The George Spangler Farm at the Battle of Gettysburg - Presentation by Ron Kirkwood - 6/9/2020

it's you really gives me great pleasure to introduce it because I I've known Iran now for about four years when I first met him when we started re-enacting out at the George Spangler farm and he was a docent there and then ultimately Ron decided with his journalistic journalism background that he was going to write a book about the Spangler farm and he was actually kind enough to act to ask me to review some of the medical things in his manuscript and and I didn't know what to expect and when that book came out of course we rather it's now become required reading for all of us re-enactors anybody who participates in Spangler and I am the talk of the medical carrot at the Battle of Gettysburg which I would give it Spangler and I had to I was able to really update that talk revise it make it much better after Ryan's book came out and I learned a lot about stuff I didn't know but the organization actually the Union Medical Department so for us minute for the medical people that book has been really important and Ron asked if he's been doing lots of roundtables and other presentations other groups since the book came out it's been the best seller amongst the Civil War and rightly so so Ron Kirkwood retired after 40 year career as an editor and writer and newspapers and magazines including USA Today The Baltimore Sun Harrisburg's patriotic news and the New York Daily Record in Pennsylvania he also ended magazines for USA Today sports it USA Today sports and was the National Football League editor for USA Today sports weekly he's won numerous state regional and national writing and editing Awards during his career when he managed the copy desk at the patriot-news the newspaper won the Pulitzer Prize in 2012 he's the author of the book we're going to discuss tonight which was indeed published by Savas Beatie in hardcover I mentioned the presentation last night with Ted savage and we talked a little I talked to him a little bit about mr. Kirkwood is a Michigan native and graduate of Central Michigan University where he turned his guest speaker to journalism classes as part of the school's Hearst visiting Professional Series he served as a Gettysburg foundation guide this is where I met him at the George Spangler farm civil war field hospital since it was open in 2013 so that's when we met 2013 he's a lives in York with his wife Barbara of 43 years congratulations on that so without further ado Ron Kirkwood thank you John let me see if we can get my presentation shared okay his host disabled participant screen-sharing I need to be able to your music Paul I know it's T Paul now but there is Paul Paul's music I just made wrong the host so he can do okay here we go oh I love the future you're doing it wrong not quite done yeah that's it good I'll beat now I'm gonna mute myself I need to have yeah you need the slideshow there we go now we've got it big new slideshow from the beginning right hey everybody say that yes sir alright good thank you and you can all hear me okay thank you District of Columbia it's great to be here in John thank you what John didn't mention is that when I first started researching the book he was the first or second person I walked up to when he was a little bit living historian at the farm and I said okay talk to me about Civil War medicine and he did he stood there very patiently he gave me my my kindergarten start on Civil War one medicine Civil War medicine and then once I advanced and actually wrote the chapter one chapter is entirely about the medicine I gave it to John to edit and he probably prevented a mistake or two by editing it so John has been there from the beginning to the end in this book and he's made it better so so thank you John I'm excited about the Spangler's story and I'm excited to share with you folks I argue in my book that the George Spangler farm was the most important farm in the Battle of Gettysburg so we're going to look at that first we'll also dis just the Spangler's will discuss the two hospitals that were on their farm and we'll look at the last three days of louis Armistead's life which he spent at the George Spangler farm now the map on the left you can see the Army of the Potomac line July 2nd July 3rd right behind it in gray is the huge George Spangler farm dominating the line dominating the countryside behind the line it's huge it's 166 acres and look how close it is to that line it's close to the left flank it's close to the center and it's close to the right flank then there are the roads Grannis cows Elaine cuts right through the middle of the farm and it's marked by the blue arrow then there's blacksmith shop Road which also cuts through the farm marked by the blue X's both roads are leading directly to the line and they connect the Taneytown Road and the Baltimore pike the two main arteries I'm with the Tomek Army of the Potomac commanders saw all of these advantages early on this farm had the size it had a location and it had the roads to put infantry in artillery in reserve on Spangler right behind the line and then as needed at those reserves aligned quickly in time to fill holes this was a farm that could help win a battle I admit this person here's the George banger fireman here's how the Army of the Potomac used it all of you folks in a meeting like this in a roundtable like this and an important club knows about the 20th Maine Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the other fifth Corps regiments that rushed a Little Round Top and got there just in time to prevent a Confederate breakthrough what you folks might not know is from about noon on July 2nd that core and the regiment's in it spent its afternoon resting on Spangler to the right on the map on Spangler and on the Boucher and muster farms this was right behind the round tops on Spangler so at about 5 o'clock they got the order rushed to the line so the 5th Corps took off they rushed down granite schoolhouse Lane and they rushed down blacksmith shop Road got the Little Round Top in time as we all know they had barely been gone for very long than the 6th Corps took over the very land this Corps had been in but they weren't long before they dashed down granite schoolhouse Lane as well to the front then later that night on July 2nd a division of the 12th Corps came off of Culp's Hill up to the top right of the map and you know where they went granite schoolhouse Lane to the front General George Meade had his Main Street and it was called granite schoolhouse Lane through the heart of the George Spangler farm now we're gonna cover the 11th Corps hospital in detail in a bit that's number 10 on the map now do you see the two spots on the map where the word ambulance is is those are George Spangler's wheat fields and when the 11th Corps had 100 ambulances and when they weren't it's Spangler they were on East Cemetery Hill or they were out on the battlefield but they spent a lot of time at Spangler at one point George said that his two wheat fields were white with ambulances now number 9 is the artillery reserve which we're going to get to in a bit but accompanying that the artillery reserve is the ammunition train that's 100 wagons of ammunition and they're supplying the ammunition for all of the artillery in the Army of the Potomac they brought twenty four thousand rounds of ammunition with them on July 2nd and when they left on July 3rd they only had 4,000 rounds left and you can imagine how much space 100 wagons and the