on.
This map shows the different places that this website will be referring to often:
- Purple Heart – Wade House
- Orange Sun – Tillie Pierce House
- Blue Hourglass – Shriver House
- Purple Flame – Garlach House
- Blue Dollar Sign – Sweney / Farnsworth House
- Black Flag – Winebrenner House
- Blue House – Rupp House
- Red Bullseye – Welty House
- Green Heart – Georgianna Wade McClellan duplex – Jennie Wade died here
Each of these families were either hiding in their cellars avoiding the fighting outside their doors or they had escaped towards the south as Union soldiers retreated. Due to the Union soldiers rushing through town in the afternoon, many of these citizens were unaware that the Confederates were right on their toes pushing south.
Here’s a background to what’s going through the citizens of Gettysburg on the afternoon/evening on July 1st. Georgianna and her mother were in the duplex recovering from her birth a few days before to her newborn son. The Rupp family were taking shelter in the Welty House, while Mr. Rupp stayed in the cellar of his own house. The Sweeney and Shriver house had Confederate sharpshooters in the attic shooting at the Union soldiers near the McClellan house. Most of these houses were being scavenged for food, shelter, and clothes to be ripped into using for bandages for wounded soldiers.
What did they think of the soldiers invading their town? Were they worried about their family members elsewhere in town, or their neighbors, or the horse in the yard, or their dog that ran out the door? What stories do they have to share? Did the soldiers steal their belongings? Let’s explore this and more in the tales of civilians and soldiers.