On June 15th, 1863, the first portions of General Lee’s Army of
Northern Virginia were crossing the Potomac River near Hagerstown,
Maryland. At this time the Union army under General Joseph Hooker
could not pinpoint General Lee's exact location, as he had used South
Mountain as cover to screen his movements. In order to find the
Confederate army’s location, General Hooker needed to seize the
mountain passes at South Mountain. But unknown to General Lee, Union
scouts had seen his movements in Maryland as early as June 17th.
Because of this General Hooker started to develop a plan of attack.
Also on the same day around eleven o' clock at night, a major fire
had started in the town of Emmitsburg in the loft of the Beam and
Guthrie Stable. The fire had spread eastward up along Main Street,
involving the northeast, northwest and southeast blocks around the old
water hole. More than fifty homes and businesses were damaged or
destroyed. Some speculation and rumors stated that it was set on fire
by parts of the Confederate army or by some southern sympathizers.
Civilians in Gettysburg were looking southward and saw the orange glow
in the sky. Fearing the worst was coming their way; this was surely a
sign of what was to come. It was later discovered Emmitsburg resident
Eli Smith was responsible for starting the fire.
The Gettysburg Complier ran an article about the fire that occurred
in Emmitsburg and it listed that Eli Smith was the one responsible for
starting it. A few days later a rebuttal was written, as there was a
man who lived in Gettysburg by the name of Eli Smith and townsmen
thought he was the same guy. All the rebuttal did was to add a middle
initial so as not to confuse the two men.
“On Saturday the 27th day of June, two regiments of Michigan
cavalry camped a mile south of Emmitsburg on the Toll Gate held the
advance of Kilpatrick's division. They were armed with the deadly
Spencer repeating carbines and looked like they could fight. They
stayed until Monday, when the division arrived and they all marched to
Hanover, Pa. They were guided by Jim McCullough, an Emmitsburg soldier
boy, who was counted as one of the best scouts in the army.”
Emmitsburg Chronicle
"The Army of the Potomac was truly a beautiful sight" and
describes as grand but horrible the passing of "the wagons,
ambulances, cannons, etc, which were coming early dawn till nightfall.
... They camped around Emmitsburg. Their campfires, as viewed from the
college windows, almost led one to imagine that this section for miles
had received in one shower all the stars of the heavens." Dr.
Thomas C. Moore, 1863
“Well at 4 o'clock that morning (the 29th), we began our march
to this place and arrived here last night about 6 o'clock and stayed
in that place until this morning when we moved to this place, a Shady
Grove, near a Nunnery or rather on the farm and near the Buildings
belonging to the Sisters of Charity.”
“The town is a very nice one, hardly as large as Urbana, but all
fine buildings. About one half of the town was burnt about two weeks
ago. The people think it was done by a resident of the town whom they
now have in Jail. He is said to be a union man although the town is
one of the worst secessionist towns in Maryland. But that was not the
reason it was burnt. It was in revenge for some private wrong done by
some individual of the town, His store was set on fire and burnt the
rest with it.”
“This institution of the Sisters of Charity (whose grounds we
are now on) Farm and Buildings (especially the latter) is the finest I
ever saw. Nothing in Ohio will compare with it; I was astonished to
find such magnificence in such a place, a place I have never heard of
before. The buildings cover about a square of ground, the same as a
square in a town, built entirely of brick and ornamented with marble
carvings. The main buildings are 4 stories high, built in Splendid
style, Before the war began, there were 500 Sisters of Charity of this
institution. But all but about 60 are with the army in the various
hospitals, taking care of the sick and wounded, and they are said to
be very good nurses and very kind.”
“The institution belongs to the Catholic Church and on almost
every part of the buildings are crosses stuck on, they have, of course
a Chapel (a place of worship). This is finished beautifully, the room
is very large and in the form of an arch. Beautiful paintings are all
around the room and a large statue of the Virgin Mary and Child. But
the altar is the nicest feature in the Chapel. It is built of the
finest marble and on it is a splendid cross with an image of our
Savior on it with a crown of gold (real) on his head, an angel on
either side of him (the cherubim's). It is a nice room.”
“Near the institution is the cemetery and in the center of it is
a small but beautiful Chapel. Beneath which in a vault is the remains
of Mother Mary Seton, the foundress of the institution, (She left the
grounds and money to build, furnish and set to running the
institution. She died in 1821.) The chapel is a little round room with
an altar in it similar to the one just described."
“The farm has 400 acres in it and is under the best of
cultivation. It is worked by several Catholics, old Irishmen who I
suppose are not able to take care of themselves, but who find labor
and a home here with someone to take care of them, as there is a
directing hand somewhere, although I know not who it is.”
“But I forgot something about the cemetery. There are 155 graves
in it in regular rows and about 10 in a plot with paths between the
plots. The graves are all in good condition, very narrow, with the
grass growing nicely on each. Each grave has a cross at the head with
the name, age and death on it; and all have foot stones. One thing is
worthy of note, and ages of those buried there (all females) all vary
from 13 to 25, all young women in the prime of life.”
