Near the farms of the Roses, Michael Bushman, George Bushman, and the Slyders sits the Trostle farm. The Trostle farm is a favorite among tour guides—tourists can pause in the street running past the barn and be directed to find the famous hole in the barn made by a shell on July 2, 1863. The farm is also notable as being the site where General Dan Sickles took shrapnel to his leg, requiring amputation. The story of the Trostles, though, mirrors those of many other farmers whose lands and properties were decimated by the battle.

Peter Trostle (originally Trostel) was born on February 26, 1788, in Paradise Township, York County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of German-descent parents Abraham Trostle (b. 1740 in Württemberg, Germany) and Susanna Elizabeth Bentz. Peter married Susannah Cashman in 1812, and together they had a large family. One of their sons was Abraham Trostle, born October 21, 1821 (a twin to his sister Rebecca Margaret). Peter and Susannah’s children also included Joseph (1815–1885), Anna (1819–1906), George (1826–1912), Mary Jane (1833–1918), and Rebecca Margaret (1821–1877) among others. Many of these children married into other local families – for example, daughter Anna wed into the Pitzer family (notable for Pitzer Woods on the battlefield), and Rebecca married Daniel Stallsmith. The Trostles were part of the Pennsylvania German farming community and were long established in the Gettysburg area. Peter Trostle died in September 1863, just two months after the famous battle, and is buried in Gettysburg’s Evergreen Cemetery.

Abraham Trostle, Peter’s son, married Catharine (“Catherine”) Walter on January 15, 1844, at St. James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg. Abraham and Catharine had a very large family: by 1863 they had nine children (at least six sons and four daughters). Their children ranged from George Washington Trostle (born 1845) to little Mary (born 1860), with siblings Margaret, Conrad, Ephraim, Sarah, Peter, Lydia, and Abraham Jr./Isaiah in between. (The Trostle children’s names reflect both family ties – e.g. son Conrad’s middle name “Walter” honors Catharine’s maiden name – and biblical/patriotic influences.) The Trostle family was typical of rural Pennsylvania: they lived off the farm and raised their many children on its grounds. During the Civil War, all of Abraham’s sons were still too young to serve in the army, and the family’s main contribution (and sacrifice) would be what happened to their farm during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Acquisition of the Trostle Farm

The farm that became known as Trostle Farm was not originally in the family – it came into Peter Trostle’s possession in 1839 under unusual circumstances. Peter acquired the 134-acre Gettysburg farm from the estate of David Troxell in 1839 (an earlier David Troxell, not the owner of the Troxell house), receiving it through Troxell’s will as payment for debts owed between Troxell and Trostle. In other words, an arrangement in Troxell’s will settled a debt by granting the property to Peter. Prior to Trostle ownership, the land had been part of Troxell’s holdings (little is documented about Troxell, but he likely farmed it before Peter Trostle). Once Peter gained this farm, he decided to keep it while also retaining his original farm in Straban Township, Adams County. Peter’s primary residence remained at his Straban Township farm for some years; the newly acquired land just south of the town of Gettysburg would soon be occupied by his son’s family.

In April 1849, Peter Trostle leased the Gettysburg farm to his son Abraham for a term of 15 years. By leasing the farm, Peter effectively passed day-to-day management to Abraham, who was in his late 20s and starting his own family. The lease required Abraham to pay annual rent and abide by certain provisions, but it also signaled a transition: Peter was preparing the farm for the next generation. Indeed, Peter later formally gave the 144-acre farm to the next generation, but not directly to Abraham (possibly as the lease concluded around 1864). Some sources note that in legal terms the farm was inherited by Abraham’s wife Catharine from Peter – suggesting Peter might have willed or deeded the property to his daughter-in-law rather than directly to Abraham as a result of mental health and other problems Abraham was having. By the early 1860s the farm was firmly in the hands of Catharine Trostle and her family, while Peter was elderly and would pass away in 1863.

