Born ‎14 Oct 1844 at Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States, died ‎16 Jan 1934 at Bedford, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, United States
was still alive at 1930 census, w/ dau Lilly‎, age 89 years, buried at Prospect Cemetery, East Stroudsburg,, Pennsylvania, United States

In 1850 Census, a John Zeigler (abt 1844) lived with George and Sarah Ickes - same page of Madison, Perry, PA census as George and Magdelena (Ickes) Rice (parents of Hannah’s husband John).

John possible sibling for Hannah?

Parents names from Ancestry Census data and Aunt Suzy.

http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/adams/newspapers/date/1862-07.txt

In Adams Sentinel Newspaper 9/23/1862:
“Married, on the 16th inst., by Rev. A. Essick, Rev. J.M. Rice, recently of the Theological Seminary to Hannay Mary Ziegler of Gettysburg.”

Born ‎1847 at Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States, died ‎1927 at Winfield, Cowley County, Kansas, United States‎, age 79 or 80 years

Born ‎1848 at Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States‎

Born ‎05 May 1850 at Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States, died ‎11 Apr 1915 at Abbottstown, Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States‎, age 64 years

**Note: this is not my story. It is reposted here with the generous permission of http://www.genealogystories.net/
See footnote/link to source below.

A GETTYSBURG GIRL'S STORY OF THE GREAT BATTLE
Lydia Catherine Ziegler Clare
(Written about the year 1900)

My children have long been urging me to give them in a short story my experience in the Battle of Gettysburg. I was then a girl of thirteen, living on the Seminary Ridge which today is known to every child who studies the history of the Civil War.

The spring and summer of '63 were days in which the citizens of our quiet village were much disturbed, for scarcely two consecutive weeks would pass without rumors reaching us that the enemy has crossed the Potomac and were headed in our direction. Anxiety filled every breast. Farmers would flee with their horses to a place of safety and merchants would either ship their valuable goods away or securely hide them. So day followed day, each seeming to bring fresh trouble. The enemy were close at hand.

Meade's Headquarters, Gettysburg, PA
I shall never forget the June afternoon when I stood on the Seminary steps with my parents and other persons to see a Confederate host marching in the Chambersburg Pike. It seemed as if Pandemonium had broken loose. A more ragged and unkempt set of men would be hard to find. Many wore parts of Union soldiers' suits which, I suppose, had been picked up on the field of battle, or had been discarded by our men. A squad from the main body was sent over to the Seminary to find out whether any Yankee soldiers were concealed there. After the investigators were informed that the building was a theological school edifice, a guard, was placed around it, and we felt perfectly safe. I do not think any property was destroyed at that time, excepting a few cars containing government supplies, which were burned and also the railroad bridge, a short distance from the town. Early the following morning our unwelcome guests took their departure for the purpose, they said, of capturing Baltimore and Washington. Shortly after the enemy left our place, we were made glad by seeing regiment after regiment of our own men come and encamp around us. We gave them a royal welcome.

How well do I remember the happiness it gave me to hand out the cakes and pies that our kind mother made until late at night for those boys in blue who seemed almost famished for a taste of "home victuals" as they called them. And, vividly too, do I remember that night of the 30th of June when I stood in the Seminary cupola and saw, as in panoramic view, the camp fires of the enemy all along the Blue Mountainside, only eight miles distant, while below us we beheld our little town entirely surrounded by thousands of camp fires of the Union Army. As we stood on that height and watched the soldiers on the eve of battle, our hearts were made heavy. Many of the soldiers were engaged in letter writing, perhaps writing the last loving missives their hands would ever pen to dear ones at home. In the near distance we could see a large circle of men engage in prayer, and as the breezes came our way, we could hear the petitions which ascended to the Father in heaven for his protecting care on the morrow. However, many of the boys seemed to be utterly oblivious to the dangers threatening them, and were singing with hearty good will "The Star Spangled Banner" and many of the other patriotic songs which we loved to hear.


