Today, the peach orchard of Joseph Sherfy has become Gettysburg’s Peach Orchard even to the casual student of the town and battle. Books and books have been written on its importance, the violence that took place within it, and its overall strategic impact on the three-day battle. Most don’t know, though, that the peach orchard was modestly famous in its own right even before the battle, that it had its own place on local maps, and that its products were renowned in Adams County and neighboring communities. And that has everything to do with its owner and cultivator, Joseph Sherfy.

Early Life and Background

Joseph Sherfy (born June 12, 1812) was raised in a German Baptist Brethren (Dunker) family on a farm just south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He was the ninth of eleven children born to Jacob Sherfy and his wife Catharine (Bosserman) Sherfy. Jacob Sherfy had moved from Maryland to Adams County by 1795 and acquired a 349-acre farm that would later encompass several key areas of the Gettysburg battlefield.

Joseph’s paternal grandfather, Casper Scherffig (anglicized as Sherfy), had emigrated from Germany in 1751, establishing the family’s roots in Pennsylvania. The Sherfy family were devout pacifists in the Church of the Brethren, and Jacob served as a deacon in the local Marsh Creek congregation—a faith tradition Joseph would continue. In February 1840, Joseph Sherfy married Mary Haegen (also spelled Heagen/Hagen), the daughter of a neighboring Adams County farmer. Together, Joseph and Mary would have a large family of their own. By 1863 they had six surviving children (three boys and three girls), and a seventh child was born after the Civil War. Mary’s widowed mother, Catherine Haegen, also lived with the Sherfys, making for a full household on the eve of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Origins of the Sherfy Farm and Peach Orchard

Joseph Sherfy did not initially strike out far from his childhood home. In fact, he was born and raised in a stone house built by his father Jacob that stood only a few hundred yards from the land Joseph would later farm. (That stone house, which would become known during the Civil War as the George Rose farm, was where Joseph spent his youth.) Upon reaching adulthood, Joseph set about establishing his own farm adjacent to his father’s property. When Jacob Sherfy died in 1842, Joseph inherited or purchased roughly 50 acres of the family land just north of the Rose farm. He supplemented this by buying part of a neighboring tract that had belonged to the Woods family, an older farm that even contained some mature fruit trees (including cherry trees dating to the 1750s). On this land – situated along the Emmitsburg Road about a mile south of Gettysburg – Joseph Sherfy began building a productive homestead. In the early 1840s he constructed a two-story brick farmhouse (pictured below) and a barn, establishing the core of what became the Sherfy farm.

By 1842–43, Sherfy had planted a sizeable peach orchard on his property, capitalizing on the gently rolling, fertile ground at the intersection of the Emmitsburg and Millerstown (Wheatfield) roads. He “made out of sterile acres a most productive farm,” as one obituary later noted, and soon “stood in the front rank of intelligent and successful agriculturists” in the county. Indeed, Sherfy’s orchard was notable enough to be labeled “Peach Orchard” on the 1858 Adams County map – a testament to its local renown years before the battle.

By the end of the 1850s, Joseph Sherfy’s farmstead featured a thriving peach orchard of about 7–8 acres, along with other improvements. The property straddled the Emmitsburg Road and wrapped around the lane leading toward the Rose family’s wheatfield. Joseph built additional structures for his farming enterprise – including a canning house, smokehouse, and other outbuildings – to support the preparation and sale of his orchard’s produce. He became well known for selling peaches in several forms: fresh fruit in season, as well as dried peaches and preserved “canned” peaches that could be enjoyed year-round. These peaches were locally famous in the Gettysburg region, and the prosperous Sherfy farm provided a comfortable living for Joseph, Mary, and their growing family.

