Farms of the Gettysburg Battlefield: Day One

hey everybody welcome back to the adams county historical society's caught in the crossfire series right now we're standing in a really incredible place here in gettysburg we're actually in the cupola of the lutheran seminary chapel it was built in 1942 so it's not a civil war building but we're on seminary ridge just west of gettysburg and uh this cupola is actually higher up than the more famous cupola right next door of old dorm or schmucker hall which was built in 1832 to house the gettysburg lutheran theological seminary old dorm was also home to the adams county historical society for about 50 years and here we have one of the best views i think of the first day is battlefield because this series is focused on the families i want to talk about just a few sites west of town where local residents were seeking shelter and witnessing some of the battle up close on the morning and afternoon of july 1st 1863. one thing i love about this view is the clarity that we see in the south mountain range which is about eight miles away it was this feature that allowed lee's army to screen its movements north in the weeks leading up to the battle and it was also a shield of course for the people of adams county who until late june believe that they might avoid a confederate invasion between here and south mountain are a series of ridges and valleys some of them pretty well known some of them not so much closest to us is mcpherson's ridge probably best known and it was owned by congressman edward macpherson at the time of the battle beyond that is hers ridge named for frederick herr who operated a tavern along the chambersburg pike for many years before the civil war and while we're on the topic of roads we're looking at what is now route 30 west or the lincoln highway and uh at the time it was called the chambersburg pike and then to the left if we pan over we'll see the the fairfield road which is now called route 116. along the chambersburg pike there were two streams marsh creek which is about two and a half miles away and willoughby's run which is just under a mile from where we're standing at about 7 30 a.m on the morning of july first the first shots of the battle were fired near marsh creek by members of the 8th illinois cavalry willoughby's run the closer stream was the scene of heavy fighting on the morning and the afternoon of july 1st and it was named for an early resident of adams county willoughby winchester from here we can see the mcpherson farm really clearly and although the house burned in a fire in 1895 the original barn still stands and it's a very well known feature on the first day's battlefield tenant farmer john slence and his family lived here in 1863 and on the morning of july first the family was forced to flee into the town of gettysburg and they sought refuge at the home of harvey sweeney on baltimore street now this is the farnsworth house of course i'm sure many of you are familiar with and as we'll show you in a later video this ended up being probably an even more dangerous location for the family further down mcpherson's rage is the farm of john herbst and you can see the barn pretty clearly from where we're standing and although both the barn and the house are replacements for the structures that stood in 1863 the farm has a great story herbs and his family didn't leave during the battle they actually hid in the cellar and we're going to explore that in a few minutes and this decision actually ended up saving the home from destruction at the hands of the confederates of course to battle of gettysburg enthusiasts herpes is probably best known for having owned the woods in which union general john reynolds was killed around 10 30 in the morning on july first 1863 beyond the herbs farm is the former gettysburg country club property at the time of the battle owned by washington dc resident emanuel harmon relatives of his farmed the property during the battle including 16 year old amelia harmon who left an incredible account of her experiences during the battle this farm stood along what is now old mill road just west of willoughby's run of course it's called macpherson's ridge because the mcpherson farm was here along this ridge at the time of the battle it was owned by edward macpherson who grew up in gettysburg and was united states congressman until the midterm elections in 1862. the macpherson family owned the farm for many years the farm actually was one of the forms of the first settlers of adams county uh we have a 1765 warrant for the property from a robert stork by 1773 it was owned by william breed and by that time undoubtedly the log house was here on the property um in the uh 1802 it was uh owned by the reverend david mcconaughey who was the grandfather of david mcconaghy the lawyer who lived in town at the time of the battle was largely responsible for the gettysburg battlefield memorial association after the battle um in the 1830s it was uh owned by a guy named clarkson uh michael clarkson who was an associate with thaddeus stevens and michael clarkson was the superintendent of the gettysburg or pennsylvania railroad that was actually a sort of an idea concept in the 1830s but you know it ate up a lot of taxpayers money the project was eventually cancelled but we do have an unfinished railroad cut here at the time of the battle because of the 1830s railroad project and coincidentally the