A common soldier
July the 1st dawned brightly. The sun shone in all its splendor over the wheat fields which were of a golden hue and ready for the harvest. All nature seems to be offering praise to God for His manifold blessings. The members of our household were all up bright and early, for much was to be done for the comfort of the soldiers. But a spirit of unrest seemed to prevail everywhere. About eight o'clock an ominous sound was heard - a sound that struck terror to the hearts of all who heard it - it was the call to battle. All was excitement; company after company, regiment after regiment, fell into line, and, accompanied by music, the march began towards the front. As we stood in the doorway watching General Reynolds and his force approach, I asked father how the soldiers would cross the high fence surrounding our garden. I did not have long to wait until my curiosity was satisfied, for the General came at rapid pace, urging his men to follow, and the fence fell as if it were made of paper as the men pressed against it with crowbars and picks.


I always had a desire to see something of a battle, so here was my opportunity. I quietly slipped from the house to the edge of the woods back of the Seminary, and was enjoying the awe-inspiring scene, when a bullet flew so near my head that I could hear the whizzing sound it made.

That and a call from a signal officer on the cupola sent me speeding to the house. There I found that all the family had repaired to the cellar for safety and well they did, for in a very short time two shells struck the building. After General Reynolds was killed and our army was being driven back towards the town which is a half-mile distant, father decided that we had better stay in line with our own soldiers, so we left the building and took up our march. My mother and the older members of the family hurriedly snatched up a couple of loaves of bread as we left the house, and It was well they did, for we had ample need of it before the day ended.

Our march into town was heart-sickening. Soldiers had fallen on all sides, and were wounded in every imaginable way. It seems that I can almost hear at this late day the groans and cries of the suffering men as they lay at our foot. War is, indeed. a terrible thing! We did not remain in the town very long for we felt that the woods would be safer. The first place we got to was Culp's Hill, but our stay there was of short duration, for the shells and bullets drove us out. Next we went to Spangler's Spring with no better result. Then we stopped on Wolf's Hill. A heavy rain had come on, lasting about an hour; we were drenched to the skin, and Oh! so very tired and hungry. Mother divided the bread among us, and we children gathered wild raspberries to eat with it; and. even now, although we are all men and women, I think each one will say that that was the most palatable meal we ever ate.

We, however, found that we had not yet reached our haven of rest, for even here the shells and bullets began to fall, so our wandering began again. Our poor, faithful old dog Sport could no longer walk, so we children took turns in carrying him, and the poor old fellow would lick our hands to show his gratitude.

About four o'clock in the afternoon we found our way out to the Baltimore Pike, near Two Taverns. There we met General Slocum's Corps advancing towards Gettysburg on double quick. The poor soldiers looked so jaded and tired. Many of them had been compelled to fall out of line and we came upon them lying by the roadside, sick and hungry. The poor fellows had been marching all day without anything to eat. Such, however, is soldier's life.

The shades of night had fallen ere we reached the home of a friend who kindly gave us shelter during the time of battle, another friend took us as far as Round Top in a wagon on our homeward journey. From that place the distance to the town is about three miles, and we decided to walk, for the ground was thickly strewn with unexploded shells which were likely to burst if struck. As we were starting for home, this dear friend gave us a bag containing six large loaves of bread, saying that we might find use for it, when we reached home.


Confederate Dead at Gettysburg
We did not have to carry this bread very far after we left the wagon, for we found lying on the field lots of wounded men who had not had a bite to eat for three days, and they would beg us “for God’s sake” to give them some of the bread and some water to drink. I can picture to my mind even to this day my father and mother as they stood by these wounded men, father with his pocket knife cutting off pieces of the bread which my mother would have to put into the mouths of some who were too weak even to lift the bread to their lips, or take the water which we children carried from the little streams or springs nearby in cups made by fastening leaves together. Pen cannot describe the awful sights which met our gaze on that day.
The dying and the dead were all around us - men and beasts. We could count as high as twenty dead horses lying side by side. Imagine, if you can, the stench of one dead animal lying in the hot July sun for days. Here they were by the hundreds. All day long we ministered to the wants of the suffering, and it was night when we reached home, or what had been home, only to find the house filled with wounded soldiers. Oh, what a home-coming! Everything we owned was gone – not a bed to lie on, and not a change of clothing. Many things had been destroyed, and the rest had been converted to hospital purposes. And I am sorry to say right here that, while our government has plenty of money to dispose of, we who suffered such great loss at Gettysburg have never received one cent. Is there justice in this treatment? I would like to ask those in authority.

