Tag: Battle of Gettysburg
-
John Edward Plank: His Farm and Family
In and around Gettysburg, John Edward Plank was in the news nearly his entire life, and his farm became a critical junction before, during, and after the battle. Because of that, John and his farm remain in the news today. Descended from German immigrants, John Plank married Sarah Ann Rhinehart in Gettysburg’s Saint James Lutheran…
-
“Blind Davey” and the Mad Dog—The Story of David Weikert
The youngest child of James and Sarah Weikert, David was fourteen years old at the time of the battle. Like other residents, he watched as the battlefield became a mix of memorial, playground, and marketplace. Within days of the battle, residents and citizens from nearby communities poured into the community, collecting souvenirs, finding wounded and…
-
Henrietta “Hettie” Weikert Saw It All
Henrietta Weikert seems to have left home as soon as she could. At age 18, she married George Washington Shriver who, like her, came from a farming family in Adams County. In the case of Hettie (as she was called), she was the sixth of thirteen children living on a farm east of Little Round…
-
The Fahnestock Store
If any building were to be called the center of the Battle of Gettysburg, it would be the Fahnestock store. Located at the corner of Baltimore and West Middle Streets next to the rotary or diamond at the center of the business district, the store was the largest of its kind in Gettysburg. Well before…
-
Chapter 7: A Business I Can Do
“Christian perseverance” was how the obituaries often said it, as in, “She bore her final affliction with great resolve and Christian perseverance.” Carrie Sheads often thought of that phrase as she listened to her young piano students butcher Chopin or pound Mozart with the hammers of their clumsy hands and stubby farmer fingers. Of course,…
-
Chapter 4: McAllister’s Mill
Jennie set aside the stack of trousers and looked up at her mother. Sunlight streamed through the window of the small house on Breckenridge Street. Her mother had upholstery for a carriage at a small table in the front room. Her hair was pulled back, and beads of sweat had formed on her forehead. Georgia…
-
Chapter 3: Past Due
Early morning, and Jack Skelly pulled a wagon behind him with newly sewn upholstery stacked up. Wes Culp walked next to him, a bag slung over his shoulder with his sandwich and an apple for lunch later in the day. Coming the opposite direction was Jennie Wade, blonde hair past her shoulders with a portion…
-
Chapter 2: Runaway
On days like this, when no clouds hung in the sky and when no breeze cooled their sweat, Daddy was easy on them. He never stopped working the bean and cornfields himself, but he always let the girls, just a year apart in age, head over to Marsh Creek to wade in and cool off.…
-
Chapter 1: Commitment
Two men with mustaches stared at young Jennie, their question hanging in the air. As Jennie struggled for words, she pictured Papa’s hands with a needle and thread—how deftly he moved among seams, tied off strands, started new lines, switched to scissors and back. Jennie took a deep breath and looked at the man in…