railroad ran right through the middle of clarkson's land who was compensated for the damages to his property during the construction clarkson eventually went bankrupt and it was purchased by john b mcpherson and he had died in the 1850s and at the time of the battle edward macpherson owned the property but the macpherson's never lived here on the farm it was a tenant uh farmer that lived here throughout the mcpherson's ownership and at the time of the battle we know that the tenant family was john slatz and his wife and children so there is an image recorded just after the battle uh by the firm of matthew brady with brady and um his assistant actually looking across towards the unfinished railroad cut with the macpherson house on the right and the barn there on the left and in that image you can kind of see the house is a log structure after the civil war at some point there was a large addition placed onto the house and it was that we constructed a house that burned to the ground in 1895 and we know the house stood where these trees are today uh there was actually a small pork archaeological dig to discover that location of the house and they found a few things a number of years ago now we mentioned it was a slense family that lived here at the time of the battle john slenz who lived in the town of gettysburg with his father john slants married eliza herr who was the daughter of frederiker of course owned the tavern along hers ridge and they lived here we're not sure how long prior to the battle they lived here and they had a few children eliza herr slenz left an account of the battle and it's from an 1880s phoenixville newspaper clipping that we get this myself my husband and our children five in number resided on the macpherson farm i think she had four and she was pregnant with the fifth actually she probably doesn't remember that in the 1880s um on the morning of june 30th my husband left with the horses with the intention of taking them to a more secure place but he never succeeded as the equines were stolen by soldiers i was engaged in placing bread in the oven when news was brought to us that there was to be a battle that day on july 1st instantly all was confusion and before a moment had passed myself and the five children driving our cows before us were fleeing towards the town of gettysburg before we reached the town our cattle were lost and we took refuge in the cellar of the seminary we remained in that place for three months and during the three days fighting i knew what it was to be hungry for the first time in my life for during that time we subsisted on one small piece piece of bread daily our home and all the outbuildings were converted into temporary hospital for the wounded soldiers over 200 being in the house and barn alone in the garden adjoining the house two soldiers are buried one in a quilt that was owned by me so we actually know that the slender family fled to the seminary and during the heavy fighting around the seminary building on july 1st they actually went to the other side of town we know this from the claims file of harvey sweeney that they actually spent the battle in the cellar of harvey sweeney's house which of course today is the farnsworth house and afterwards they came back and he spent about three months in the schmucker house at the lutheran theological seminary and we're very fortunate that at the library congress in the edward mcpherson papers there are some letters from john slantz to edward mcpherson specifying some of the damages to the property afterwards and i actually went to the library of congress and made transcripts of some of the letters on august 10 1863 john slence tells mcpherson you stated in your letter that i should tell mr spanger to get mr fleming to remove those dead bodies from around my house i told him as you requested but he never attended to it they are still lying there yet and they won't let any be raised till the first of october i would give ten hundred dollars if i had it was the way it was back on your place and i was fixed up the way i was on june 29th i had a fair prospect before me for a good summer crop but all is gone he also talked about the just the massive amount of rails that needed to be purchased to fix the fence around the property he mentions in the letter also on that date i am in dr schmucker's house rent-free for two or three months and living i may almost say on nothing we have some bread butter and molasses to eat and we sleep on the floor for one of me i would like to move back to the place if those dead was away and the water was good it is very unhealthy along the pike now and on september 21st 1863 he wrote if you intend to make your fence three boards high it will take 11 900 feet of boards and if you'd like to make it four boards high it would take thirteen thousand six hundred and six boards and then it will make a good fence boards are 16 feet long and it will take 900 posts a board fence will make the cheapest fence i was told today that they want ten dollars a hundred for rails the appraisers made out that it would take about seven thousand rails to make up your fence at one hundred dollars a thousand that would make seven hundred dollars to replace the fence around the farm that was damaged during the battle of course the macpherson barn still stands it was purchased by the war department and they actually reconstructed the barn to similar to its uh civil war appearance