SARAH BROADHEAD: “To-day we heard that the Rebels were crossing the river in heavy force, and advancing on to this State.”
In the 1730s and 40s, Scots-Irish and German settlers began laying roots in what was then known as the Marsh Creek settlement. Eventually, Samuel Gettys opened a tavern on the Marsh Creek Road, the major east-west road in the area. In 1761, he was fined for running a tavern without a license. In 1769, the Baltimore-Shippensburg road was laid out and an intersection was created at the tavern. Twenty five years later, in 1786, his son James would lay out 210 lots, including a town square, referred to as “The Diamond”, around the tavern. This new town would be known as Gettysburg.
In 1800, Gettysburg became the county seat of the newly formed Adams county, named for then-president John Adams.
The 1860 census shows that Gettysburg’s population numbered around 2400 and was primarily made up of German, Scots-Irish and free blacks.
Prior to the war, the people of Gettysburg engaged in a diverse economy, the primary industry in town being carriage making which attracted related tradesmen such as wheelwrights, trim and canvas shops and silversmiths. Many of Gettysburg’s carriages were purchased by people south of the Mason-Dixon line, some ten miles south of Gettysburg. As the war loomed, the industry in Gettysburg began to tighten. But by 1863, the war had all but eliminated the carriage industry,. Gettysburg’s port for goods and services was Baltimore, which was a city of divided loyalties and political unrest These two factors disrupted the town’s economy.
The overwhelmingly Christian population of the town worshipped in eight congregations and seven churches.
As the center of Adams County’s legal business, Gettysburg was home to several lawyers.
Education was well covered in Gettysburg. A number of primary and secondary schools, private schools including Carrie Sheads’s on the Chambersburg Pike and Rebecca Eyster’s on the corner of High Street and Washington, Pennsylvania College, established in 1832, and the Lutheran Theological Seminary educated the youth from near and far.
To support the large amount of farms in the surrounding townships, various merchants kept shop there. Some people, such as Mary McAllister, made money by reselling cured meats she had obtained from the farmers of the area to her fellow Gettysburgians. Others owned butcher shops, like James Pierce who lived on the southwest corner of Baltimore and Breckinridge Streets; a candy store, like Philip “Petey” Winter’s on the first block of Chambersburg Street; a photography studio like Charles and Isaac Tyson had on York Street. Dry goods, general merchandise and grocers also made Gettysburg hum with activity. James Fahenstock and two of his brothers owned the largest General store in town on the corner of Baltimore Street and Middle Street. In 1860, the census listed dozens of people whose occupation was “shoemaker” or cobbler. Yet, contrary to legend, there was no shoe factory or warehouse full of shoes in Gettysburg in 1863. Tanneries, ironworks, brickyards, blacksmiths, hotels, inns and taverns rounded out the more common businesses found in town.
Local curmudgeon and former town constable, John Burns, had a few odd jobs. One of those jobs was as a cobbler at the boot and shoe shop of town council president David Kendlehart. Burns, a veteran of the War of 1812, was not known to be a friendly neighbor with a kind word to offer.
Among his other jobs, John Burns pumped water for the Gettysburg waterworks.
Gettysburg had the latest technological advances in communications, media, gas lighting and transportation. In 1858, the railroad had come to town and, by 1863, Joseph Broadhead was an Express Messenger, on the Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad. This railroad made the economy of Gettysburg boom when it was built and, in 1863, the line was in the process of being continued westward out of town. By July 1, the progress made on this extension would be forever immortalized as “The Railroad Cut.”
There were two telegraph offices in town: one at the railroad station and the other in the back of the home of John Scott on Chambersburg Street.
Gettysburg had three newspapers. The Star and Banner, edited by John T. McIlhenney [mac uhl henny] and the Adams Sentinel edited by David Buehler, both had a Republican bias. The Compiler, had a Democrat bias and was edited by Henry J Stahle [staylee].
Republicans were very pro-Union while the Democrats took a softer stance on the idea of Southern secession. Neither side was keen about the idea of equality for blacks, ironically evidenced by the fact that when, years prior to the war, free blacks attempted to join the local white anti-slavery societies and were denied entry. And, so, those who were anti-slavery and black formed the Slave’s Refuge Society.
SLAVE’S REFUGE SOCIETY: “we feel it our indispensable duty to assist such of our brethren as shall come among us for the purpose of liberating themselves, and to raise all the means in our power to effect our object, which is to give liberty to our brethren groaning under the tyrannical yoke of oppression. Resolution of the Slave’s Refuge Society.”
A total of ten roads led into Gettysburg, each one leading to and coming from other important cities and towns, such as Carlisle, Harrisburg, York, Hanover, Baltimore, Emmitsburg, Fairfield and Hagerstown, Cashtown and Chambersburg and Mummasburg. All of these roads funneled, eventually, into the heart of Gettysburg.
The layout of the town was typical for that time period with the higher valued properties being in the blocks closest to “The Diamond”, with wide, tree-lined streets of dirt flanked by paved sidewalks. The streets and roads were laid out like the spokes of a wagon wheel with the Diamond being the hub. Homes along the main roads had no front yards and came right up to the sidewalks. Most of the lots in the first few blocks off the square in any direction were developed and, therefore, presented an unbroken front. Back yards were surrounded by highboard fences and contained a small stable or carriage house, a well and an outhouse, or “privy”, as well as a small garden for the kitchen. All of this restricted free movement to the streets or alleyways.
Gettysburg, by 1863, was a large town for the area with a vibrant population that loved, hated, squabbled, showed kindness, gossipped, rallied together, made local celebrities out of the best looking or most gregarious while making pariahs out of those of lesser fortune, just like any other society at any other point in history. Unlike most of those other societies, Gettysburg will endure a crucible of worry, turned to terror, turned to misery. And that all began on June 15, 1863, when Brigadier General Albert Jenkins' Confederate Cavalry Brigade crossed the Potomac and headed for Chambersburg
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CREDITS
Addressing Gettysburg: INVASION! June, 1863, Part 2 was Written, narrated and produced by Matt Callery
Narration Directed by Pearle Shannon
Historical figures voiced by: Denise Chain, Trent Walker, Ron Bailey, Bob Steenstra, Kelly Steenstra, the History Dame, Keith Harris and Pearle Shannon. Recorded at the Destination Gettysburg Studios.
Historical consultation by Licensed Battlefield Guides Tim Smith, Bob Steenstra and Lewis Trott, with additional consultation provided by John Hoptak and Matt Atkinson.
Music by Dusty Lee Elmer, Sarah Larsen and Danny Stewart, Kelly Shannon, The California Consolidated Drum Band, the Federal City Brass Band/26th North Carolina Band.
“Bear Waltz”- written by Sarah Larsen. Performed by Sarah Larsen and Danny Stewart
“Forward To The Heights’ written and performed by Kelly Shannon
Special thanks to Tim Smith for assistance with script revisions.
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