“With respect to the fifty or sixty now in the institution (I
saw but few of them), they wear black dresses (without any hoops) with
white aprons, a cape coming over the shoulders and coming to a peak at
the waist. And a white bonnet in the shape of a scoop shovel (only
more so.) It has a cape also which comes down to the shoulder. The
bonnet is the ugliest piece of furniture I ever saw, although it was
white as snow as was the apron. The girls are most all-young and good
looking, while some of them are beautiful. And it seemed to me to be a
shame to keep them immured in a gloomy building like that with no
appropriate society.”
“But to return to the grounds, they are laid out in good style.
All round among the buildings and grounds are carriage drivers, and
springs are plentiful, while here and there are statues, some of the
Virgin, some of our Savior and the Apostles, Every once in a while you
come across an iron sofa or seat, among the nice trees. They have also
a large garden of about three acres. Everything is laid out in good
order and the crop is forward.”
“But the barn is one of the curiosities. It is brick also and a
bank barn. At each end of the barn is a very large mow and between
them are 3 large barn floors, each about 18 feet wide. The barn is
very high and the upper part is floored and has stairs to go up into
it, and there kept the farming utensils. Beneath in the basement are 5
rows of stalls with a feeding room for each, and each row has room for
8 horses, And there is a shed the whole length of the barn where it
(the barn) juts over. Thus you can see what a beautiful barn it is. It
never cost less than $3,000.”
Lieutenant William Ballentine of the 82nd Ohio Infantry
“I should spare some of that talk for describing the battle of
Gettysburg as seen by us from Indian Lookout. Truly we are at that
place (Indian Lookout) almost the whole time during the three days
battle. We had plenty of glasses viz telescopes, spy, and opera
glasses. We had a clear view of the field and could see so as to make
the men in their lines, attending cannon, the cannon themselves,
making charges, officers riding along about their lines, and in a word
the whole scene was spread out to our view.
We could distinctly observe the changes in the position of the
armies: sometimes one army would slowly give way, but seeming to
dispute every inch of ground with as much energy and determination as
if the fate of the Nation depended on its holding or yielding its
position again rallying and driving the foe headlong before it for
some distance. When the retreating body either reinforced some fresh
troops or perhaps reinforced with courage, the battle would become
terrific.” A.J.B. Mount Saint Mary's College, 1863
I dispatched Captain W. W. Blackford,
of the engineer corps, to General Robertson, to inform him of my
movement and direct his cooperation, as Emmitsburg was in his
immediate front and was probably occupied by the enemy's cavalry. It
was dark before I had passed the extreme right of our line, and having
to pass through very dense woods, taking by-roads, it soon became so
dark that it was impossible to proceed. We were in danger of losing
the command as well as the road. It was raining, also. We halted
several hours, when, having received a good guide, and it becoming
lighter, the march was resumed, and just at dawn we entered
Emmitsburg.
"In and around Emmitsburg we captured 60 or 70 prisoners of' war, and
some valuable hospital stores en route from Frederick to the army. I
was told by a citizen that the party I had just attacked was the
cavalry of Kilpatrick, who had claimed to have captured several
thousand prisoners and four or five hundred wagons from our forces
near Monterey; but I was further informed that not more than forty
wagons accompanied them, and other facts I heard led me to believe the
success was far overrated. About this time Captain Emack, of the
Maryland Cavalry, with his arm in a sling, came to us and reported
that he had been in the fight of the night before, and partially
confirmed the statement of the citizen, and informed me, to my
surprise, that a large portion of Ewell's corps trains had preceded
the army through the mountains."
General JEB Stuart, July 5th, 1863
"A large number of rifles were abandoned on the field at
Gettysburg, and about half a dozen of them found their way to the
woods on the mountain, where they did good service for quite a while
in the hands of some of the seminarians. The faculty knew nothing of
this. Accidentally George H. Miles discovered it, but said nothing,
though during class hours, by a significant sign he made known his
knowledge of the good times some of us were having in the hunting
carried on quietly during the following fall.”
"Two weeks had fully elapsed before it was thought advisable to
visit the battlefield. For many days after, the Union army held
possession of it, and as the guards on duty at various points were not
over careful in their handling of firearms whenever their command to
halt was not heard, it was conceded that the more prudent course was
to remain beyond the range of their rifles.”
"From this point on to Gettysburg the evidences of war were more
frequent and unmistakable. On both sides of the road were dead horses
and the so-called graves of soldiers. Buzzards and crows, in great
numbers, either soared high in the air or gorged themselves on the
dead bodies about to our right and left. About a mile south of
Gettysburg stood a deserted one-story log cabin, and in this, we were
told, General Reynolds breathed his last. He had met the Confederates
west of the city on the first day of the battle, and there received
the wound that finished his career as a soldier.”
"Relic hunters were not numerous on the day of my first visit to
the field. But as time passed and the fame of Gettysburg expanded,
crowds flocked thither from all quarters, so that of the hundreds of
shells, grape-shot, broken rifles, cartridge boxes and bayonets, none
probably were to be found a year after.”
Dr. Thomas C. Moore, 1863