mules and the men and the equipment how much room that took up on Spangler the areas on the map to the west or to the left is where more artillery and infantry cavalry bivouacs number 4 granite schoolhouse I'll get to that in a bit and then to the right is powers Hill 2/3 of powers Hill was owned by the Spangler's and the other third was owned by Nathaniel Lightner the northern part so there was artillery up there there was infantry up there there was a signal station up on top of powers Hill the flags waving General Slocum 12th Corps put his headquarters up on top and at the base of powers Hill on the 1st and he stayed there until July 5th and in general Meade we all know his headquarters were on the Taneytown Road until he got bombed out in the cannonade prior to Pickett's Charge so after he left the townie town road he retreated to Spangler and Lightner land on the top of flowers Hill now once the battle ended he left Fowler's Hill went out to the battlefield again but that later that night on us on the 3rd he came back to Spangler land and he made his headquarters on the Baltimore Pike on the bottom of powers Hill on George Spangler land there's a marker there where Slocum's headquarters were a Slocum headquarters marker but that's also where Mead was right on the Baltimore Pike right at the bottom of the hill he stayed there till about midday July 4th when they the thunderstorms hit and they moved elsewhere inside on the Baltimore Pike frozen there we go that photo shows one artillery battery that's all of the horses and wagons and men needed to operate six cannons up rated fire six cannon so that's one artillery battery there were 19 of those batteries on a George Spangler farm they all arrived in the morning and afternoon on July 2nd there were seven Union infantry Corps at Gettysburg and they all had their own artillery they though had to go where their car went the artillery reserve were free agents they worked for the army not for a corps they were the key utility players that you plugged in who and you could count on them to do a great job for you so that's what Meade and general hunt did on July 2nd and 3rd they plugged holes in the line as they developed the artillery reserve left Spangler on July 2nd they fought at the peach orchard they fought at the Trostle house Kaduri they fought all along Cemetery Ridge they fought at Ziegler's Grove Cemetery Hill East Cemetery Hill even thought on powers Hill most of you folks have probably seen that famous photo at the Trostle farm of all the dead horses lying on the ground there next to the barn in the house those are ninth Massachusetts battery horses and they had just Bennett Spangler they came out of Spangler from a couple hours earlier and that's where they died other farms saw a lot more combat than the George Spangler farm in the Battle of Gettysburg and were literally destroyed by it but no single farm played a greater strategic and logistical role with its two roads with powers Hill and it's middle of it all location than the George Spangler farm in setting up the Army of the Potomac victory now the hospitals which think we're going to have some pauses tonight between slides well my computer thinks about it shame technology there we go the first division caught the heaviest of the blow many killed and wounded were the result and the latter are now being brought to the hospital in great numbers granite schoolhouse surgeon in charge dr. William Warren Potter 57th New York granite schoolhouse was built in the early 1860s when the Spangler's donated the land for it in the middle of their farm on days two and three of the battle there was a major First Division second Corps Army of the Potomac Hospital in the fields and woods around this school this hospital has received little attention yes okay and as little has been revealed about it until now and I think that's a shame there's not even a sign for it like there are for so many other division hospitals around Gettysburg it's just over overgrown unmarked land now with thorns and poison ivy as shown in the photo at left if you wanted to find granite schoolhouse hospital these days it would be tough if you see that tree that log has fallen down that accidentally marks the location of the granite schoolhouse across from the cavalry monument on the other side of the street this hospital hosted the guys who fought off the Wheatfield 1st division 2nd Corps one of the bloodiest and most well known places on a battlefield these were the fighters of the Irish Brigade this was a division of Father Corby who granted general absolution to them moments before they went into battle clearing their path for to heaven this is a division of in the corps of general Hancock this division lost more than 1,000 men and on July 2nd alone and by the end of that day by the end of that day and their fighting at the wheat field these guys were either at granite schoolhouse in the Middle's Spangler they were waiting to be taken there or they were prisoners of war look at that Chaplin John Henry will grant stuck in Berga veeery and the 145th Pennsylvania served at the granite schoolhouse he said our hospital was at the foot of powers Hill I found the doctors and nurses busily engaged with the wounded scattered around in all directions some lying on blankets some on straw a few on stretchers others on the bare ground private Erastus Allen of Company G shot through the abdomen suffered terribly some of the intestines protruded through the wound and some of their contents would occasionally flow out producing a horrible stench it was very evident that our regiment had again suffered severely second floor ambulance chief lieutenant Thomas Livermore of New Hampshire made numerous deliveries to grant a schoolhouse on July 2nd here under the shelter up some boulders lay a large number of our wounded and dead who had been brought from the field they lay upon the ground covered with their blankets and the living were nearly all silent having fallen asleep from fatigue they weren't using the schoolhouse building that was reserved for the second corps medical staff that was a second corps headquarters but all the fields around it all that valley leading right up to the base of powers hill and the wheat fields next to it that was a granite schoolhouse hospital brigadier General's General Samuel Kaiser was treated that granite schoolhouse after being mortally wounded at the wheat field when he was laid on the table the surgeon could could see his heart beating through the hole in his chest Sherman is ruined to be fatal and they sent him farther behind a line where he died on July 3rd and that monument is on Wheatfield Road and it marks the general area where general Zook was shot Colonel Edward E cross of New Hampshire was shot on the other side of the wheat field and he died the night of July second at granite schoolhouse he was beloved in his home state of New Jersey and by many of his fighters but he also was despised by a few of his fighters because he had a temper and he was a heavy drinker this pioneer Corps called him a tyrant and refused to bury him at Gettysburg again the road crossed Avenue is between Devil's Den and the wheat field and that marker down there is the location of where cross was wounded Lieutenant General George a Woodruff of the first United States artillery battery I was mortally wounded on July 3rd during Pickett's Charge he had his back to the Confederates while facing and directing his Man of Ziegler's Grove the son of a Michigan judge died at granite