The Battle of Gettysburg - An Interactive Experience

JamesArndt

Cadet
Joined
Jul 8, 2017
Location
Ormond Beach FL
Hi everyone. I'm very new here and I wanted to have access to historians, reenactors and people with an interest in the Civil War so I joined up. I've been working on an interactive project (video game) specifically about the battle in and around Gettysburg. I am working on a smaller 10 minute experience that puts you on the ground in first person fighting through the the streets of the city. This would be in the first day of the battle. Here is a short video showing where I am at currently with developing it. This is a very small scene showing how it renders and a few sample objects.


Now this next video is showing what I will most likely need help with and it's very specific. I am drawing out an 1863 map of the core city area. I'm focusing on this area for now as the first demo I want to publish will be an experience during the first day of battle. I'm referencing a contemporary map of 1863 Gettysburg drawn by the Civil War Trust folks who seem to have a lot of resources and information. So as you can see in this video I'm drawing out shapes for the building footprints. This will tell me generally where they spatially existed in relation to one another. However I'm missing a lot of "on-the-ground" details in regard to typical fencing in the area around buildings, typical things that might be sitting outside around buildings (i.e. barrels, crates, etc) I was hoping some individuals here could help me discern what the typical street-side looked like back in 1863 Gettysburg. Questions like: Were there hitch posts for horses, watering troughs, barrels or crates, did they have "lawns" with grass and trees or did the city do landscaping? I'm trying to get a visual picture of the typical street view in Gettysburg in 1863.


I also have an online repository where I'm storing historical photos of structures and streets from the early to mid 1800's, so I do have access some nice photography. It's not all necessarily Gettysburg, I do believe some of these photos are from other areas or Maryland.

Link to photos: https://goo.gl/7fGWTz
 
Interesting project. It will help to draw upon as many first-hand accounts of veterans and civilians as you can find. The last one I saw was that of Edwin M. Sperry of the 147th New York (in The National Tribune of October 4, 1888, p. 3). He describes the William and Mrs. McClellan residence on the west side of the courthouse. The town map (from Blue & Gray magazine) shows the McClellan residence and separate office facing West Middle Street, with another structure at the back of the property. Sperry refers to a well on the property, where wounded soldiers obtained water, and also a barn - presumably that unnamed structure. Sperry also encountered a woodhouse (containing a pile of wood).

I suppose a woodshed or wood pile would be a common sight in town. In, Historic Views of Gettysburg, published by the Jennie Wade museum, text by Robert C. Miller, there is an image of a woodshed, about eight feet tall, on the Henry Garlach property, south along Baltimore street. That woodshed actually appears on the above town map. It is where Gen. Alexander Schimmelpfennig hid out. He had crawled into the entrance of a culvert and stayed there until the first evening (July 1), when he made his way to the woodshed and hid behind a pile of wood until the morning of July 4. There was said to be a slop barrel close by, used by Catherine Garlach to feed her hogs at home. Lydia Ziegler also tended a hog pen at the Lutheran Seminary before the battle.

The hotels in and near town (Eagle, Globe Inn and Wagon) all had horse stables, where guests boarded their mounts. Farmer Joseph Bayly had a horse stabled in town, which was taken by the Confederates (state claim). The Eagle Hotel (Washington House), located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Washington and Chambersburg Streets, reportedly accessed hydrant water. I don't know if the latter system was actually in place in Gettysburg at the time of the battle, but such hydrants were certainly well established in the larger cities. I recall reading about a thirsty soldier who wished he had a canteen full of hydrant water.

A soldier of the 95th New York recalled entering a house in town owned by a man named McMillan, a veteran of the War of 1812. It was a very small house. There was a pump in the yard where the men obtained water. This may have been David McMillan's place on Chambersburg Street. (Richard Laracy, Letter, 95th New York)

William Ramsey of the 150th Pennsylvania recollected, "When I came through town on retreat the houses were all shut up, so far as I saw, except one, which stood on a street which ran at right angle to the main thoroughfare. The house stood back having a large yard in front. An old man and woman and a young girl were busy bringing water from the pump or well, which was in the back yard, and serving it out to all who asked for it, some half dozen of us got a drink there." (Wm. Ramsey, 150 PA, Bachelder Papers II:958)
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the forums; as far as Gettysburg goes, nothing can take the place of an actual visit - I've by now been there many times over the years.
 
Interesting project. It will help to draw upon as many first-hand accounts of veterans and civilians as you can find. The last one I saw was that of Edwin M. Sperry of the 147th New York (in The National Tribune of October 4, 1888, p. 3). He describes the William and Mrs. McClellan residence on the west side of the courthouse. The town map (from Blue & Gray magazine) shows the McClellan residence and separate office facing West Middle Street, with another structure at the back of the property. Sperry refers to a well on the property, where wounded soldiers obtained water, and also a barn - presumably that unnamed structure. Sperry also encountered a woodhouse (containing a pile of wood).

I suppose a woodshed or wood pile would be a common sight in town. In, Historic Views of Gettysburg, published by the Jennie Wade museum, text by Robert C. Miller, there is an image of a woodshed, about eight feet tall, on the Henry Garlach property, south along Baltimore street. That woodshed actually appears on the above town map. It is where Gen. Alexander Schimmelpfennig hid out. He had crawled into the entrance of a culvert and stayed there until the first evening (July 1), when he made his way to the woodshed and hid behind a pile of wood until the morning of July 4. There was said to be a slop barrel close by, used by Catherine Garlach to feed her hogs at home. Lydia Ziegler also tended a hog pen at the Lutheran Seminary before the battle.