I wish to make a correction to my statement that all was lost. We owned two beautiful white cows which still were alive when we returned to our home. These cows had been in the thickest of the fight for three days, yet were not hurt in any way. I suppose it is not necessary for me to tell you that they did not suffer from want of being milked during that time – the soldiers saw to it that that task was performed. We found the feet of out four fat hogs lying in the pen.

I do not wish to dwell on this subject too long, so will say that we tried to forget self and our losses in our care of the suffering who needed our help. It was a ghastly sight to see some of the men lying in pools of blood on the bare floor where they had been placed on the first and second days of the fight, many of them having received no care what ever. Nurses and doctors were in demand everywhere, so were hospital supplies. Transportation had been cut by the destruction of railroads and the burning of bridges. Many a poor fellow died within the first ten days after the battle for want of care and nourishing food. After the trains could run again, supplies came, and everything was carried on in a systematic manner.

But we could not think of sleep or rest during those trying days. Nights and days were alike spent in trying to alleviate the suffering of the wounded and dying. How often did I receive the dying message of a father or husband to send his loved ones whom he would never meet again on earth! I shall ever hold in sweet memory the repeatedly uttered “God bless you, my girl!” from the poor fellows after some little act of kindness had been shown them. So many pathetic scenes took place during those days. I remember going into the yard, late in the afternoon, about a week after the battle, and finding there an old man supporting the head of a sweet faced old lady on his shoulder. I walked up to this couple and asked if I could be of any assistance, for I saw the old lady looked faint and weary.

The suffering after the battle.
The answer came from the trembling lips of the old gentleman: “Mother’s most tuckered out, but if we can find our boy Charlie, I guess she will be all right.”

After listening to the pitiful story told us of losing four sons in the war, and knowing their last son had been in the battle of Gettysburg, and walking all of the twenty-one miles over the mountains from Chambersburg, since there was no other mode of travel for them, and carrying all this distance a satchel filled with dainties such as Charlie was fond of, we attempted to help them. And their son Charlie was found lying in one of the rooms of the third floor of the Seminary building in a dying condition. The cries of that mother as she bent over the body of her boy were heartbreaking. For a short time consciousness returned to Charlie, and he knew his parents, who shortly after had at least some measure of comfort in taking his dead body home for burial.

I should like to tell you more about my varied experiences during the three months our home was used as a hospital, but my story has already become too lengthy.

NOTE

At the time of the great Battle of Gettysburg, Emanuel Ziegler, the father of Lydia Catherine, was steward of the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Seminary Ridge, where he and his wife and their six children had quarters on the first floor. Lydia Catherine, the youngest of the family, had four brothers – Jacob, John, William and Hugh, and one sister Anna.

On July 4th 1872, she was married in the Seminary Chapel to the Rev. Richard H. Clare, who had in the Spring of that year graduated from that institution, and who later, with her loving and ever-faithful co-operation, served parishes in Blain, PA, Bridgeton, New Jersey, Chambersburg, Pa., Hamilton Scotia, Pa., and Abbottstown, Pa. Pastor Clare died on February the 14th, 1908, and Lydia Catherine on April the 11th, 1915. They were survived by five children – the Rev. Henry E. Clare, Miss Mary R. Clare, the Rev. Robert D. Clare, the Rev. Martin L. Clare and Dr. Milo R. Clare, D.D., Stonehurst Court, C-220, Upper Darby, Pa.

Born ‎21 Nov 1852 at Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States, died ‎08 May 1934 at Newkirk, Kay County, Oklahoma, United States‎, age 81 years

**Note: this is not my story. It is reposted here with the generous permission of http://www.genealogystories.net/
See footnote/link to source below.

REMINISCENCE OF HUGH M. ZIEGLER OF THE
BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG
WHICH OCCURRED ON THE FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD DAYS OF JULY 1863

At the time of the battle, the town had a population of about four thousand people, consisting largely of retired farmers and people who located there on account of its educational facilities. Pennsylvania College and the Lutheran Theological Seminary, also several womens' private boarding schools were located on the outer edge of the town.

I first saw the light of day at Gettysburgh, November 26th, 1852, and remained there until 1873 when I removed to Philadelphia. The wonderful of Kansas products shown at the centennial exhibition gave me the Western fever and I migrated to Kansas in 1878 and remained there until the opening of 1893 when I made the race for the farm I secured in Kay County, five miles southwest of Newkirk, and have been a resident of the county continuously since then.