schoolhouse telling his friends that he regretted being shot in the back and asking that it should be no reflection on his reputation most of the first divisions second Corps Hospital at Granite's Colossus moved to safety farther behind the line on day three after 24 hours of intense service because it was getting hit by Confederate artillery / shots from Culp's Hill to the east and the picket is charged cannonade to the west granite schoolhouse hosted an important huge hospital on Spangler land that took care of the fighters from the wheat field and this hospital warrants recognition my hope is that some day the National Park Service cleans up this land parking is put in nearby signs are installed and the foundation of the school is uncovered so visitors can stop meditate and honor this place of sacrifice now I've made my thoughts known to the Park Service and I would love it if any of you folks and if you share my feelings let the Park Service know as well there we go one day cured me of a hospital give me the picket line every time in place of a hospital captain Bandini 154th New York after visiting the 11th Corps hospital at the Spangler's farm 11th Corps Medical staffers picked the Spangler's farm for a hospital on July 1st because of its proximity to the evolving frontline and access to water crops and livestock for food buildings for hospital purposes good roads and wood for operating tables Flyers tents and caskets while the 1st division 2nd Corps hospital used the school on Spangler land the 11th Corps hospital used the Spangler's barn summer kitchen housed other outbuildings and fields George Spangler was 47 years old during the battle and Elizabeth was 44 their children all of whom were living at home for 21 year old Harriet 19 year old Sabina 17 year old Daniel and 14 year old Ben the six Spangler's were ordered by the 11th Corps doctors on July 1st either leave or stay together out of the way in one upstairs bedroom so that bedroom is where they lived during the five weeks in two days that their home was a hospital they could leave the room but in doing so they had to step over and around and wounded and dying men just to get out of their house Leon the ambulance corps started delivering 11th Corps and other wounded Spengler at about 4:00 p.m. on July 2nd Paula corps was fighting north of town and in town at its peak on July 4th and 5th sanitary commission and the Christian Commission both estimated that there were about 1,900 wounded at this hospital and of those 1,900 between 50 and 100 were Confederates dr. Jett Daniel G Britton of Westchester Pennsylvania said the wound is soon began to pour in giving us such sufficient occupation that from the 1st of July to the afternoon of the 5th I was not absent from the hospital more than once and then but for an hour or two very hard work it was two and little sleep felt to our share four operating tables were going night and day many of them were hurt in the most shocking manner by shells my experience at Chancellorsville was nothing compared to this and I never wished to see such another sight for myself I think I never was more exhausted surgeries and amputations took place under the forebay right there of the Spangler's barn there doctors could have more light and fresh air away from the smells and crowds inside the barn for surgeons worked under the forebay with their backs to the wall of the barn a surgeon would finish one amputation or operation at five to 15 minutes and then move immediately to the next one no washing required a bloody order invested hands are bloody equipment because they didn't understand how proper sanitation could prevent infection and reduce the spread of disease sometimes the Spangler surgeon with germ covered hands would infect us culture with a disease a Spangler surgeon approaching total exhaustion called the work too much for human endurance private William Sotherton age 19 75th Ohio said at the doorway I saw a huge stack of amputated arms and legs a stack as high as my head the most horrible thing I ever saw in my life I wish I had never seen it i sickened amputated limbs were eventually loaded into a wagon and buried somewhere on a Spangler's property the amputations and surgeries and wounds attracted an infestation of flies that relentlessly harassed everyone pigeons in the barn added to the filth and Hornets added to the pain then there were the maggots that covered wounds and stops infections were expected after a civil war surgery and the worst inspection infections could be smelled 8 to 10 feet up to 8 to 10 feet away so you can imagine the stench that greeted a hospital staffer a visitor in the barn or when entering a tent filled with 8 to 10 men all suffering with infections to help battle the smell Spangler hospital workers cut branches off pine trees and hung them on a tents and use them for bedding what happened there we go each change of slide is a victory tonight you folks probably all know these Pennsylvania Bank barn x' that's what the Spangler's had the bank on the back the forebay on the front the post that you see were added by the foundation when they rehabbed the barn three years ago just to hold the four bay up these tight barns were brought over by the Swiss and the Germans in the 17 and 1800's you can see them all over the battlefield they're all over south central Pennsylvania up to Harrisburg up to Allentown York County as a lot of these Adams County Franklin County and I and even though there's some in Maryland they're uh yeah men were crammed so closely together in the Spangler's barn that it caused a spread of diseases some men died of these diseases rather than the battle wound that brought them to the hospital all of this hospital was horrific all of this barn was horrific but it was a worst under the forebay where the amputations took place and just inside that front wall inside and a stable that's where the worst cases awaited their surgery amid cries of agony and smells of infection body fluids and human feces cries and screams could be heard 50 yards away in the Spangler's House hospital workers covered their head with a pillow at night to try to drown out the sounds a chaplain walked through the stable picking his way through the men and reading Scripture and praying with them and attempting to help send him on their way outside in the Spangler fields the army didn't provide enough tents or bedding food or clothes for the first several days multiplying the misery of the wounded and dying men who were forced to lie in the mud in the open when the thunderstorms came corporal William R Kiefer 153rd Pennsylvania Hospital Stewart said hundreds were lying with but feeble or in most cases with no shelter exposed to a cold incessant rain against the sides of the barn and in an orchard adjoining the sheds their moans were her in every direction and with a lantern I moved about from one to another during the long hours of the night I searched in vain for blankets to cover the suffering and dying to field two female nurses played key roles at Spangler Marilla hubby and her 17 year old son Frank traveled with her husband dr. Bleeker Lansing Hobie 136 New York she was always one of the first ones to reach a hospital bring a bad eye but unfortunately we don't have any photos of mrs. Hobie the ho bees are the only surgeons family known to have traveled together during the entire Civil War she nursed them wounded and wrote home to family members of the dead and dying she was she worked in a stable a lot and she was able to go