Tag: Gettysburg farms
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James Godman, Black Teamster, Alleged Confederate Casualty
One of the curiosities of the records of Confederate dead is the case of James Godman, also listed at various times as Chadman or Codman. He turns up in the Camp Letterman surgical history, one of the best and primary sources on Confederate deaths and burials at Gettysburg. In that record, he is J.H. Chadman,…
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“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…
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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…
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James McAllister’s Mill and the Underground Railroad
What is now known as McAllister’s Mill was originally developed in 1790 by James Gettys and an unidentified partner. James McAllister would not purchase the mill that became a symbol of freedom until 1822. From his early days, James and his family were ardent abolitionists and deeply involved in the anti-slavery cause, which would later…