When considering its history with the Battle of Gettysburg, Christ’s Church (now known as Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church) is best remembered for the killing of clergyman Horatio Stockton Howell (more on that below) and the sheltering of Ole Liz Butler, a black washerwoman who escaped Confederate cavalry and hid until the battle concluded. The Church is still active today and has a rich history that is deeper and wider than just the battle.

Founding

The oldest building in Gettysburg to be used continuously as a Church, Christ’s Church – today known as Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church – was established as the first English-speaking Lutheran congregation in Gettysburg in 1836. Rev. Samuel S. Schmucker (founder of the Gettysburg Seminary and College) was a chief organizer of the new church. The older St. James Lutheran Church in town held services in German, so Christ’s Church filled the need for English-language worship. In fact, many of its early members were faculty and students from the seminary and Pennsylvania (Gettysburg) College. The simple brick church (completed between 1835 and 1836) quickly became known as the “College Church,” hosting graduation ceremonies and campus meetings.

Notable Clergy and Congregants

Among its early leaders and worshippers were several prominent figures. Rev. Samuel S. Schmucker (1799–1873), a leading Lutheran theologian, helped found both the seminary and Christ’s Church. Rev. Michael Jacobs (1808–1871) – a Gettysburg College professor renowned for his meteorology records – also served as a pastor of Christ’s Church in the mid-1800s. Another pastor was Henry Louis Baugher (1804–1868), a professor and later president of Pennsylvania College, whose eloquent preaching earned him the nickname “most effective preacher in Gettysburg.” (Baugher was the only Gettysburg church pastor to remain in town during and after the battle – he even cared for wounded soldiers in his home – enabling Christ’s Church to reopen quickly.) A notable lay supporter was Thaddeus Stevens (1792–1868), the U.S. Congressman and abolitionist, who lived across Chambersburg Street and for years rented a pew at Christ’s Church.

Role in the Community (pre–Civil War)

From its founding the church served as a civic and educational center. It was the only Protestant house of worship in Gettysburg designed for English services, so all campus convocations and local meetings often took place there. (The congregation’s bell – cast in 1788 and hung in the church cupola – tolled for generations of ceremonies.) The church’s leaders and members were deeply involved in town life. For decades Christ’s Church functioned as the “college church,” with students of Gettysburg College and the Seminary required to attend services there. In short, before the war it was one of Gettysburg’s most important public buildings and helped bind together the college, seminary, and borough community.

The Civil War and Battle of Gettysburg (July 1863)

On July 1–3, 1863, Gettysburg was the scene of the war’s bloodiest battle. Christ’s Church (Lutheran) was pressed into service almost immediately. Union medical officers converted the church into a divisional field hospital (for I Corps) as soon as fighting reached town. All available space was used: boards were laid across pews for makeshift cots, and surgeons performed dozens of amputations. By midday, “every pew was full; some sitting, some lying, some leaning on others,” as one local recalled. In its official history the church notes it served as a hospital “until August 15, 1863,” caring for roughly 150 wounded soldiers at peak. Even after the battle, Confederate wounded were treated there alongside Union men. (Gettysburg guides today note that limbs amputated inside were tossed out the windows and buried nearby, though records are scarce.) In short, the church witnessed scenes of intense suffering.

• Field hospital (Union and Confederate): Union I Corps designated Christ’s Church as a hospital immediately on July 1. At its peak about 150 men lay in the sanctuary. One volunteer nurse (Mary McAllister) later described the scene vividly: “Every pew was full; some sitting, some lying, some leaning on others.” Medical staff treated amputations and critical injuries for nearly six weeks.
• Death of Chaplain Horatio Howell: On the afternoon of July 1, Union Chaplain Horatio S. Howell (of the 90th PA) stepped out onto the front steps to assess the fighting. A Confederate soldier demanded Howell’s surrender; when Howell insisted he was a noncombatant, the soldier shot him dead at the top of the steps. (Howell typically wore a blue Union coat instead of clergy dress or collars; this likely contributed to the Confederate’s misreading of Howell’s protest.) Howell became the only U.S. Army chaplain killed at Gettysburg, and a monument now stands by those steps on Chambersburg Street.
• Other events: During the battle the church‘s cupola served as an observation point for Union sharpshooters (who helped halt the Confederate advance from Seminary Ridge). (Meanwhile, Old Liz Butler hid in the belfry in stifling heat.) Notably, although formally a Union hospital, Christ’s Church treated Confederate wounded alongside Yankees for several days. Its two large Linden (“bee”) trees out front later came to be called “witness trees” of the battle (one of these still stands to this day).

After the fighting, Gettysburg’s civilians recovered slowly. By late August 1863 Christ’s Church had cleared out its last patients (78 still remained on Aug. 3). Unlike many churches that remained closed for months (damaged or abandoned by fleeing clergy), Christ’s Lutheran congregation was able to resume services relatively quickly. Remarkably, Rev. Baugher remained in Gettysburg and continued ministering to his flock – the only Gettysburg pastor who did so. (Most of the town’s other pastors left for other charges in 1863–64.) Thanks to this continuity, Christ’s Church reopened on a near-normal schedule by fall 1863. The surviving congregation repaired the sanctuary and gradually returned to regular worship in their historic building.

Postwar Growth and Modern Role

In the decades after the war, Christ’s Church expanded and modernized its facilities. In 1875 the sanctuary was extended by 25 feet and the roof raised several feet, and another addition was built at the rear in 1930. These enlargements accommodated a growing parish. In 1957 the congregation bought the neighboring Hill House and converted it into a parish hall for education and social programs. A nursery-school wing was soon attached. Major renovations in 1974 improved the church interior, and a sesquicentennial celebration was held in 1985–86. At the turn of the 21st century Christ’s Church undertook the “Moving Forward in History” project (begun 2004), linking the church and parish house with an elevator and modern wing for accessibility.

Today Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church remains an active congregation in the Lower Susquehanna Synod of the ELCA. It still occupies its original 1835–36 building (the oldest continually used church edifice in Gettysburg). The church now focuses much of its mission on community outreach and education: it operates a popular preschool, hosts community events, and offers programs open to all. Christ’s Church also embraces its Civil War heritage – for example, it sponsors a “Songs & Stories of a Civil War Hospital” program that recounts the true history of the church as a wartime hospital. In short, the church has evolved from a campus chapel into a neighborhood landmark, still drawing worshippers and visitors with its historic character and outreach.

Cemetery and Burials

Christ’s Church does not have an adjacent graveyard. (Its founding site on Chambersburg Street and later expansions did not include burial grounds.) Instead, members of the congregation were typically interred in town cemeteries. For example, the son of Pastor H. L. Baugher – Nesbitt Baugher (1836–1862), mortally wounded at Shiloh – was returned to Gettysburg and buried in nearby Evergreen Cemetery. President Henry L. Baugher and his wife were also laid to rest at Evergreen. In general, the church’s prominent 19th-century members (seminary faculty, professors, pastors) lie in the well-known Evergreen Cemetery or in the National Cemetery nearby, rather than in a churchyard.