into sort of an autopilot mode and look past their terrible wounds and their suffering and hold the hands of dying soldiers and talked to them in a desperate attempt to get their mind off their agony and situation in one letter from Spangler mrs. Hobie informed a family of their son's death and told them I've had a great deal of care of him and called him my soldier boy and tried to take the place of mother sister and friend I think I never had such a trial parting with one that I had no more acquaintance with the homies worked at the 11th Corps Hospital II in entire five weeks it was hoping then they went home to New York for three weeks to recover nurse Rebecca Lane Pennypacker price of Phoenixville Pennsylvania rode to Gettysburg on a bench in a rat in a railroad cattle car in the middle of the night the donations shortly after the battle then went to work as an unpaid nurse at Spangler she said the sad scenes would fill a volume so many times at night I lay on my stretcher weeping instead of sleeping Captain Augustus big nose 107th Ohio was wounded on July 1st on what is now Barlow no gangrene developed and his right arm was amputated above the elbow at Spangler mrs. price nursed him from near death until he was well enough to take a train home to Canton Ohio he went he went on to marry in 1860 steaks have nine children many grandchildren and amassing substantial wealth as a businessman she was a pallbearer bearer that the funeral of close friend William McKinley big-nose carried mrs. prices photo for forty years after the war he often showed her photo to fellow ex soldiers at national encampments an attempt to find her and thank her but without locked finally in 1906 he received a letter from her dear sir do you remember the tall nurse at Gettysburg who furnished you with clothing so that you could go home she had found him big-nose replied that he looked forward to seeing her with great pleasure and their reunion took place in a ger encampment in New York State in 1906 43 years after they met at the Spangler's farm this happens to be my wife barb she did a lot of the research with me and we spent a week up at Cornell University going through 19 of these filthy horrible boxes looking for information on the 154th New York because they had patients at Spangler and they had medical staff that Spangler these boxes were so filthy of 1800 dirt and grime and falling apart paper that we were just covered in it when we went home or when we went back to the hotel each day and it turned out to be so bad that Cornell is now closed down these boxes and they're calling them an environmental hazard and nobody can access them so I was lucky in that aspect that we were able to go through them and I was doubly lucky because not only did we find a lot about the 154th New York but so many of those guys were at Spangler when general Armistead arrived that I got a lot of comments and a lot of insight on Armistead that had never been published before so despite the filth it was a good trip to Cornell Armistead lingered through the 4th and died on the 5th leaving an example of patriotism heroism and devotion to duty which ought to be handed down through the generations colonel Raleigh Martin of 53rd Virginia Armistead began the final walk of his life what would become known as Pickett's charge on a seminary Ridge farm of Henry Spangler he would die two days later on the farm of Henry's half-brother George Armistead arrived at George and Elizabeth spanglish farm at dusk on July 3rd 1863 according to doctor Henry van Arnhem of the 154th New York and again this is one of the many things I got in those boxes at the cornell are instead arrived in an ambulance he was removed on a stretcher and placed on the ground next to the ambulance near the Spangler's barn 11th Corps hospital workers private Emery Sweetland and private Edson aims of the 154th described Armistead's appearance as pretty bloody and covered with blood Sweetland hurt Armistead as he lay on a stretcher say you have a man here that is not afraid to die spanglish property was a shoulder to shoulder massive confusion agony and crying when Armistead arrived hundreds of wounded men from Pickett's Charge were pouring in as overwhelm surgeons desperately tried to find who could be saved with immediate attention even so the arrival of the Confederate General turned heads hospital staffers and most wounded had no idea of Armistead historic courage that day but still a large crowd of workers and Gawker's formed around his stretcher circling Armistead the crowd was eventually broken up when dr. van Aaron him arrived at Armistead side and ordered that he be carried away for treatment fellow Spangler patient first lieutenant TC Holland 28th Virginia said he and Armistead were placed in the orchard lieutenant Holland said at one point under the trees and Armistead asked the doctors and nurses working around him to please don't step so close to me doctor van Arnhem described Armistead as wild nervous flighty saying war must cease men have same blood and he could not live Spangler patient private justice Suliman 17th connecticut described the 46 year old Armistead as rather past middle age I haven't swing that gray hair and whiskers dr. J cleen 55th Ohio said Armistead was suffering intense pain induced by the wound stimulant and painkillers were immediately given him dr. Britton took time to get to know Armistead calling him a fine man intelligent and refined he said I had considerable conversation with him and was much pleased with his manners and language Armistead died July 5th in a summer kitchen a separate building shown to the right of the Spangler's house in that photo Army of the Potomac Captain Frederick Stowe the son of author Harriet Beecher Stowe of Uncle Tom's Cabin Fame was his roommate in a building which was reserved for VIPs Stowe lived Armistead was wrapped in a blanket placed in a coffin made of wood from the Spangler's farm and buried in their orchard one month later here he was exhumed by an embalmer seeking to make money off his body so Armistead was dug up after a month in a wood coffin his body and was embalmed in whatever condition it was in and then it was remarried his body was dug up one more time in October when his family claimed him Andrew buried him in Baltimore now I have found confirmed and listed the names wound in treatment of 1,435 Union and Confederate men at the Spangler 11 court hospital and the names of almost 140 men who were buried in the Spangler's peach and apple orchards the Union men were exhumed within a few months after the battle and reburied a soldier whose National Cemetery in Gettysburg most Confederates other than Armistead lay in Gettysburg until 1872 when they were exhumed and reburied across the south Armistead is one of five Confederates known to have been buried in Spangler 50-year old colonel Eli of Sherrill of 126 New York died in the Spangler's house this funeral in Geneva New York Jew line several blocks long his image is on that monument to the 166 2126 New York as Ziegler's Grove assistant surgeon William s Moore was the only doctor who died in Gettysburg he died at Spangler he left behind one a one-year-old and two year old children and young wife Sarah who mourned for the rest of her life and never remarried Colonel Francis Mahler 75th Pennsylvania also died in a Spangler's house Philadelphia City Council honored him of the resolution and Patriots funeral his brother second lieutenant Louis died on the battlefield on July 1st at about the time in a place