and you can look at photographs taken after before the reconstruction and afterwards to see that they really tore down the whole wall and rebuilt it but it remains and it's very similar appearance to what it was at the time of the battle we actually at the adams county historical society have a copy of a letter that was given to us by a descendant of the slentz family it is a letter written in 1904 and it is written to miss sarah sleds who was one of the children of john and eliza slentz here at the time it was written by a an assistant surgeon george p ryan and he is hoping that the family still lives at the farm at the time he wrote it they didn't so he could come and visit it and he says is the born still there i want to visit the place again soon as i can and hope to find you there on the third day of the battle july 3rd 1863 i turned the cattle out of the barn to get water they were bawling so pitifully i could not bear to hear them i know that some of them were accidentally killed later on and no doubt some of them were butchered the big wounded cow which i got milk from several times was in the barn during the battle of gettysburg amelia harman who was 16 years old lived just behind me on the ridge in a large two-story brick home also living there at the time were amelia's aunt rachel finifrock and her husband david and also a farm man named william comfort david and william had left with the horses to save them from confederate capture before the battle and in 1915 years later amelia harmon wrote one of the most powerful accounts of the battle of gettysburg by a local citizen she wrote at 9 00 a.m on the morning of july first came the ominous boom of a cannon to the west of us we rushed to the window to behold hundreds of galloping horses coming up the road through the fields and even past our very door boom again spoke the cannon more and more galloping horses they're excited riders shouting and yelling to each other and pushing westward in hot haste past the house and barn they were seeking the shelter of a strip of woods on the ridge beyond but the ridge was alive with the enemy she wrote a few warning shots from its cover sent them flying back to the shelter behind the barn outbuildings trees and even the pump seeking to hold the enemy in check so she was witnessing the opening actions of the battle of gettysburg as buford's cavalrymen were rushing back across these fields toward their position their fallback position on macpherson's ridge on the other side of willoughby's run then later in the day as the fighting continued there was a lull um about midday and uh there were some union soldiers who actually were ordered to capture the harmon house and barn to use it as an outpost to fire on the confederates west of them uh in the woods at the base of hers ridge to my left so amelia harman remembered these union soldiers coming across the creek and up the hill they were members of the 80th new york um or the 20th new york state militia they have been positioned on mcpherson's ridge and sent across uh to take the house so emilia and her aunt remembered this is from amelia's account a sudden violent commotion and uproar below made us fly in quick haste to the lower floor there was a tumultuous pounding with fists and guns on the kitchen door and loud yells of open or will break down the doors which they proceeded to do we drew the bolt and import a stream of maddened powder blackened blue coats who ordered us to the cellar while they dispersed to the various west windows throughout the house so at this point there's more sharp shooting the confederates are preparing for an afternoon assault to take the union positions on the east side of willowbeast run and so emilia harmon as they waited uh not knowing what's about to happen eventually the confederate attack begins and the union soldiers are forced to leave the house very quickly to get back to safety across willoughby's run and she wrote with a sickening dread we waited for the next act in the drama a swish like the mowing of grass on the front lawn then a dense shadow darkened the low-graded cellar windows it is the sound and the shadow of hundreds of marching feet we can see them to the knees only but the uniforms are the confederate gray now we understand the scurrying feet overhead our soldiers have been driven back have retreated left the house and left us to our fate we rushed up the cellar steps to the kitchen the barn was in flames and cast a lurid glare through the window the house was filled with rebels and they were deliberately firing it they had taken down a file of newspapers for kindling piled on books rugs and furniture applied matches to ignite the pile and already a tiny flame was curling upward amelia wrote that they both jumped on the fire in the hopes of extinguishing it and pled with them in pity to spare our home but there was no pity in those determined faces she wrote they proceeded to carry out their full purpose and told us to get out or we would burn with it they were the louisiana tigers they boasted and tigers indeed they were now of course there were no louisiana soldiers anywhere near here on the afternoon of july 1st they were actually members of the 52nd north carolina that had been ordered to burn the building to avoid having it used by the union forces later if the tides were turning back so that if they had to withdraw there wouldn't be more union soldiers coming back and