Farm Layout and Structures in 1863

By the time of the Civil War, the Trostle Farm was a prosperous mid-19th-century farmstead in Cumberland Township, just south of the town of Gettysburg. It spanned approximately 134 acres, with its fields bordering Plum Run (a creek to the east) and lying near the intersection of the Emmitsburg Road and Wheatfield Road. The farm’s location was about 3 miles south of Gettysburg’s center – an area destined to become a crucial part of the battlefield on July 2, 1863. A narrow dirt farm lane ran east–west through the property, connecting to the Emmitsburg Road; this lane would later prove important during the battle.

In July 1863, observers described the Trostle farm as having a collection of well-built structures. There was a newly built wood-frame farmhouse (the Trostle house) with seven rooms and a basement, completed only a few years before the war. There was also a large Pennsylvania-style bank barn made of brick on a stone foundation – a substantial structure with an earthen ramp to its upper level. The barn’s brick gable faces south, with decorative diamond-shaped vents; it was the only brick-gabled barn on the Gettysburg battlefield and quite prominent. Nearby stood typical outbuildings: a wagon shed attached to the barn, a corn crib, a springhouse for water and cooling dairy products, and even a small brick smokehouse for meat curing. An apple orchard grew on the farm as well, providing fruit and shade. Fences (both wooden post-and-rail and some stone walls) crisscrossed the fields, enclosing pastures and crop land.

At the time of the battle, Abraham Trostle, his wife Catharine, and their children were living in the farmhouse. Also present might have been a hired hand or extended family, but primarily it was the Trostle household of two parents and nine young children (the oldest, George, was 17; the youngest, Mary, was 3). The Trostles were hard-working farmers – on June 30, 1863, they would have been tending summer crops (wheat, hay, oats, and vegetables) and livestock as usual. Because of rumors of Confederates in the area, they had buried many of their valuables. The Gettysburg area had become tense with the approach of Confederate forces, and by July 1, fighting had erupted north and west of town. As the second day of battle dawned on July 2, the Trostle family found themselves squarely in the path of what would become one of the war’s fiercest engagements.

The Trostle Farm in the Battle of Gettysburg

On July 2, 1863, the Trostle farm suddenly became the backdrop for fierce combat during the Battle of Gettysburg. Union Major General Daniel Sickles had advanced his Third Corps to a forward position along the Emmitsburg Road, with his line stretching from Devil’s Den to the Peach Orchard just west of the Trostle farm. In doing so, Sickles unwittingly placed the Trostle homestead in the center-rear of his overstretched line. That afternoon, around 4:00 pm, Confederate divisions under Longstreet launched a massive assault. As Union positions at the Peach Orchard collapsed under attacks by Barksdale’s Mississippi brigade and others, panicked Union troops and artillery units streamed back toward Cemetery Ridge – many passing directly through the Trostle farm in their retreat.

General Sickles had set up his field headquarters in the Trostle yard earlier that day. Catharine had just placed their midday meal on the table when Union soldiers arrived and instructed them to leave. Abraham, likely not right in his mind, insisted on staying to protect the property—his oldest son George volunteered to stay with him. Catharine hustled the rest of the children into a wagon and headed out only to see Union men help themselves to the meal she had prepared.

Sickles and his staff commandeered the Trostle house and property: the family’s noonday dinner was left on the table as they fled, and Union officers “enjoyed” that abandoned meal in the Trostle dining room during a lull in the fighting. Sickles stood near the barn directing his troops when he was struck by a Confederate artillery shell in the right leg, a grievous wound that led to an amputation. (A monument today marks the spot in the field west of the barn where Sickles lost his leg.) As shells exploded around the farmyard, the Trostle family had wisely taken shelter: Abraham and his eldest son George may have hunkered down in the cellar or with Sickles’ HQ (according to some sources, though others say Abraham had already been institutionalized), while Catharine Trostle led the younger children away to a relative’s home in Hanover for safety. No civilians were physically harmed at the farm, but the day’s events would leave the property in shambles.