of his brothers mortally wounding sergeant Nelson W Jones of the third main Dinah Spangler after being hit in both legs in the peach orchard by a cannonball he died even though he made and applied tourniquets by himself on the battlefield he was 20 or 21 years old Ivan Jorge Nixon of the 73rd Ohio died a Spangler he would become the great grandfather of President Richard Nixon George was 40 years old when he entered the Army as a poor man working on a farm that he rented he left behind a wife and nine children when he went off to war probably only enlisting to make money to support his family adjutant and 1st lieutenant Joseph Haney aged 21 at the 157th new york died of a leg wound is banglar nurse price walked next to his stretcher and held an umbrella over him to protect him from the July Sun as he was taken to the Spangler barn for an amputation first lieutenant Thomas wheeler 75th Ohio age 25 spent almost a month with Spangler before he died of wounds in his right side right leg left groin and left arm his parents were at his side and nurse Pratt price saying Rock of Ages to him as he died this is sergeant Henry C's of the 82nd Ohio and he wrote this letter to his brother from us from Spangler my leg was amputated just above the knee I stood the operation very well being under the influence of chloroform I am very well cared for and in a fair way to get along well I hope mother will not worry herself about me sergeant C's died a week after he wrote that letter home one soldier died in Spangler one day before his grief-stricken father reached his side another died a few days before his wife reached Spangler family members obviously found out about their loved ones death when they arrived many died at the 11th Corps Hospital who were the lone source of income for their sickly parents back home many died in Spangler as teenagers but the vast majority of 11th Corps hospital patients survived including captain Alfred Ely 82nd Ohio who went home to Ohio picked up the town newspaper when he arrived on his obituary in the newspaper saw his funeral was going on so then he walked in on his funeral Brigadier General Francis Barlow spent a week as Fang there were three wounds that numerous doctors declared to be mortal but he surprised all of them and lived it is thought that his wife Arabella attended him at Spangler corporal James Brownlee of 134th New York survived seven gunshot wounds at the Brickyard on July 1st one of which broke four ribs he also was shot three times through the bowels and in the left thigh right thigh and lower back if you combine the number of wounded at granite schoolhouse with a number of wounded at the 11th Corps hospital in and around the Spangler's barn then the Spangler is hosted between 2,500 and 3,000 wounded soldiers on their property more than the entire population of Gettysburg of 2400 at the time the surgeons at Spangler were among the best of the best for their time and they say far more lives than they lost and just like the soldiers these surgeons were taken prisoner they were wounded they got sick and they suffered and sacrificed greatly many Spangler surgeons were in their 30s and 40s when they died because of their exposure to disease their horrifying work for food long marches and unsanitary camp life I dug up in my research the names of 15 head surgeons who worked at the 11th Corps Hospital and most of them went on to leadership roles in medicine in their community after the war these guys are three of my favorites dr. Henry van Heerden 154th New York was a passionate opponent of slavery who wanted full civil rights to black he said the curse of God visits on all that come in contact with this atrocious institution dr. van Arnhem served four terms as the United States congressman unknown to dr. van Arnhem his nephew and namesake 22-year old captain Henry van Aaron and fuller of the 64th New York was killed July 2nd and Gettysburg while dr. van Aaron and worked nearby at Spangler dr. van and I'm constantly told his wife in letters home how much he loved her and how much he missed her dr. Henry Kenneth 153rd Pennsylvania was captured at Chancellorsville and held prisoner for four weeks and his health never recovered he was sick as he cared for others at Spangler and he remained sick after he was transferred to work at Camp blood Herman later in July he died not long after the war at age 45 Spangler surgeon dr. J clean 55th Ohio was captured by Confederate cavalry while on his way home after being mustered out in Georgia in 1864 and imprisoned for three months he filed a claim to the government for losses sustained and expenses incurred but was denied because he was taken prisoner after he was mustered out the 11th car wounded continued to be sent away until finally on August 7th Spangler's had their farm back at least what was left of it Jorge filed three damage claims of the season federal government's totaling about five thousand dollars but they received only ninety and it's believed that the entire ninety dollars went to the Washington DC attorney so they got nothing the u.s. quartermasters agent said in denying their claims the government of the United States is no more responsible for bringing on the battle fought there than it would have been at a tornado go passed over that country causing his widespread destruction as did that terrible engagement that battle and hospital damage was his misfortune these are the two known photos of immediate George Spangler family members and the one on the top is received a lot of play that's binaya the youngest son in the middle that's his wife Sarah and then their daughter Mary Elizabeth and it's believed that William Tipton took this photo in 1888 and the 25th anniversary of the battle benaiah was living on the farm and farming it after his parents move bought the book bought the muster farm next door moved there but mom and dad still owned the farm and paid the taxes on it but you can see in 1880 how the farm developed if you can see on the house to the porch there on the house everything to the left of the porch was added before 1870 so the Spangler's did okay bouncing back from their damage in front of the house you can see the white smoke house for the smoking of their meats if you come back closer to us outside the picket fence you can see the outhouse and the picket fence they always put the nicest fences up close around the yard and in the closed buildings the summer kitchen is there to the right of the house and that's a great barber on the front of it the great barbers were important back then not only for the graves but for the shade they did a lot of there chores under the shade of the gray barber and you can see the oven for baking bread sticking out on this side of the summer kitchen the building I mean the schoolhouse bottom right this photo was taken probably in 86 or 87 benaiah Spangler that's again him he's in the very left of the photo under the X looking like he just walked off the set of fiddler on the roof Naiya is in the photo because he was on the Cumberland Township School Board um I guess she's probably blocked just under the photos on the right of us is his daughter Mary Elizabeth again under the blue arrow is Clara Patterson and the blue oval is Alice Patterson their daughters of sabina George's second child who married Patterson so he had three grandkids going to this school you can't see her because she's covered up to the right but the teacher is Maggie Schwarz and she's actually holding a ruler and down by the dog the little boy with