Sherfy’s Role in the Gettysburg Community and Civil War

Beyond farming, Joseph Sherfy was a respected figure in the local community. A devout member of the Brethren, he later served as an elder in the Marsh Creek Church of the Brethren and was often referred to as “Reverend” Sherfy. The Sherfy farm, located along the well-traveled Emmitsburg Road, meant that Joseph and Mary were part of the social and economic fabric of Gettysburg life. They interacted regularly with travelers and neighbors, selling their renowned peaches and other farm products. The family’s proximity to town (roughly a mile south of Gettysburg) also made it easy for them to participate in church gatherings and community markets, while their pacifist faith kept them separate from the more martial pursuits of the 1860s.

When the Civil War came to Gettysburg in the summer of 1863, Joseph Sherfy and his family found themselves literally on the front lines of history. As Confederate forces approached, Joseph remained true to his humanitarian Brethren principles. On July 1, 1863, as Union Army corps hurried up the Emmitsburg Road toward the sound of gunfire west of town, the Sherfy family sprang into action to aid the Union soldiers. Joseph positioned a large water tub by the road and diligently kept it filled so the parched Union troops could get a drink in the sweltering heat. Mary Sherfy and her mother, Catherine Haegen, hastily baked bread in their farm kitchen and handed out loaves to the passing infantrymen. These acts of kindness were remembered by the soldiers and later recorded in local accounts of the battle. One officer specifically noted how the Sherfys’ charity had been a godsend to the weary men.

By the next day, however, the Sherfys’ peaceful farm had to be abandoned to war. On the morning of July 2, Union officers advised Joseph that his family should evacuate immediately – fierce fighting was expected in the area around his property. That very morning, a Confederate minié ball whizzed into the Sherfy yard, shattering a fence board right near Mrs. Catherine Haegen, Joseph’s mother-in-law. Taking this near-miss as a final warning, the entire Sherfy family hastily packed what they could. Joseph hitched up his wagon and drove his livestock to the southeast, aiming to save his horses and cattle from harm. Joseph, Mary, their six children, and Mary’s mother Catherine fled first to the John Trostle farm (safely behind Union lines near the Round Tops) and then further east to the vicinity of Two Taverns and Littlestown, PA, where they waited out the battle. The Sherfys could only pray for the best; as pacifists, they surely recoiled at the thought that their beloved home might become a battleground, yet that is exactly what was about to happen.

The Sherfy Farm During the Battle of Gettysburg (July 2–3, 1863)

On July 2, 1863, the quiet orchard and fields of Joseph Sherfy’s farm exploded into one of the fiercest engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg. Union General Daniel Sickles, in a controversial move, advanced his III Corps from the main Union line and established a salient position anchored at Sherfy’s Peach Orchard. The orchard occupied a slight rise at the intersection of two roads and seemed to Sickles a strong artillery position – but it formed a dangerous salient (a protruding angle) in the Union line. Around 5:30 p.m., Confederate divisions under General James Longstreet launched a massive assault on this sector. Intense fighting raged in and around the Peach Orchard, as Southern brigades (including Kershaw’s, Semmes’s, and Barksdale’s troops) attacked from multiple sides. Union batteries positioned among Sherfy’s peach trees fired desperately, and the Confederate artillery replied in kind.

Soon the neat rows of fruit trees were shattered by canister and shell. Captain George E. Randolph, whose Union battery dueled enemy guns from Sherfy’s yard, wrote of the peach orchard, “It was canister from the start…men and horses were cut down as fast as we could replace them” – underscoring the carnage unfolding on Sherfy’s land. By 6:30 p.m., after about an hour of slugfest, Confederate infantry (led by General William Barksdale’s Mississippians) overran the Peach Orchard, collapsing Sickles’ salient amid brutal close-quarters fighting.

The Sherfy farm became a hellish scene. Union and Confederate wounded stumbled or crawled into Joseph’s barn and house seeking shelter from the storm of iron. Tragically, the large red Sherfy barn, which had been pressed into service as a field hospital, was hit by exploding shells and caught fire during the height of the battle. Dozens of injured soldiers trapped inside the barn perished in the flames. A soldier of the 77th New York later described the grisly aftermath: “Blackened remains marked the spot where, on the morning of the 3rd, stood a large barn…Those of the wounded not able to help themselves were destroyed by the flames… The crisped and blackened limbs, heads and other portions of bodies…made up one of the most ghastly pictures ever witnessed.” Outside, the battle continued on July 3 with an artillery duel across the Sherfy fields, as Confederate guns near the farm opened fire in support of Pickett’s Charge.