It is now near seventy years since the Battle of Gettysburgh, by General Mead in command of the northern and General Lee commanding the Confederate armies, but the memories of that time were so indelibly stamped on my mind that I will never forget them.


Toward Gettysburg from the Seminary.
The Lutheran Seminary was located just on the west edge of the town on a ridge, slightly more elevated than the land around the town, and same ridge continued to the south and east four miles to a high hill known as Round Top. My father was steward and my mother matron of this institution, it being a four story building, and I was one of five children at home at that time.

A few days before the battle, Lee had brought his army up from the South and they were bivouaced in the mountains twelve miles west of Gettysburg and their camp fires were visible from Seminary Ridge.

On the top of the Seminary building, there was a cupola from which the country in all directions could be seen for many miles, and it was used by the Union officers as an observatory. The vision to the mountains, eighteen miles west was unobstructed except by an occasional grove of trees, and the movements of Lee’s army toward Gettysburg was seen on the morning of July first. They were soon routed by the Confederate shells, several of which struck the building.

There was a troop of Union Cavalry in camp about a half mile west of the Seminary and a battery of artillery on the ridge west of the camp.

The boys of the town would visit the camp and ride the soldiers horses to water and I was one of them. The morning the battle started, one of the soldier’s helped me mount his horse and handed me some money to buy him a loaf of bread in the town and I rode to the most distant watering trough of which there were many along the streets fed from springs in the hill around the town. I went to a bakery and secured the bread and was riding on Chambersburg street towards the camp and got mixed up in a terrible commotion, caused by cavalrymen riding hard in the street, coming in and going out of town.

One of them called me to hurry up, slapped my mount over the rump with his saber to give him a boost, and I arrived at the camp on a gallop. The cavalry was already formed in battle line on the ridge half a mile west, and the owner of the horse was there waiting for his horse, much excited, and he assisted me to dismount, took the bread. Got in the saddle, throwing part of the bread away and rode up on the ridge and got into line. Even then I was ignorant of the cause of all this commotion and walked over near the line of cannon on the north side of the pike leading west towards the mountains. About the time I arrived there, several of them were discharged frightening me and I started toward the Seminary and home as fast as I could run.
Railroad Cut just to the north of the Chambersburg Pike
Before I got there, several soldiers rode past me and when I arrived, my mother and several soldiers were at the pump, washing the wounds of these who had passed by me, and my mother was very much worried about my absence. Shortly after my arrival at the Seminary, we were all ordered to the cellar. We all remained in the cellar until about twelve o’clock. There being a lull in the fighting near the Seminary, we were advised to leave and go into the town, some shells had already struck the building.

The battle started about ten A.M. and had been raging for two hours. As we passed through the town, in the center of which there is a public square formed by one-fourth of the blocks that meet at that point. At one time the court house stood in the center of the town fronting the four main streets of the town that intersect at that point. The courthouse had been razed and rebuilt in another part of town and there had been a very tall flag pole placed in the center of the square. As we were passing through the town, we came up Chambersburg street from the west and turned south on Baltimore Street, passing out of the town on the Baltimore turnpike with Cemetery Hill on our right, just at the south edge of town. We walked five miles along the road and had to get on the inside of the fields as the road was filled with Union troops, moving towards the battle front. As we passed by the public square in the center of which there was a band on horseback playing some military tune, cannon booming and shells screaming a few hundred feet above, the large American flag waving in the wind. The music made by the band, the booming cannon, screaming of the shells and the rattle of the musketry is music rarely heard and never forgotten.

We stayed at the farm of a widowed aunt of my father, located two miles south and east of Round Top, which was one of the hard contested points of the three day battle. My father who was home from the army, off on a furlough, volunteered his services with a signal corps, located on the top of Round Top, and he was familiar with all the country, he was able to render much service.

The evening of the third day, when the fighting had ceased, my father returned, and the morning of July 4th, we all got in a farm wagon and started back to the town and home, but had gone but a short distance when we were turned back on account of the danger of unexploded shells coming in contact with the feet of our team or the steel tires of our wagon.