the dog that's little Raphael sure fee of the peach orchard family fame whoa his dad was also Rafi yeah but he was dead by this point despite that despite his disadvantages little Raphael grew up become a dentist George Chairman George Spangler was chairman of the Cumberland Township School Board when he donated the land for grant a schoolhouse to be built on his property in 1861 so you can see benaiah followed in his dad's footsteps to being on a school board and then George's dad Abraham also served on the Cumberland Township school George also was a church in Adams County leaders 30 serving on several boards and he was on a evergreen cemetery board when they voted not to allow any Confederates to be buried there at the time a teacher whom George hired said mr. Spangler proved himself to be a very efficient school official and made a lasting impression on my mind as a man of truthfulness and honesty in all things and I live to see my belief demonstrated time again Elizabeth Spangler took care of her widower follower in his later years father in his later years and made sure he was buried next to her and George the Spangler's also took in a nice after George's sister Susannah died in 1863 all for Spangler children became productive adults Harriet and sabina married local farmers and had families Daniel moved to Kansas to use his carpentry skills in the growing new state and settled near Abilene around the time the Wild Bill Hickok served as marshal there in the early 1870s but now I worked the family farm for many years until he gave up farming and moved into Gettysburg as was common in those days personal tragedy followed the Spangler's George's daughter Harriet died two months after he died and Harriet's daughter Annie died a few days after her mother so Elizabeth Spangler lost her husband a daughter and a granddaughter in a little more than two months also one of Daniels two sons drowned in Kansas and burn Aya's only grandchild died as a toddler as dr. Willa knows very well from being there so often and serving so many people there after an almost complete rebuild since perching the purchasing the property in 2008 the Gettysburg foundation now puts the farm to visitors and offers programs and tours of society Saturdays and Sundays in June July and early August at battle anniversary days on July 1st and 3rd that oppening has been opening has been delayed this year because of the coronavirus Adams County has gone green I just got a hint that this the farm still would not be open this weekend there may be thinking about the following weekend so check the gauge brick foundation website check the George Spangler farm Facebook group again doc will anism George Spangler farm Facebook group and you can get more information and by the way most of the wood and that rebuilt barn that looks so nice down at the bottom right that wood was there in 1863 and is the same wood that the men lay on and lay next to finally if a sadder task can be found on this earth than that of searching through field hospitals after a battle I know not what it is those huge Pennsylvania barns covered with the mangled bodies of men thick as they could lie many among them destined never to see the light of another day presented a spectacle at time cannot effaced from the memory of those who duty called to witness the saddest of mortal sites Captain James F Huntington artillery reserve thank you so much for your time I appreciate having me I have one more slide to show if the books are starting to reopen the bookstores are starting to reopen Gettysburg Heritage Center Civil War and more mechanicsburg but everything else that so that carries my book is still closed you can buy it directly from me at a good price lower than Amazon to email me and you can also buy it online at publisher Savas Beatie for a 20% discount so those are your options for buying the book are there any questions yeah I just wanna say a couple things before we open it up am i you guys hearing me I hear you yes okay good good now first of all thank you we're on now and that was great and there's a couple things that you didn't get to that you're in the book that I think are interesting well I'm glad you mentioned big now because I'm from Canton Ohio but so I knew his story but the you mentioned dr. Hovey and his wife there actually is a colleague of mine who's a reenactor named Rex Hovey who's down I think a grande Neffs great-grandnephew dr. homie nobody in that Irian axud spangling he has his instruments actually yeah yes dr. Hokies instruments you know he's apparently brought him from there and and you know everyone I always wondered why why Armistead died so quickly when dr. Britain and others it written Italy examined him I thought that he only had mild a couple of mild wounds I think in the in the arm and the side well apparently dr. Ben van arstan and and and dr. Javy said to the other chest wound and that's actually why and the the Park Service hasn't changed their interpretation or anything but Rex says it says family story and that that dr. Brenton did then initially think he's even take his uniform off and that they found that this chest wound so may explains and the other thing about granite schoolhouse which is sort of ironic is this I believe it was the first place general Hancock was brought and therefore both Hancock and Armistead were on Spangler property yes only a quarter a mile apart yeah no clothes it's actually painful to think they were so close they could have got together maybe that would have helped Armistead survived I don't know yeah we both taken off the field at about the same time because Hancock had to wait for an ambulance and he wanted issue orders Armistead had to wait for an ambulance all the ambulances were and and Jackie grill who's my nurse Spangler Jackie's we found that spot yes you're right it's in a bad place yeah you can find a bunch of rocks and yeah not to be the foundation but I think the Park Service could really do it I would yeah I wish they would now the Park Service by the way has rehabilitated besides the barn in the farmhouse which is now state-of-the-art meeting center communications they didn't restore it to the way it was in 1863 they restored it as a modern conference center officers for the foundation and so forth and even has an indoor bathroom so the reenactors can use an indoor bathroom yeah and I have a I have a picture of it now that I'm going to show in just a second and I actually argued for them the pride house at Antietam has a great medical museum and there is enough information now now that this book is out that they could have made the first floor that house a museum and given something else for visitors to go through but they chose to make it a conference center on the first floor and offices on the second floor and when they did when it foot offices in a conference center and they had to take the driveway all the way up to the summer kitchen so all that historic land is now underground yeah there's gravel there yeah and the other thing they're supposed to be a walking trail apparently yeah that's not done yeah they're still working on the visitor center yeah and they're gonna take it now down to Taneytown Road because they had water issues on the power sale route and and our group has because we have older members we have decided not to go this summer I don't know if Paul's made a decision the site manager that what he's gonna do I may go if on my own if he does open it up though yeah I don't even think they're gonna do bus runs out