Let’s explore the life of his loyal and brave young woman that survived the Civil War, and wrote about her experiences in depth to explain to others. Tillie is not her maiden name, it’s actually her nickname. Her true name is Matilda “Tillie” Jane Pierce. She was born on March 11th, 1848.
She was just a normal young woman prior to the Civil War. Tillie was the youngest of the Pierce children who survived childhood. Her brothers, sisters, and parents live on Baltimore Street south of the center square and lived above their butcher shop. Her family was quite wealthy for Gettysburg households according to the federal census. Due to this reason, Tillie’s parents sent her and her sister to one of the best schools in the area. This school was the Gettysburg Female Institute located at the intersection of West High Street and South Washington Street is shown below.
A slight background of the Female Institute that Tillie attended. This school was for young ladies from the “best” local families. Best being a tiny word as wealthy. Reverend David and Mrs. Rebecca Reynolds Eyster bought the building in 1856. When the Reverend died in 1861, Rebecca continued to run the school with one of her sons William Reynolds Eyster; a new graduate of the Pennsylvania College, teaching math and Latin.
Tillie knew about the Civil War with corresponding letters from her brothers that I’m sure her parents read to her and her sister Margaret, who was three years older than her. With having brothers fighting in the war, she was well-aware of the cause and of the meaning behind the soldiers fighting for beliefs of having all people should be free. Then in late June 1863, on a Friday afternoon of all things, students saw a black dense of dirt in the haze coming from the west near the Seminary.
They didn’t know it at the time, but this was a scouting party of the Confederate cavalry from John Gordon’s Georgia Brigade of infantry moving from Cashtown to Gettysburg. They skirmished against the Pennsylvania Emergency Militia west of town. These soldiers were the ones that chased down Private George Washington Sandoe and killed him along Rock Creek along the Baltimore Pike on June 26th.
Two of the teachers at the Institute was Salome Myers, also known as Sallie, and Alice Powers. They watched the dust and soldiers moving east, and they school was immediately closed and the children had to rush home ahead of the possible invasion of their town. The purple dot above is the school and the red house is Tillie’s parents house, and it is approximately a block and a half difference.