The hotels in and near town (Eagle, Globe Inn and Wagon) all had horse stables, where guests boarded their mounts. Farmer Joseph Bayly had a horse stabled in town, which was taken by the Confederates (state claim). The Eagle Hotel (Washington House), located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Washington and Chambersburg Streets, reportedly accessed hydrant water. I don't know if the latter system was actually in place in Gettysburg at the time of the battle, but such hydrants were certainly well established in the larger cities. I recall reading about a thirsty soldier who wished he had a canteen full of hydrant water.

A soldier of the 95th New York recalled entering a house in town owned by a man named McMillan, a veteran of the War of 1812. It was a very small house. There was a pump in the yard where the men obtained water. This may have been David McMillan's place on Chambersburg Street. (Richard Laracy, Letter, 95th New York)

William Ramsey of the 150th Pennsylvania recollected, "When I came through town on retreat the houses were all shut up, so far as I saw, except one, which stood on a street which ran at right angle to the main thoroughfare. The house stood back having a large yard in front. An old man and woman and a young girl were busy bringing water from the pump or well, which was in the back yard, and serving it out to all who asked for it, some half dozen of us got a drink there." (Wm. Ramsey, 150 PA, Bachelder Papers II:958)
Thank you very much for the writeup. This information is pure gold for me. I will pursue these resources as well. It didn't even occur to me to look into eyewitness accounts.
 
Welcome to the forums; as far as Gettysburg goes, nothing can take the place of an actual visit - I've by now been there many times over the years.
I've been twice so far. I have family living in Gettysburg and Hanover. First time I was too young to appreciate being there. Second time was about two years ago and I did get all around town, onto Little Round Top and the entire battlefield area. Everything was pretty modernized in town in regard to sidewalks, roads, landscaping. I couldn't get a feel for what it may have felt like in 1863. I will say I did get quite a good bit of texture reference for the sides of some brick and wood structures (buildings) that are from that time period. As was replied earlier I think a good start is my library and diving into some historical books with accounts of the battle and area. I would love a trip back to Gettysburg and I think one might be in order. I am sure there are some things I didn't look for that I missed.
 
CA7E2A6A-120A-4411-ABF4-B750EE20AF4E.jpeg A visit to the Gettysburg Diorama might be useful for your project.

Gettysburg Diorama
241 Steinwehr Ave, Gettysburg, PA 17325
(717) 334-6408
https://goo.gl/maps/9T3vPszzyms
 
Love it. It's like a "Call of Duty-Gettysburg."
Thanks! I'm hoping to aim for a story-driven approach that would make it a series of small personal stories that you take control of. I'm hoping to convey some chaos, but also maybe more thought provoking aspects than a typical Call of Duty game. I've found the COD games tend to have a bit of Michael Bay style action overload.

I was actually pretty inspired by this documentary that came out in 2011. It followed the personal stories of a few men over the course of this battle.
 
View attachment 194093 A visit to the Gettysburg Diorama might be useful for your project.

Gettysburg Diorama
241 Steinwehr Ave, Gettysburg, PA 17325
(717) 334-6408
https://goo.gl/maps/9T3vPszzyms
I'm looking this over now. This could be very useful to get a better picture of the environment. I am wondering if they've only placed in some of the major structures? I'm comparing against some 1836 maps and it appears there might quite a few more smaller structures around the city area.
 
I'm looking this over now. This could be very useful to get a better picture of the environment. I am wondering if they've only placed in some of the major structures? I'm comparing against some 1836 maps and it appears there might quite a few more smaller structures around the city area.

I expect you are right. They did a lot of work on it, though. I have more pictures. What would you say is the best map of the in-town structures of the period?

(I am also a 3D artist and have done some work on a terrain model and fences.)
 
I expect you are right. They did a lot of work on it, though. I have more pictures. What would you say is the best map of the in-town structures of the period?

(I am also a 3D artist and have done some work on a terrain model and fences.)
From what I've seen I have to compare sources. Some of the best so far have been from the Library of Congress digital imagery archive of maps produced in the late 1800's, through the early 1900's and on. I've also found the Civil War Trust has some very nice maps and they appear to be a legit source for a ton of period information. As for the geographic terrain itself I've extracted a ton of laser scanned data from current day. I made a Youtube video on working with the Gettysburg laser scanned terrain data. It's about as accurate as I can get for 3D geometry of the terrain. Now for the structures on top of that terrain, I am cross referencing documentation by eyewitness accounts (in books and articles), things like this diorama in Gettysburg and some of the actual photography from the period. I think I'm going to focus on some of the "hero" structures which are still standing today and build around those landmarks.

The maps I'm primarily focusing on are provided here:
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/maps
These seem to show period structures in and around the city area. The maps even make the distinction of 1860's roads vs. the modern roads so I am assuming the structures are period ones.

Link to my video about the laser scan terrain data that the State of Pennsylvania provides:
 
Thank you for the kind welcome! If you happen to know any Arndt's up there, specifically maybe Judy and Alfred Arndt, that's my family living in New Oxford, which I think they call a tiny township.
Do not personally know and Arndt family members. But am curious...is your family attached to Arndtsville in Adams County Pennsylvania???
 
Do not personally know and Arndt family members. But am curious...is your family attached to Arndtsville in Adams County Pennsylvania???
Most likely not. The entire Arndt side of my family came here in the early 1950's as part of a church sponsored relocation to Pennsylvania. The church settled them all in Hanover on a nice small farm. They are all originally from Wiesbaden, Germany. However my mom's "Gover" side of the family has been here pre-revolutionary war, so a very far back history in the US for the Gover side. This is a relative on that side: (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gover-198). My grandmother had done very extensive genealogy documentation and it appears my relatives on her side go back to the 1600's here in North America.

I've been told John Stanford Durham was one of my relatives who served in the Civil War.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top