Category: Confederate Soldiers
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The Interactive Gettysburg Map
This interactive Gettysburg map marks the beginning of a larger project to chart the civilian landscape of Gettysburg in new ways. What you see here is Layer One, focused on Confederate burials drawn from Greg Coco’s Gettysburg’s Confederate Burials and similar sources like Find-a-Grave. Each marker represents a farm or landmark where burials were recorded…
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Confederate Burials on the John Crawford Farm
The John Crawford farm, tenanted in part by Basil Biggs, ended up with a large number of Confederate burials because of its location directly behind the southern battle lines on July 2–3, 1863. When Longstreet’s assault surged through the Peach Orchard, Wheatfield, and toward Cemetery Ridge, thousands of Confederate casualties fell in that sector.
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Confederate Burials Near Basil Biggs’ Home
Burial records of Confederate dead frequently refer to someone interred near the home of Basil Biggs. Basil is probably the best known black resident of the era; he is celebrated for his role in the Underground Railroad as well as work in helping to create the National Cemetery and the Lincoln Cemetery. Basil would later…
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Confederate Burials on the Codori Farm and Sherfy Farm
The Codori farm, lying north of the Sherfy farm and astride the Emmitsburg Road just south of Gettysburg, was one of the most significant landmarks in Pickett’s Charge. On July 3, 1863, thousands of Confederate soldiers crossed the Codori fields as they advanced toward the Union line at the Angle. The farmstead, with its stone…
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Confederate Burials on the George Bushman Farm
The George Bushman farm, located along the Baltimore Pike southeast of Gettysburg, became a Confederate burial site in the wake of the failed assaults on July 2 and July 3, 1863. Among those interred there were numerous men of the 11th Mississippi, part of Cadmus Wilcox’s Brigade in A.P. Hill’s Third Corps. These soldiers had…
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Confederate Burials on the Francis Bream Farm
One of the larger concentrations of Confederate burials was found on the Francis Bream farm because of its unique location and the role it played during and after the fighting on July 2, 1863. Its volume of burials was similar to that of the John Edward Plank farm though fewer than the number found on…
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Discovering the History of Benner’s Hill in Gettysburg
Today, Benner’s Hill does not have the same public resonance as Big Round Top and Little Round Top. Nor does it mix commerce and memory as Cemetery Hill does. And it does not feature in the auto tour like those three and the famous Culp’s Hill. Yet, Benner’s hill played an important role in the…
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Confederate Burials on the George Rose Farm
John and George Rose estimated that between five hundred and one thousand men were buried on their property. The number may well have been higher—the property saw twenty thousand men engage and create six thousand casualties.
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The Cane of John Yarbrough
The following is a piece of fiction inspired by the previous post on the cane of John Yarbrough and the farm of Abraham Plank. (Recall, too, that Abraham Plank is the uncle of John Edward Plank whose farm saw a large number of Confederate burials.) Yarbrough genealogy is very well researched, but details around Private…
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Abraham Plank and the Cane Left Behind
Abraham Plank was a Pennsylvania farmer whose property lay on the southern end of Herr’s Ridge, near the Black Horse Tavern in Cumberland Township (Gettysburg area). He married Sarah Mickley (born 1802) and raised a family there. Census and genealogical records indicate their children included Josiah (b. 1827), Abraham (b.1832), John W. Plank (b.1840), and daughter Henrietta…