Showing results for "gettysburg off the beaten path"
Gettysburg Off the Beaten Path: Wesley Culp
Part of a Series. Many visitors to Gettysburg are familiar with the story of Wesley Culp, the boy who grew up in the town of Gettysburg. He hunted on his cousin Henry’s farm, learned the leather trade in Gettysburg, and moved to Shepherdstown, Virginia (today West Virginia), before the war. Wesley enlisted in Company B […]
Read more...Gettysburg Off the Beaten Path: Benner’s Hill
Part of a Series. Just east of Gettysburg sits Benner’s Hill, a 574 foot high (458 feet according to the Bachelder map) prominence that overlooks the town of Gettysburg. At the base of this prominence runs Rock Creek, a barrier between the hill, town, and for the three days in July the two opposing armies. […]
Read more...Gettysburg Off the Beaten Path: The Eagle Hotel and Christ Lutheran Church
Part of a Series. Contrary to popular belief, Old Dorm (also known as Schmucker Hall) at the Lutheran Theological Seminary was not Brigadier General John Buford’s headquarters on the night before the battle of Gettysburg. Buford actually stayed in downtown Gettysburg at the Eagle Hotel. Opened for business in 1834, the Eagle Hotel was a […]
Read more...Gettysburg Off the Beaten Path: The Colors of the 149th Pennsylvania
Part of a Series. On the afternoon of July 1, acting 1st Corps commander Major General Abner Doubleday re-positioned his men in and around Herbst Woods. Deployed in the open fields of the Edward McPherson Farm, just north of the Herbst Woodsm was a brigade of Pennsylvanian’s commanded by Colonel Roy Stone. Stone had three […]
Read more...Gettysburg Off the Beaten Path: Moritz Tavern
Part of a Series. Just north of the Mason-Dixon Line stands the location of Moritz Tavern. This tavern, today the home of an auto salvage yard, is where Union Left Wing commander Major General John F. Reynolds spent the last night of his life. The tavern building was constructed in 1802 by Mathias Waybright. Waybright’s […]
Read more...Gettysburg Off the Beaten Path: The First Federal Cannon Shot
Part of a Series. At the base of the monument to Brigadier General John Buford are four cannon. These cannon are not on carriages like the other 400 or so cannon on the Gettysburg Battlefield; rather the cannon sit within granite mounts. These are four of the original cannon under the command of Lieutenant John […]
Read more...Gettysburg Off the Beaten Path: The Death of George W. Sandoe
Part of a Series. George Washington Sandoe was a local of the Gettysburg area, hailing from Mount Joy, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately for George Sandoe, he has the unenviable title of being the first Union soldier killed in Gettysburg. Sandoe was part of Captain Robert Bell’s Adams County Cavalry Company. When Jubal Early’s Confederate division pounced on […]
Read more...Gettysburg Off the Beaten Path: The 26th Pennsylvania Emergency Militia Monuments
Part of a series. The 26th Pennsylvania Emergency Militia came into existence during the opening stages of the Gettysburg Campaign. As Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army moved north, the War Department created two new military departments to deal with the Confederate offensive. The Department of the Monongahela, based out of Pittsburgh, and under the command […]
Read more...Gettysburg Off the Beaten Path—Revamp
As the 150th anniversary events of the Civil War draw to a close, I have a feeling that many of our readers will be jonesing for a little battlefielding. With this in mind, I thought that I would revamp my old Gettysburg Off the Beaten Path series. Over the years I have amassed quite a […]
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