there yeah it probably is kaput for this this season it's too bad like everything else now do we have any questions from ya yeah Ron thank you very much I appreciate your presentation is very good and now I know why Stan always said he never wanted to have John speak at our dinner it's pretty bloody but maybe we can have John speak instead of clemmer because maybe it's more agreeable when it's just on a zoom presentation but I had two questions for you Mick Bedard said that the Union started with only 98 doctors in service and then it grew to ten thousand I don't know what it was like for the Confederate side but there were a lot of doctors there I just was wondering if you knew whether that was decorated and what what the person was with the Confederacy and the other question and 11,000 number was over the course of the entire war I've seen a number 12 at Gettysburg the army of the Tomek had died but then when the army left town on July 5th there were only about a hundred they had all these surgeries going on on the fifth and a sixth and a seventh and they went from 600 to some surgeons to 100 surgeons well now the Union excuse me the Union left behind around 300 the Confederates left behind by a hundred but in this market market markedly reduced the number that we give is 12,500 for the Union unknown for the Confederates at least 5000 probably surgeons the number the number I got from the museum the Civil War Museum of Medicine was 106 Union soldiers were left behind and 40 Confederate were left behind no that's not right I mean yeah in you know they that that there are way more doctors left left behind in that the Confederates themselves left behind proportionally more and more that they attend they had they had at least 10 went to prison at Fort McHenry actually well I was just shocked at how few there were at the beginning of the warren house right yeah the other question I had was you talked about how bodies were exhumed from the Spangler farm after the war but did they also exhume the limbs and would there be if they're still there is there a way to get any sort of DNA to trace them you know to is there if there was any ability to garner any research from any limbs that might have been left behind the day's work foundation has done very limited study on that they did something out in the orchard before they planted the trees there to make sure there weren't any bodies or limbs buried out there and they found nothing out in the orchard where the cemetery was I don't know what their plans are as far as looking for the limbs I for some reason and vision them between the house and the road on east side of the house out in that field because the wind blows west to east usually and those fields were soft I don't know I just would there be any way to a research value if they did find limbs is there any way to how would things like DNA to be able to determine especially because they know well at least from what we what I've come up with we know what Confederates were there so I would think they could match it up I just don't know if they're planning on they've never mentioned since I've been out there in 2013 if they're interested in finding those limbs as I knew where they were but nobody else today knows Ron would you mind sending me back to control of the the screen so I could unmute everybody should click on my right corner and send to control the screen back over so is the screen sharing part to me so I can unmute everybody anybody that wants to unhear going on mood yourselves now is that I guess just as a follow-up is it there National Historic Preservation Act requirements to do something with that you know the National Park Service has as archaeology someone who specials in archaeology I can't think of his name at the moment but he would be the right person like if they have mentioned talking about doing some digging behind granite schoolhouse so he is always a person involved in something like that so you know where we could look him up and ask that very important question where are they I have a whole 80 acres to look for them I don't know how long that would take but it seems kind of important all right my last question was was I the only one struck about how George Nixon looked like President Nixon really there is some resemblance there you know and yet when Nixon was was the vice president yeah I think unlawfully as president - he paid somebody to put fresh flowers on that grave every week and he visited the grave - yeah Ron it's Philbin's I'll have question for you and that is from your slides it looks as if the farm was relative hands or a number of years and it was relatively recent acquisition by the National Park Service can you talk about that a little bit it was in private hands the Spangler's sold it in 1908 I think it was and then the foundation Ginsberg foundation purchased it in 2008 and it sat there for a while and they just let it sit and they make sure the electricity didn't electrocute anybody made sure the barn would stand up and in 2013 they rebuilt it a little bit enough for the public to get to be able to visit and by 2016 they had it the barn is summer kitchen the smokehouse all that was done and then last year the last thing was the house and they turned that into a conference center and offices with a 1 million dollar contribution from construction I can show you a picture if I get the PowerPoint back on a beautiful picture of what the farm looks like today yes it's the same construction company that did the new visitor center there oh can I get back to the PowerPoint yeah I just I just said your host ok or maybe I didn't maybe I sent the wrong person sorry Ron sorry ok by the way rich I like your background if we can get signed books from you when we send a email to you yeah if you email me sign books discounted including packaging and shipping no I still can't get it there's a new photo I would really love it if I could show it to you folks I know John has probably seen it well I'm a yeah I I was there for the when they had the ribbon-cutting for the farm house because I'm a I'm a donor for that project oh well can I get I'm working on it sir okay it's really it's really the foundation and not the Park Service so on Park Service land but there there's even been some friction between the Park Service and the foundation they used to send Rangers out there the first year to do programs and they pulled back they cut that so now the docents and the foundation have to do all the programs they even didn't artilleries the demonstration when the Park Service was there because of the fact it was the artillery Maryland King I accidentally put you as host instead of Long Creek there was a boo-boo please send it back Mary Ellen King hi Carolyn right-click on me yep participated participants then you get to really see what the farm looks like today yeah III was there also when it looked like the first picture was falling down it was horrible volunteers were involved in hiding on that hey Sasha is that you from okay you should have it yep it's beautiful that's my hometown ah yes you should have that control sorry well senator run will and Paul which Paul is that I let me I'm Paul mizuka sorry who's the other paw that's Paul severance am I supposed to have this yeah screen sharing and instead it's turn to Ron one please or send to me Ron Kirk thank you for your help see Steve Fletcher and missed my my accolade for doing all the educational stuff you didn't start late Steve you miss no Steve here I didn't see Steve earlier