using the house to harass them um with their sharp shooting so at this point amelia harmon and her aunt have to decide are they going to stay in the house and and and try to fight with the confederates to to put the fire out or will they run out into the middle of the battle and seek shelter elsewhere and they decided to run she wrote we fled from our burning home only to encounter worse horrors the first rebel line of battle had passed the house and were now engaged in a hot skirmish in the gorge of willoughby's run the second line was just to breast the barn and at that moment we're being hotly attacked by union troops with shot and shell we were between the lines to go to where town would be to walk into the jaws of death only one way was open through the ranks of the whole confederate army to safety in its rear bullets whistled past our ears shells burst and scattered their deadly contents all about us on we hurried wounded men falling all around us the line moving forward as they fired it seemed with deadly precision past what seemed miles of artillery with horses galloping like mad toward the town she wrote we were objects of wonder and amazement that was certain but few took time to listen to our story and none believed it all kept hurrying us to the rear go on go on they shouted out of reach of grape and canister they returned a few days after the battle to find what amelia described as a powder blackened ruin at the site of their once prosperous two-story brick farm actually in a strange coincidence the farm had actually been built by the reverend charles g mclean and his wife his wife was helen miller who was the aunt of eleanor junkin who some of you may know was the first wife of confederate general stonewall jackson so there's an interesting connection there and in fact the the very soldiers that had accidentally mortally wounded stonewall jackson at the battle of chancellorsville were actually not far from the site and passed by the burning house that had been constructed by his wife's aunt and uncle amelia harman died in new jersey in 1923 and she's one of only a few area citizens whose home was actually intentionally burned during the battle after the civil war the harmon property was converted into a resort after the discovery of a supposed medicinal spring in 1865 and in 1869 a hotel was constructed the gettysburg springs hotel that welcomed throngs of visitors and operated until the early 1900s eventually that hotel burned down in 1917 in an accidental fire then the property became what was for many years called the gettysburg country club a favorite golf course for president eisenhower and then more recently in 2011 the property found its way back uh to becoming part of the gettysburg national military park where you can visit it today so amelia harmon's story is a wonderful testament to some of the experiences of of young children and teenagers she's only 16 years old and has her house burned her house destroyed her entire uh the entire contents of the house were destroyed um and uh so many years later recounted an incredible detail what had happened to her it really speaks to the trauma that these citizens endured in july of 1863 so here we are not far from macpherson's ridge at the john herbst farm on the first day's battlefield john herbst was about 40 years old at the time of the battle and john herbst owned about 160 acres and his property included the area from the fairfield road or the hagerstown pike all the way up to the edge of the macpherson farm and it included a wood lot that after the battle was widely called macpherson's woods although it was owned by john herbst at the time and of course it was in the edge of the woodlot where general john fulton reynolds was killed on july 1st the herps family remained in their cellar during the fighting after the war john herbst filed a claim with the federal government for damages to his property during the battle and according to a deposition a portion of the first army corps of the potomac occupied his farm and around his house and barn during the fighting he and his family took shelter in the cellar there being a great deal of firing about the buildings our troops were compelled to fall back and the rebels took possession of the place he came out of the cellar and was met by a rebel soldier officer of low grade who told him he was ordered to burn the buildings on account of the yankees having been firing from them he set fire to the barn and insisted on burning the house also but found that there were wounded men one of whom was a union soldier and two rebels who had been carried into the house and who begged him not to burn it one of them being too badly wounded to be removed so he did not burn the house the barn was burned to the ground today the barn is rebuilt on the original foundation and according to a date stone it was built about 1872 the original house no longer stands and is replaced by a more modern house sadly for john herbst and his children his wife susan would die on september 2nd 1863 as a direct result of the contamination from the wounded and the dead on the battlefield after the fighting was over you

Channel: Adams County Historical Society at Gettysburg

Views: 9,317

Rating: 4.9792209 out of 5

Keywords: Civil War, Battle of Gettysburg, Gettysburg, Adams County, War

Id: 2pYcnQS-occ

Length: 23min 10sec (1390 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 01 2021