The Annotated Gettysburg Citizen Index
Check out the updated and annotated Gettysburg Citizen Index where you can get short summaries of the lives of Gettysburg and Adams County residents and families, as well as information on their family, friend, and hostile (yes, there were rivalries!) relationships with each other. Links take you to deeper explorations of the lives of these fascinating people!
Try the Gettysburg Interactive Map!
The Gettysburg Interactive Map shows the locations of notable farms, Confederate burial sites, Underground Railroad locations, homes of notable people, and many more locations. New sites are added periodically as the site expands.
Top Areas to Study
Top 5 Articles
- The Life and Crimes of Captain James Wade, father of Jennie Wade
- Sadie Bushman from All Angles: Is her story true?
- The Legend of John Burns: Meet the irascible neighbor with a wild battlefield story
- Removing CSA Bodies from the Blocher farm Like Pulling Teeth: When a CSA officer’s body was sent home, it was missing a few teeth.
- Why, Wesley, Why? Why did native son Wesley Culp fight for the South, only to be killed in his home county?
Gettysburg Women’s History
- Catherine Wills: Gettysburg’s Unsung Heroine, a willing nurse and a host to President Lincoln
- The Ministrations of the Powers Women: The educated and strong-willed daughters of Solomon Powers were a force in Gettysburg
- Aunt Polly Culp: Gettysburg’s Beloved Figure of the Civil War, in her elderly years nursed at least one poor soldier back to health
- Uncovering the Life of Maggie Palm, a Gettysburg Hero: Maggie Palm is not who you think she is—she’s far more.
- The Fahnestock Sisters: Their family owned the most prominent store in town. Who were the women?
Gettysburg Black History
- The Jack Hopkins House is being turned into a black history museum. So who was Jack Hopkins?
- Basil and Mary Biggs: A Network Whose Size May Never Be Known. Probably the best-known black family of the Civil War-era and pioneers in civil rights.
- Alive Again: Ole Liz Butler narrowly escaped a return to slavery.
- Francis Jackson: Enslaved to Soldier in Pennsylvania. He carried the scars of whippings from a prominent family into battle.
- Impact of Civil War on Enslaved Lives: Richard Jordan came to Gettysburg as the slave of Captain Albert Butts . . . and remained in town as a free man.
- Harriet Ciata Stanton: Her ancestry goes back to the first families, white and black, in Gettysburg.
Gettysburg’s Shocking Tales
Crime and Criminals in Gettysburg and Adams County
- The Kidnapping of Catherine Payne: An emancipated woman and her children are kidnapped. Why?
- Jim Green and the Killing of Samuel Mars: Who killed Samuel Mars was never a question. But why did Green kill Mars?
- Frank McLaughlin is Shot at a Brothel: David Francis McLaughlin would die on the Fredericksburg battlefield, but the first bullet he took was in a brothel in Chambersburg.
Tragedies and Oddities in Gettysburg
- The Tragedy of Young James Culp: Shortly after Wesley’s Culp’s death at Gettysburg, teenager James Culp suffers an awful fate.
- The Casualty Four Months Later: Young Allen Frazer tried, and failed, to prevent George Briggs from a disastrous mistake.
- Benjamin Franklin Carter, Henry Johnson, and the Stories We Tell: The loyal “servant” of a Confederate officer stays in Gettysburg to ensure the officer is buried properly . . . and then joins the USCT?
Gettysburg’s Farms and Burials
The History Behind the Ghost Stories
The Gettysburg Homestead Orphanage: A favorite stop on most Gettysburg ghost tours, the history of the orphanage is complicated and layered with a mixture of myth and fact.
The History of the Jennie Wade House and Its Ghosts By the 1900s, the death site of Jennie Wade had become a tourist attraction, and today, it’s apparently inhabited by ghosts.
The Sachs Covered Bridge Pennsylvania’s most haunted bridge attracts those interested in history and some possible hangings.
The Hotel Gettysburg A rich history that goes back to the early nineteenth century, a family tie to the Jennie Wade House, and hauntings make this a top spot in Gettysburg to staty.
Iverson’s Pits A true command disaster on July 1 led to a rich history of ghost stories.
Emanuel Bushman, the Original Teller of Gettysburg Ghost Stories: The father of Sadie Bushman was known for his stories and published articles about haunted happenings around town.
The Farnsworth House Inn Has Bullet Holes, Fine Dining, and Lots of Ghosts Owned by the Sweneys during the battle, the old house had an attic full of sharpshooters, one of whom may or may not have shot Jennie Wade. But a lot of spirits may live here.
Devil’s Den Even before the battle, the rock formation was legendary among locals.
The Daniel Lady Farm The stepping off point for the attack on Culp’s Hill is renowned for bloodstains in the farm house, carvings in the barn, and ghosts all over.
Pennsylvania Hall Gettysburg College’s administration building was a major field hospital and now home to one of the most vivid ghost stories in town.
Most Recent Posts
Christmas in Gettysburg in 1863: Anxiety and Hope
Christmas in Gettysburg in 1863 was a study in extreme contrasts. The small town was still emerging from the shadow of the cataclysmic battle fought there five months earlier. The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863) had left the community physically and emotionally scarred. By Christmastime, most of the immediate horrors had been addressed –…
Truth or Legend? Feral Hogs at Gettysburg
On the night of July 2, 1863, the battlefield around Gettysburg fell into an eerie darkness punctuated by the groans of thousands of wounded men. Earlier that day, vicious fighting had swept through farmer George Rose’s wheatfield – a 20-acre expanse that changed hands multiple times in a bloody back-and-forth. More 6,000 soldiers were killed…
Preserving Black History at The Jack Hopkins House
The Adams County Historical Society and the managers of Lincoln Cemetery announced in October 2025 that they would restore the Jack Hopkins House and turn it into a black history museum. Why did prominent historians in town choose the Jack Hopkins house? As various articles explain, the house itself is possibly the last edifice in…
“I [would] like to tell you every intimate detail. Many great events I can easily recall and the days of the battle here in July 1, 2, and 3, 1863 have been impressed on my heart and brain as though seared with a great hot iron.“
Catherine Bushman, 1904, age 79
