Thomas A. Desjardin is correct about shoes.....

[whitworth]

in his book, 'These Honored Dead', " ...Gettysburg became, in legend at least, a shoe-making hamlet with a large factory, warehouse, or just a big pile of shoes,..."

What surprised me is Desjardin, the Gettysburg Tour Guide and National Park Service historian at Gettysburg, did not know why industrialists would never build a modern sewing machine factory in Gettysburg, before the Civil War.

Certainly Confederate intelligence did not know why? If Lee had known, Lee would probably have never come to Gettysburg or withdrawn on July 1, when meeting serious opposition.

Is there no one in the past, who worked in Gettysburg for the Park Service and studied the Battle of Gettysburg, would know why Gettysburg had no shoe factory?

[samgrant]

I'll bet most of towns like Gettysburg had no reason to have a shoe factory. Shoes probably were made in bigger places like Harrisburg or Philadelphia.

My question would be how did the folks in Gburg get their shoes? Did they have shoe 'stores', or General stores that stocked and sold shoes, or did travelling peddler sell shoes, or did they have to go to Hburg or Philly to purchase shoes? Or a 'cobbler' shop, maybe?

[mobile_96]

Gettysburg had 1 or 2 cobblers, or leather workers that made enough shoes to
suppy the locals. Many of the smaller towns always had at least 1 leather worker to take care of their local needs for shoes and horses, etc.
Chuck in IL.
http://mobile96.com

[gary]

Gettysburg was primarily a farming community and not a center of industry. Makes more sense to have a shoe factory in Philadelphia than Gettysburg. Finally, unlike today, the Chamber of Commerce or the Mayor back then didn't bother attempting to draw industry to their community.

[ole]

Gary's comment, "Gettysburg was primarily a farming community," probably says it all. In the middle-19th century, communities developed as farm centers. The communities furnished that provided transportation, in and out, for good to be sold and goods to be purchased. Also lacking was water-power.

They were well situated at a crossroads with "easy" access to markets and suppliers. Given an eventual larger population, it may well be that a small cobblery (?) would have found opportunity in a growing market.

In any event, I don't believe Lee (nor any of his commanders) had shoes in mind when approaching Gettysburg. It was simply a spot where converging roads brought the Union Army to interfere with his plans for Pennsylvania.

Ole

[whitworth]

There was never a modern shoe factory in Gettysburg for the Confederates. The invention of Shoes only covers up the question why Lee felt he had to leave Chambersburg and move to Gettysburg. Gettysburg was never meant to be much of an industrial town.

Gettysburg never had the logistics, just as Lee did not have the logistics to get tied up in Gettysburg.

[gary]

BTW, I visited Gettysburg last week and just noticed that long ago a Revolutionary War era (or is it 1812) cannon had been planted into the sidewalk along the East side of Baltimore Street by Alley. Anyone got the story about it?