When the fighting finally subsided on July 3, the Sherfy property was devastated. Bullet holes riddled the brick farmhouse, and at least seven cannon shells had struck the house or burst in its yard. Fences were splintered or gone. The once-orderly peach orchard was “practically ruined” – many trees were toppled or scarred by bullets and shrapnel. Bodies of fallen soldiers lay strewn about the farm, hastily covered in shallow graves or left where they fell. Joseph Sherfy’s fields were littered with the detritus of war: unexploded shells, thousands of dropped muskets and knapsacks, and the corpses of 48 dead horses that had been shot or shell-blasted during the fighting. The stench of death and smoke hung over what had been, just days before, a peaceful fruit farm.

Aftermath: Joseph Sherfy’s Life After the Battle

With Lee’s army gone, Gettysburg’s civilians began to trickle back to their properties. Joseph Sherfy and his eldest son returned to their farm on July 6, 1863, to confront a heartbreaking scene. The Sherfy family home had been ransacked from cellar to attic. Furnishings, clothing, and personal belongings were stolen or ruined – trampled into the mud and blood that now stained the floors. Joseph noted that “about everything [was] gone” when he surveyed the damage. Inside the house, dried blood and gore testified to its use as a field hospital. Outside, the family encountered trenches where soldiers had been buried and the charred wreckage of their barn, within which lay the ashes and half-consumed remains of the unfortunate wounded who died in the fire. It was almost more than one family could bear. Yet Joseph Sherfy was determined to rebuild. He and Mary, with the help of neighbors and their church community, set to work cleaning the property as best they could. They rebuilt fences and outbuildings and salvaged what was left of their orchard. Remarkably, many of the peach trees had survived the battle’s carnage. Joseph pruned the damaged trees and replanted new ones to replace those beyond saving. Within a year or two, the Sherfys had constructed a new barn on the old foundation – a barn that still stands (in a later modified form) on the west side of Emmitsburg Road today.

Life slowly returned to a semblance of normalcy for the Sherfys. In the decades after Gettysburg, Joseph Sherfy’s peach orchard resumed bearing fruit, and the family once again sold fresh and preserved peaches to locals and visitors alike. The farm, now hallowed by the blood of so many soldiers, became a must-visit destination for returning veterans. Union and Confederate veterans from units that had fought at the Peach Orchard made a point to stop by the Sherfy house on their post-war reunions and battlefield tours.

Mary Sherfy became famous for her hospitality – one wall of her parlor was reportedly covered with photographs of veterans who had given them to her as mementos of their visits. Visitors were shown a wartime curiosity: a large cherry tree by the Sherfy house that still harbored a twelve-pound cannonball embedded deep in its trunk. Many veterans, as well as tourists, left the farm with a unique souvenir: a jar of Mrs. Sherfy’s canned peaches or a bag of dried peaches “from the Peach Orchard.” In this way, the Sherfys’ fruit, grown on a battlefield, became a part of Gettysburg’s lore.

Financially, the Sherfy family never fully recovered their pre-war prosperity. Joseph joined many Gettysburg citizens in filing damage claims with the federal government after the war. Between 1868 and 1881 he submitted claims totaling about $2,500 for losses including his barn, farm equipment, crops, livestock, and orchard trees. Unfortunately, like most such claims (see, for example, John Slyder’s experience), his petitions were denied by the government. The law compensated only damage caused by Union forces, and most of Sherfy’s destruction was wrought by Confederate action (or considered unavoidable battle damage). Despite this setback, the Sherfys continued on. Joseph became an ordained elder of his Brethren church in 1881, further cementing his role as a spiritual leader in the community. However, his health began to fail around this time. In the summer of 1882, Joseph contracted what doctors called “typhoid malaria,” and he passed away on October 4, 1882 at the age of 70. Mary Sherfy outlived her husband by over two decades, remaining on the farm until her death in 1904 at age 86. Both Joseph and Mary Sherfy were laid to rest in the Marsh Creek Brethren burying ground (also known as Pfoutz’s Valley Chapel Cemetery) not far from their home. Their gravestones note their deep faith.