On the morning of July 5th, we made another effort to get back to our home, walking all the way, passing many dead horses that had been shot down and were badly bloated from laying in the hot sun. Frequently, we would see a dead soldier by the road side covered by a blanket. I looked under one of them and my curiosity was quenched. They were in the same condition as the dead horses.


Lutheran Theological Seminary
We succeeded in getting back to our home (the Seminary), but it was in use as a hospital, all the space in the large building was filled up with wounded soldiers. The doctors in charge, learning it was our home, cleared two of the rooms and we moved in and got busy helping care for the wounded. My mother took charge of the kitchen and did the cooking, and hailed by the wounded and others connected with the hospital as mother. There was one of the large rooms in the building used as a clinic, where many arms and legs were amputated and several times I was called on to carry one to the rear of the hospital and deposit with many others, that had been placed in a pile. There had been an accumulation of several days before they were taken away and buried: and the pile if arms and legs
were placed there like a pile of stove wood, would have filled a wagon bed.

All the school and public buildings were used as hospitals and many were filled to capacity. The conditions continued for several weeks while there was being built, by the erection of barracks and large army tents, a general hospital located about two miles east of town, to which all the wounded were removed.

It was a long time after the battle before the town settled down to normal.

There being no school, I, with many other of the boys, wandered over the battle field and several of them were killed by tampering with shells that had failed to explode. There were several farmers and their teams killed by plow point coming in contact with unexploded shells.

In roving over the battlefield, I collected many relics, among them was a sword that had evidently been used, as there was blood marks on the blade. A few years ago, I gave the sword to my grandson, Eugene Chappell, and it is now in his possession.

Many of the soldiers lay for several days before they were buried, and their condition mad it difficult for them to be moved. A shallow trench would be made, and the corpse buried where it was shot down. Many of them scattered in fields to be cultivated. Some of the farmers desecrated them by plowing over them. To relieve this condition, some patriotic and public spirited citizens of the town conceived the idea of gathering all of the dead in one plot and organized the Union soldiers cemetery. All of the Union dead that lay buried over the battle field were removed to this plot of ground located on Cemetery Hill, just on the south edge of town. Before the day the cemetery was dedicated, the people came from far and near. Excursion trains from Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore and other cities.

President Lincoln arrived in Gettysburg the day before and delivered a dedicatory address. The morning of the dedication the procession was formed at the public square, headed by a military escort. President Lincoln with John Burns, the historic citizen hero of the battle, by his side, and many notables and a vast number of people in the line. They all marched to the cemetery about one-half mile distant.

The soldiers are buried in a semi-circle with a large monument in the center; at the base of the monument, on each corner, a large marble statue and towered by the Goddess of Liberty.

In front of the monument, there was a large platform erected and occupied by Lincoln and many notables.


John Burns Civilian Hero
The opening address was delivered by Edward Everett, one of the great orators of the time, and it consumed nearly two hours to deliver, and followed by President Lincoln’s dedicatory address.


Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
There was a vast audience of people assembled there to assist Mr. Lincoln do honor to the soldiers that lay buried there.

When Lincoln had finished his address and taken his seat, the people stood as if dumbfounded, not by what had been said, as by its briefness. As I remember, it was the general topic of conversation for a long time. Little did they realize that it would go down in history as one of the greatest addresses ever delivered by man and is now on of the classics of the age.



By diligent reading and proper analyzing, one will find more thoroughness displayed in that speech of three minutes, than most people could inject into one of an hour’s duration.
That address has been quoted more times than any other ever delivered by man and will continue to be quoted as long as the republic endures. Any eighth grade school boy can commit it to memory in ten minutes time.

The government has acquired most of the ground over which the battle was fought, built avenues and erecting markers showing the position of the troops. Many monuments have been erected by states in honor of their soldiers who died there.

The Gettysburg battlefield is now one of the great attractive sights of the country and is visited by thousands of people each year. Many of the original defenses and land-marks have been preserved.


Jenny Wade
Few of the citizens were injured and but one was killed. Jenny Wade who was in her kitchen baking bread for the soldiers was killed by a stray bullet that came in at one of the windows.