One of the battle’s most dramatic episodes occurred on the Trostle farm: the last stand of the 9th Massachusetts Light Artillery Battery (Bigelow’s Battery). As Union artillery units fell back from the Peach Orchard, Captain John Bigelow’s 9th Massachusetts battery – a “green” unit in its first battle – was ordered to hold position in the Trostle farmyard at all costs to buy time for the main Union line to reform on Cemetery Ridge. Bigelow unlimbered his six cannons near the Trostle house and barn, positioned astride the narrow farm lane. Soon a tidal wave of Confederate infantry (the 21st Mississippi of Barksdale’s brigade) swept over the knoll west of the farm. Bigelow’s men loaded double-shotted canister and opened point-blank, “torn and broken” the enemy ranks but unable to stop the advance. In the chaos, other Union batteries escaped, but Bigelow’s battery became trapped by stout fences and the choke-point of a gate near the house. One gun caught on the gatepost as they tried to withdraw, blocking the exit.

With no way out, Bigelow’s men continued firing until the Confederate infantry swarmed among them. A shout went up to “Shoot the horses!”, and Rebel soldiers shot and bayoneted the battery’s draft horses to prevent the guns from being taken away. Gunners fought hand-to-hand with rammer staves and pistols, but eventually Bigelow’s company was overrun. Five of the six Union guns were captured on the Trostle farm, and the ground around the barn was strewn with dead men and horses – a ghastly scene captured in photographs days later.

By the time fighting ceased on July 2, the Trostle farm was a bloody no-man’s-land. The Confederates briefly held the area that evening but were driven back by Union reinforcements before July 3. On July 3rd, the farm was in range of heavy artillery fire again (during Pickett’s Charge nearby) and served as a field hospital site. The Trostle house sheltered wounded soldiers from both sides; surgeons operated inside its rooms and likely in the barn as well. When the battle finally ended and the Confederate army retreated on July 4, the once-tranquil farm was left devastated.

Aftermath of the Battle and the Trostle Family’s Fate

After the battle, Catharine Trostle returned on July 6 with the younger children, while Abraham and George (who had stayed closer by) emerged to survey the damage. They found a scene of horror. Catharine described that “there were 16 dead horses left close by the door and probably 100 on the farm” in total. The yard and fields were littered with carcasses of horses from Bigelow’s battery and others. The Trostle house had been ransacked – much of the family’s furniture, clothing, and food stores were looted or destroyed by soldiers. Windows were broken and the walls were pockmarked by bullets and shells. The brick barn in particular had a jagged hole blown through its south wall by an artillery shell, and numerous smaller bullet holes, some of which can still be seen. Fences and crops had been trampled flat. The farm’s well and spring were likely contaminated. In short, the Trostles returned to a wasteland that had been their thriving home only days before.

Catharine Trostle meticulously listed the family’s losses in a claim for compensation that she later filed with the U.S. government. Among the items destroyed or seized were: “hay, oats, wheat, garden vegetables, quilts, carpet, pillows, bridle, posts, and timber,” as well as the “use of [our] buildings for hospitals” and general damage to the structures. She noted the house had 7 rooms plus a cellar and that it had been occupied by Union forces until July 4. The total damage claim was $2,500 – a substantial sum for the time, reflecting not just property damage but the loss of livelihood for the family. However, like many Gettysburg civilians, the Trostles received no reimbursement. A government quartermaster official determined that the losses were “in the nature of damages” from battle and thus not compensable under the claims act. This denial (common in the aftermath of Gettysburg) left the Trostle family on their own to recover.

Recover they did – with resilience. But mostly without Abraham. In September that year, Peter Trostle died. The combined effects of the battle and the lost of his father may have pushed Abraham past his breaking point. By 1865, he was living in the Harrisburg State Hospital, a sprawling asylum somewhat like the Adams County Almshouse (the Trostles may have sent him out of the county to avoid the inevitable stigma).

