The Gettysburg Girls' Enduring Sorority, Witness To July, 1863

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
GATEHOUSE cem hathi.jpg

One woman's house was nearly epicenter, during July's heat and carnage, the every iconic ' Gatehouse '. It was, in fact home to one Gettysburg Girl who wrote of her battle. Elizabeth Masser Thorn's stark, unembellished narrative is typical of most, females who could not imagine anything worse and did not have to.


In 1903, Sallie Myers organized a kind of glee club in commemoration of the July anniversary. Remember young girls lining Gettysburg streets as Buford's cavalry clanked, reassuringly for most, through town? She'd been one, along with as illustrious a collection of Gettysburg names as ever graced history books. My grgrgrandfather was one of Buford's troopers, destined to disappear for a month after the 6th US Cavalry's outnumbered stand at Fairfield. ( our theory is, he took a sabre wound, along with a wounded brother, home to Schuylkill County ) How much we wish he'd written of those streets, a memory vanished when he died in Erie's Soldier's Home, 1889. Sallie's girls sang the same patriotic songs from that day, a hugely unique reminder to any veteran remembering Gettysburg and its citizens.

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As years passed, memories grew closer instead of fading away, like most memories do. Public interest in all-things-Gettysburg increased post battle, gathering importance as years and decades passed. Children not born in 1863 urged elderly relatives to write it all down, before it was too late, Grandmother.

We're familiar with a few civilian accounts of the battle, written by Gettysburg girls ( by which I mean women ). Tillie's, Sallie's, Carrie Shead's, the most famous. Funny, for as famous as is Elizabeth Masser Thorn, it's tough to find anyone who has read her account. Harriet Bayle, Mary and Mary Leister and Thompson, all well known.

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Somewhere in this crowd of civilians watching troops march past the Rupp house, are eye witnesses who filled in the blanks between June 26th, 1863 and this November day a few months later. Don't you wish we knew who is here?

Been ' collecting ' our voices from the past for awhile and have no doubt there will be more. From the day Confederate cavalry raised dust and alarm, dashing past what are now ice cream and souvenir shops, our girls took pen in hand, recording images taken by shocked brains. From letters, journals, interviews and books, published privately and publically, their snapshots may be spliced together like one of those flickering films from cinematic inception- subtitles included. For July 1st, 2nd, 3rd- and 4th, hearing from all our girls seems mandatory. I'll source, no worries. Tillie et al had much company.

Hearing from them, in this thread.

Hope no one is weary of my favorite, Elizabeth Masser Thorn because we can begin there, on June 26. Known now for burying over 100 men while pregnant with daughter Rose, her battle was crazy. Howard's men cheered her, for bravery, did we know that?

Or that both armies occupied the Gatehouse? In june, the little family encountered Confederate men.
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more-



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Elizabeth volunteered to show General how to reach various ground- apparently insisted, because she knew the area and no one else did.
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And the famous shell, hitting the Gatehouse? Elizabeth saw it happen.

liz father home1.JPG

She later writes of men burned to death, by the Gatehouse well, and how difficult it was for her to see them. Or anyone.

There's a LOT more from Elizabeth. Interviewed several times for newspapers, she finally wrote her memoirs. One, more piece in the civilian story. By the time this story quilt is pieced together, the girls' chorus will tell us an awful lot. Thank you, Gettysburg Girls.


" Contributors "

Mary Leister

Mary Thompson

Mary Elizabeth Montfort Melchior

Alice Powers

Mary Bushman Powers

Jane Powers

Sarah McKnight Maxwell

Emma Orleana Yount

Lizzie Waltz

Jane Moore Bozwell

Anna Garlach Kitzmiller

Margaret Kendlehart McCartney

Elizabeth McClean

Amelia Harman Miller

Salome Myers

Mary E. Walters

Lydia Ann Panebaker

Emma Warren

Mary Warren

Alice (Powers) Barr

Mrs. John Harris

Catherine Foster

Lizabeth Gilbert

Emma Gilbert

Amelia Miller

Emma Woodward Warren

Margaret Murray Flemming

Nellie Wright Wilson

Alice Myers

Georgeanne Woolsey

Catherine Farm Guinn

Mrs. A. M. Guinn

Mary Bushman Power Deardorff

Margaret Cronise

Susan White Holabaugh

Mary Emeline Wilson Galagher

Nellie Wilson

Margaret Catherine Rowe

Mary Wisemantle

Eleanor Jane Wolf

Josephine Rogers

Jane Moore Boswell

Eliza Farnum

Rebecca Rinehart

Mary Faschnut

Josephine Roedel Forney

Mary Caldwell Fisher

Sarah Weikert Keefauver

Mary Young

Lavinia Weirick

Amanda Reinecker Rupp

Jennie Meyers Tawney

Jane Smith

Margie Smith

Sarah J. Slentz

Jennie McCreary

Anna Mary Young

Catherine Porter

Nellie Aughinbaugh

Sarah Barrett King

Ann Powers McDowell

Sarah McKnight

Annie Skelly

Margaret McMillan

Susan Elizabeth Stoever

Louisa Herbst Meals

Rosa A. Snyder

Margaret Brinkerhoff Taughenbaugh

Sadie Bushman

Elizabeth Butler


Otillia Sherfy

Mary Alice McDowell

Sarah Clemintine Shriver

Elizabeth Beard Plank

Mrs. James P. Bingham

Carrie Sheads

Hannah Mary Sheads Armor

Mary Jane Sheads Culp

Mary Bowman

Sue King Black

Salome "Sallie" Stewart

Maggie Palm


Tillie Pierce

Samantha Brenisholtz

Alice Powers

Liberty Augusta Hollinger

Mary Fastnacht

Agnes S. Barr

Sallie M. Broadhead

Fannie T. Buehler

Lydia Catherine Ziegler ( Clare ),

Harriet Bayle


Sophia Culp Epley

Rosamond Rhone

Jennie S. Croll

Elizabeth Masser Thorn

Mary McAllister

Mary Elizabeth Montford









 
J. Howard Wert left us words by a Mrs. Guinn, who I've been meaning to look up, too.

There's mention of a young mother with ( I think ) 3 small children, one a baby. She'd spent 4 days in a basement with her little family. Found 2 mentions of her, one by a nurse, the other a relief worker who took her under his wing. One said her refuge had been flooded, which means she was there the night of heavy rains, July 3rd. It seems futile to look among so many but have always wondered who she was.
 
Thank you for your post. It seems to me that this type of story should be heralded more as it really brings home the reality of this conflict and the effect it had upon those that lived through it. Again many thanks.
 
Thank you for your post. It seems to me that this type of story should be heralded more as it really brings home the reality of this conflict and the effect it had upon those that lived through it. Again many thanks.


We have a few Gettysburg experts who probably have a list twice as long inclusive of everyone's blood type, mother's maiden name and birthday. This would be my inexpert shot at digging through history. :angel: But it's fun.
 
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