Joseph and Mary’s children carried on the family name, though not all remained in Gettysburg. Their eldest son, Rev. Raphael Sherfy, assisted his father in the ministry and helped run the farm until he tragically died (possibly of illness) in December 1882 – just two months after Josephfindagrave.com. Daughters Otelia, Mary, and Anna all survived into the 20th century and married into other local families. For a time, some of these family members continued to operate the Sherfy farm or lived on the property. Even as the decades passed, the Sherfy Peach Orchard remained an enduring symbol, drawing visitors who remembered the battle and those who had heard its story.

Legacy of the Sherfy Farm: From Generation to Preservation

In the years after Mary Sherfy’s death, the historic farm changed hands and its use evolved, but it never lost its significance. The property stayed in private ownership well into the 20th century, gradually transitioning from a family fruit farm into part of the preserved Gettysburg battlefield landscape. By the early 1900s, with the original peach trees aging or already gone, the “Peach Orchard” existed more in memory than reality – for decades the fields remembered for the bloody fighting contained no peach trees at all. Various owners undertook conventional farming on the Sherfy acreage. (One post-war owner even raised ducks and geese on the land, collecting their feathers for the market, according to local lore.)

The brick Sherfy house, however, remained a landmark, still scarred with bullet marks from 1863 and often noted by battlefield guides. Monuments to Union regiments were erected along the Emmitsburg Road in front of the Sherfy house and barn in the late 1800s, reflecting the farm’s importance in the battle. In 1895, Gettysburg National Military Park was established under the U.S. War Department, but at first the government only secured small parcels or easements on the battlefield. It was not until the mid-20th century that there was an effort to acquire entire historic farm properties.

In 1969, the National Park Service (NPS) finally acquired the Sherfy farm from private hands, recognizing it as a key historic site. The farm became part of Gettysburg National Military Park, ensuring its protection and restoration. Since then, the NPS has maintained the Sherfy house and land, even as it permits some continued agricultural use. (The brick farmhouse is today rented out as a private residence, under agreements that ensure its preservation.) In the early 21st century, the Park Service undertook a concerted effort to restore the battlefield’s historic orchards, including re-establishing Joseph Sherfy’s famous peach orchard on its original ground. In 2008–2011, hundreds of young peach trees were planted in rows at the southeast corner of Emmitsburg and Wheatfield Roads, bringing the iconic “Peach Orchard” back to life after an absence of many decades. These efforts allow visitors to better envision the landscape as the soldiers and the Sherfy family would have seen it in 1863.

Today, the Sherfy farm is a carefully tended piece of the Gettysburg battlefield, rich with layers of history. The Sherfy house and barn still stand on the west side of Emmitsburg Road, painted the distinctive red that many Gettysburg barns wore. Visitors can walk through the Peach Orchard, touch the trees, and read wayside exhibits about the brutal combat that took place among those rows. The Gettysburg Foundation and park staff also use portions of the Sherfy property for educational programs. A small garden plot is cultivated each year next to the house, where volunteers grow vegetables, fruits, and herbs using 19th-century techniques – an homage to the Sherfy family’s agrarian life. This produce is harvested and used for interpretation, demonstrating how civilians like the Sherfys lived off the land. Through such efforts, the legacy of Joseph Sherfy and his peach orchard continues to echo through time. The farm that was once turned into a “fruit farm turned firestorm” in 1863 is now a place of reflection and learning, where the resilience of a family and the historical significance of their land are preserved for future generations.