yeah I did I wasn't paying attention to the times in the message I was thinking 7 o'clock he's only asked figure I know that all is not sent the host yet and and David David Hilliard you also missed our comment about hollow the audio recording Caroline's there Carolyn pardon me wait program oh thanks are you home in Connecticut well we're in Gettysburg are you yeah Ron Kirkwood you're now the host yay there we go what do you think folks Wow George would be proud of it Oh neater than it was on in 1860 oh that looks like it was painted that's an actual drone shot or something it is it's a drone it's 80 acres there now so 166 acres when the Spangler's owned it and I lost reason the back you see all those beautiful trees they weren't there a lot fewer trees were there at 1863 but the cemetery was here down in the left hand corner that was their orchard and you can see the left of the house that they added on back for 1870 again conference room bottom floor offices top floor bathrooms etc behind it well I don't think visitors on weekends are going to be able to go into the house so it's just gonna be the smoke house of summer kitchen right there's nothing what's the angle we're looking at is that self-- we're on the south east of effete the battlefield is on the other side of the trees and the visitors center is up above top right that direction yeah not only is the battlefield its Cemetery Ridge and so that that barn had to be evacuated during the candidate because the shells were where they're over shooting were landing in a Spangler farm yeah the the wounded remained in the barn though yeah they they took some of them out of the barn because of the over shots they did they carried them farther away I have a bid on that in the book now if the foundation really wanted to have this exact yura they would put a great barber back on the summer kitchen because it was important to the Spangler I have a question I'm Mary Ellen hey so definitely are mister died in the summer kitchen yeah I think it was pretty definite because benaiah said he died in the kitchen and they didn't have a kitchen as such in the house summer kitchen so that's that's and um dr. cling made reference to something too like that to the outbuilding and one other doctor did too so I'm pretty confident okay cool that he died in a summer kitchen and Stowe is in there with them huh yeah spread Heydrich Marlo Barlow arrived on this and he would have been trading right past our kitchen into the house so he had the two generals right in that compound together okay Fred Fred stow got hit in the head with a cannonball yeah right Nazir yeah he went to sail to San Francisco in 1870 and his parents never heard from him again yeah he was an alcoholic yeah how many people would fit in that kitchen and in that house well in the kitchen they only had once Fred stow was shipped out on about July 15th they used it again for an actual kitchen and for baking bread in the house they had three Colonels in the house and they had Barlow in the house and they had the family in one upstairs bedroom they were crammed in there Cheryl and Mahler both died early on but we have been in there very long yeah and didn't the other Spangler from the Emmitsburg Road he came over and got in the house with him - that was Jakob Hummel ball oh hello Bob that's yeah he was a daddy the guy where Barksdale died yes homo bob was a widower and a couple of nights he couldn't instated not in that same bedroom they had seven in that bedroom during the battle humma ball and his wife actually ended up being buried there they were such good friends with his banglar that they're buried right next to them in Evergreen Cemetery yeah in his farm is where Barksdale died yes any other thoughts on this picture I might even show you one more where we wrap it up or any other questions all right I uh I give talks to fifth graders every year and I I always want to show them what a civil war surgeon looks like and when they see this picture they kind of react with horror [Laughter] well what's what's really funny about that about daddy I actually do a program every year female readers here in Washington and I come with that it's a great effect I love watching their faces their mouths open when I put this picture on for contributing to my presentation and a friend of mine wrote a book and about 24 Virginia surgeons that we used to reenact and he put that picture on the cover is there a way to unsee that now in actuality what doesn't work I have another question okay the chaplain who was stealing goods did you ever get a name on him the chaplain that was what stealing the supplies I have a very good idea who it was and not 100% but there are hints in the book okay you can do my dishes you know it was news price he was a minister and he lived close to the Spangler's and she complained about him she said the French chaplain the French Gatlin yes you should be able to figure it out but I never said it I'm not sure that's just what I think okay I'm just curious because Mary Ellen by the way was a big help in getting nurse price information to me her in George Raft her descendant Mary Ellen has done a lot of study on and women so thank you Mary Ellen you're welcome can we take that picture down now thank you that was a little mean yes any other questions it just looked like John willing that's all my wife thank you very much thank you okay that we always remind people that we are still open to heavier memberships renewed because we will be pristine Ewing on with zoom meetings as long as as necessary Fergus is the speaker next month right right Kurt right you know usually do not have a meeting like right line or August but since this is your host Paul we are going to have guests for two weeks speak on his book Congress at war Gordon Berg did a nice review that's posted on our website about it and Ferguson's excited he's a member of course and and he's given talks in the past and he's very animated and very good historian very good and you so we will will keep what would be ballad no hopefully we are back to our live meetings and we'll see what plays out with the opening of for my there right possibly yeah that's what I'm saying if they do reopen and maybe we can move back there this will be a core to keep you posted thank you Ron yes once again thank you Ron and also thank you we ended up with over 30 so that's 40 40 great 46 Wow yeah that's more than we normally would you got your bloody presentation just like just like you should have them well done like good we got people from all over like sesh to join us we moved out of the area and other folks too yeah we we would we welcome people from out of the area who wanna want to attend and we're doing this we're starting our first Lincoln group next Tuesday on zoom' with with a with a zoom meeting so we'll see what happens it's John O'Brien on does he want to say anything I saw this is John we're having Garrett Peck stock talk about his book about Lincoln and Walt Whitman excellent Garrett if you know Garrett he's excellent all right thanks Paul for organizing the zoom meeting all right everybody stay well all right thanks everyone

Channel: Kurt DeSoto

Views: 1,111

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Ron Kirkwood, The George Spangler Farm, Gettysburg, Battle, The Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia, Jon Willen, Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead

Id: AGhPX0pQgns

Length: 79min 20sec (4760 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 18 2020