The Trostles rebuilt fences, replanted where they could, and repaired their home. The shell-hole in the barn was left as a gaping reminder for some time (it was never fully “fixed,” just patched around the edges, and remains visible today). Abraham and Catharine continued farming the land for years after the battle. Over time, the carnage faded: fields were cleared of bones and debris, and grass regrew. Abraham Trostle did not live to old age, however; he died in December 1877 at about 56 years old. After Abraham’s death, Catharine Trostle became the de facto head of the farm, and she ensured it stayed in family hands. She never remarried and instead enlisted help from her grown children to run the farm into the 1880s and 90s.

Later History and Preservation of Trostle Farm

By the late 19th century, Gettysburg battlefield sites were being preserved and memorialized. The Trostle farm, being such a notable location (with Sickles’ HQ and Bigelow’s stand), drew attention from preservation groups. Catharine Trostle retained ownership until the end of the century. In 1899, the Trostle heirs (primarily Catharine and her eldest son George) sold the farm to the U.S. Government for $4,500. According to family accounts, Peter Trostle’s will had technically left the farm to Catharine, so upon her passing it went to her children. Catharine died in 1897, and shortly thereafter her son George Trostle sold the property to the Gettysburg National Military Park Commission (the War Department). This sale made the Trostle farm one of the earliest parcels of the battlefield to enter public ownership. No longer a private family farm, it became part of the Gettysburg National Military Park, preserved for historical significance.

Over the 20th century, the Trostle farm structures were preserved and occasionally utilized by the park. The War Department and later the National Park Service performed repairs on the barn and house. Notably, the barn underwent stabilization and adaptive reuse: the west wall of the barn had partially collapsed at one point and was rebuilt with a wooden frame and siding, replacing the brick in that section. The barn’s interior was altered for a time to accommodate dairy farming (when the government leased the land to local farmers), evidenced by modifications in the stable area and additional planks on the threshing floor. Despite these changes, the barn retained its historic appearance. The iconic cannonball hole in the brick gable was left untouched and remains a visible battle scar. The farmhouse, being a mid-19th century frame house, also survived and was maintained. By the 1930s, the Gettysburg National Military Park had transferred from the War Dept. to the National Park Service, which today cares for the Trostle farm.

Today, visitors to Gettysburg can walk the Trostle grounds and vividly imagine the events of 1863. The farm lies along United States Avenue (a tour road) on the battlefield’s southern end. The National Park Service has preserved the site much as it looked in the 19th century: the farmhouse and barn exteriors appear historic, and even some split-rail fences and orchards have been restored in the vicinity. The Trostle barn’s famous hole is pointed out by guides, and the multitude of patched bullet pock-marks on its eastern wall can be seen up close. The Trostle house, while not generally open to the public, is used as housing for seasonal park interns studying history – a fitting use that keeps the building alive and maintained. Inside, one might still sense the aura of the field hospital it became during the battle. The fields around the farm are kept as open pasture, evocative of their 1863 appearance (minus the carnage). Informational wayside signs tell the story of what happened there, and monuments – like the 9th Massachusetts Battery monument (a granite limber chest) and a marker for Sickles’ wounding – dot the landscape.

The Trostle farm is a remarkable example of a historic Gettysburg farmstead that has survived the test of time. From a family inheritance in 1839, to a war-torn battlefield in 1863, to a preserved national historic site by 1899, its journey reflects both the tragedies of war and the efforts of later generations to honor and remember that history. Genealogically, the line of Peter Trostle and his son Abraham continued through Abraham’s children (many of whom stayed local – for instance, daughter Margaret married into the Leister family, whose farm became General Meade’s headquarters). Though the Trostle family eventually relinquished the land, their name remains forever attached to it. The Trostle Farm today stands not only as a memorial to the battle – replete with its battle-scarred barn and monuments – but also as a testament to the tenacity of a farm family who rebuilt their lives after unimaginable upheaval. Visitors gazing at the quiet farm now can reflect on the lives of the Trostles, their ancestors and descendants, and appreciate how this ordinary family homestead became an extraordinary landmark in American history.