The commissary and hospital supplies of the army was inadequate for there needs, and the citizens of the town shared their larders with the soldiers, and the women gave up their bed linen and other articles for bandages and helped to care for the wounded.
The town of Gettysburg is located in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania, eight miles from the Maryland line, and fifty-two miles north of Baltimore. The town is very old, being one of the first to be organized in the state, and all of my ancestors for three hundred years back are lying buried in its cemeteries. The greater number of the buildings are constructed of brick and many of them display the shells that struck them while the battle was raging. Neither of the armies shelled the town directly, but many shells that had been aimed to points beyond the town, having spent their force, dropped therein.

The Battle of Gettysburg was the only major engagement north of the mason and Dixon line, between the Union and Southern armies, during the Civil War, and historians claim that it was the beginning of the end of that long four years contest.

The sacrifice of good American blood by both sides in that four years contest was great, but the achievement has been greater for it cemented the Union into a more compact government which has expanded and is now the leading government on the earth.

Would be pleased to hear from anyone reading this article who lived in or near Gettysburg at the time of the battle.

Letter addressed to Newkirk, Oklahoma should reach me.



Editor's Note:

In an apparent earlier draft of Hugh's Account there appears additional personal and other information that have been edited from the final account. Two of these paragraphs are literally drawn through with squiggley linest to excise them from the notarized account. I find this information more valuable than much of the other material preserved in the final account. I present below the full text of that presumed earlier draft.



Presumed Early Draft of Hugh M. Ziegler Account of the Battle of Gettysburg

I was born at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 26th, 1852, and was living in Gettysburg at the time of the battle which occurred the first, second and third days of July, 1863, at which time I was ten years of age.


A view of Gettysburg after the battle.
The town of Gettysburg had a population at the time of about 3500, my mother was matron for the Lutheran Theological Seminary which was located west of the town and I was living with my mother at the Seminary. The battle started in the morning, Thursday, about ten o'clock; I was at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at the time.
Two or three days before the battle started, some cavalry of the Union forces, being of General Reynolds Division, were camped in a grove just west of the Seminary. The boys of Gettysburg, including myself, would often ride the soldiers' horses, or cavalry horses to the watering trough down in the town, and sometimes they would give us money to buy them knick-knacks or something to eat, and we would often ride the horses to the fartherest watering trough because we could get to ride that much farther, and the morning of the battle I was riding, with the other boys, a horse to water and a soldier had given me some money to buy a loaf of bread and as I came up the Chambersburg Road out of Gettysburg, I noticed a great deal of confusion, soldiers riding both ways, and finally one soldier boy hit my horse with a saber and said, "Hurry up with those horses," and as soon as I got up to the camp, I dismounted, gave the loaf of bread to the soldier who tore out a piece of the bread, jumped on his horse and fell into line.

Evidently, the Confederates had been seen coming on the Chambersburg Road, and by the time I arrived there, the cavalrymen were all in regular formation to start towards where the Confederates were seen. When I dismounted and turned the horse over to the soldier, I then walked to the north of the turnpike where there had been some Union cannon stationed, and not realizing what was going on, I got very close to the cannon, and finally some of them were fired. This frightened us and then I started running back towards home or to the Seminary, and when I was on my way, I noticed Union soldiers passing me with blood streaming from their faces and when I arrived at the Seminary, my mother was out at the pump where several wounded soldiers were, washing the blood from their hands and from their faces, and then orders came for the family to go to the cellar there at the Seminary which we did. We stayed in the cellar until sometime in the afternoon when there was a lull in the battle, and it was then that we were ordered to leave Gettysburg. Several shells hit the Seminary before we departed.

(Scratched out text begins here for the following two paragraphs - Editor.)

At the time we left, there were seven children in the family, five of us at home. My father had been taken by the Union soldiers to Little Round Top with the Signal Corps because he was familiar with the country. Before that, he had been in the service as a Union soldier but he was not at that particular time, and he was not at home when we left the Seminary. My brother John, was a baby in arms. We went afoot through Gettysburg and to the south and east, going about seven miles from Gettysburg to an aunt of my father's. We stayed there the rest of the day, Thursday Friday and Saturday. The battle being over, the next day, Sunday, the parties with whom we were staying started back with us in a wagon, bringing us back to our house, but we were turned back and were not permitted to enter Gettysburg because of the danger of the unexploded shells. We then returned to the aunt's and came to Gettysburg the next day, Monday, but we walked all the way.

When we arrived at the Seminary, which had been taken for a hospital, it was so congested with wounded that even the hallways were jammed with wounded soldiers. When they learned that we lived there, they cleared out two rooms and put us in and mother went to work helping to take care of the wounded and cooking for them, and she did this until they afterward established a general hospital by putting up barracks and tents and relieving the congestion of the town, all the public buildings having been taken for hospital use.

(Scratched out text ends here - Editor.)

The battle of Gettysburg covered a radius of twenty miles of country. The dead soldiers lay scattered over the battlefield. Some of them lay in the middle of the harvest field, -for several days they buried in shallow graves- (written in longhand between the lines - editor) and the farmers, when they started to cultivate, in some places would desecrate those graves by driving over them, and some public spirited men of Gettysburg conceived the idea of taking them up and putting them all in one place, and therefore they organized this cemetery which was afterwards taken over by the government.

Evergreen Cemetery Gatehouse
I want to state that when we were forced to leave the Seminary the first day of the battle, my mother left in the oven a beef roast, she having prepared it for dinner, and we were forced to leave it and years after the war had ceased I met a soldier who was in the Battle of Gettysburg who was telling me about finding the beef roast in the oven at the Seminary and he helped eat it.

As we passed from the Seminary, in the center of the town was a public square. At one time the courthouse building stood in this public square and faced four different streets, but this courthouse had been removed and there was a flag pole there with an American flag waving, and a band on horseback underneath playing some military tune, and the shells were flying over the top of the town making peculiar noises.

Two or three days after the battle, boy-like, I wandered over the battlefield, seeing many of the dead soldiers, frequently seeing a blanket nearby, would go and raise the blanket and would find a dead soldier thereunder who had turned black because of exposure. They were unable to take care of the dead or bury them, and a great deal of sickness in Gettysburg resulted after that. One day, wandering over the battlefield back of the Seminary, I picked up a sword which I took home with me and preserved. Two or three years ago, I gave this sword to my grandson, Gene Chappell, who still has it.

There was only one woman killed during the battle, a young girl named Jennie Wade who lived in a smallbrick house in the southeast part of Gettysburg. I was acquainted with the family, I don't especially remember her. She was kneading bread and a stray bullet entered through two different doors, standing ajar, killing her.

My grandfather, Hugh Craig, being my grandfather on my mother's side, who had passed away sometime before, was buried in the cemetery south and east of Gettysburg, and the tombstone had been erected at his last resting place, and it had been hit with shot and shells and had been broken off during the battle.

I remember distinctly seeing General McFarlane whose arm was amputated and he afterwards died, he was from Pennsylvania.

I was well acquainted with John Burns who was constable or night watchman at Gettysburg, and when the soldiers marched out to battle the first day, while he was not a soldier, he went out with them with his rifle but he was finally ordered back because of the danger and he got into the public press at the time, poetry had been written about him and a monument, which is practically a life size stature of him, was erected to his memory in the northwest part of Gettysburg where the first day's battle took place.


Dedication of National Cemetery
These soldiers that were picked up on the battlefield were buried in a plat of ground near the old cemetery to the north and west of it, and they were buried in a circular form, and those who (illegible) title to this burial place for that purpose, afterwards turned it over to the government, and they held dedicatorial services there on the 19th of November, 1863, at which time Abraham Lincoln appeared in person.

It was a great day for Gettysburg, and I remember it distinctly as if it was only yesterday. People came for hundreds of miles, special trains were run, people knowing that the President, Abraham Lincoln, would be there to give an address.

Lincoln walked from from Gettysburg to the scene of the dedicatorial services. I have heard different times about Lincoln riding to the cemetery where the dedicatorial services were held, but this is a mistake. He walked in the procession arm in arm with John Burns who has been converted into a hereo of the battle of Gettysburg. Iwas nothing but a boy running along the sidelines, and I remember distinctly seeing him.

Edward Everett who was a noted orator in those days, and chaplain of the United States Senate was to give an address as well as Lincoln. Edward Everett spoke for about two hours and then was followed by Abraham Lincoln who spoke for about two minutes. The address of Edward Everett had been long forgotten, but the addresss of Lincoln has become a classic. I was present and heard him give the address and I presume that I am the only person living today that heard Lincoln give his Gettysburg address, at least I know of no other one.
Dated this the 13th day of May 1933.