Tag: Soldiers from Gettysburg
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A House Divided: The Strange, Unresolved Story of Henry Wentz of Gettysburg
Wesley Culp is the most widely known Gettysburg-born Confederate soldier who fought at his hometown, but he is not the only one. Charles Hoffman’s three sons, friends of Wesley Culp, also returned in the fight. Frequently overlooked, though, is Henry Wentz. If you stand today along the Emmitsburg Road near the Peach Orchard, you are…
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The Long Journey Home of John Burns
You won’t get through Gettysburg without hearing the legend of John Burns. And legend it surely is: Burns became nationally famous, wrote a pamphlet about his experience, traveled some to support it, and told fabulous tales of being wounded anywhere between three and seven times. His grave includes an American flag—one of two civilian plots…
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Exploring the Legacy of Emanuel Craig and Gettysburg’s Black Community
Emanuel Craig was an African American laborer, Civil War veteran, and family man in 19th-century Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. His life spanned the tumultuous Civil War era and Reconstruction, and his story illuminates the experiences of Gettysburg’s Black community during that period. Born around 1829 to Benjamin Craig and Mary (Wagner) Craig, Emanuel grew up in Adams…
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Gettysburg’s William Maurey: Killed as a Confederate
What causes a man like William Maurey, born and raised in Gettysburg, to take up arms against his neighbors and, in many cases, his family? Each case is different, and so the answer is likely different for each person. Certainly, we’ve explored this in the case of Wesley Culp. As it would happen, the case…
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Christmas in Gettysburg in 1863: Anxiety and Hope
Christmas in Gettysburg in 1863 was a study in extreme contrasts. The small town was still emerging from the shadow of the cataclysmic battle fought there five months earlier. The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863) had left the community physically and emotionally scarred. By Christmastime, most of the immediate horrors had been addressed –…
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Brother v. Brother: William Weikert, Adultery, and Dogfighting
The person easiest to track in this story is William Henry Weikert, son of John George Weikert. Mercifully, nearby Weikerts in the same generation did not have a son named William Henry. When talking about men named George Weikert in Civil War Gettysburg, we have to get precise. It doesn’t help to go to middle…
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Did Samuel Foulk’s Business Hurt Charles Hoffman?
In other articles, we’ve looked at how Wesley Culp followed Charles W. Hoffman south to Shepherdstown, Virginia, and how that decision likely influenced him to join the Stonewall Brigade. We’ve also seen that one of Hoffman’s motivations to leave may have been the debts he accrued to the Fahnestocks and David Middlecoff. We’ve also looked…
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The Troubled Life of John T. Weikert, Wounded Veteran
To understand John Thomas Weikert, it helps to know something about war trauma and family violence. One of the underreported aspects of the Civil War was the number of veterans who were scarred both physically and mentally. Harrowing images exist that show us disfigured men who had to struggle with disabilities for the rest of…
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You Can Never Go Home: Nicholas J. Codori, Gettysburg’s Prodigal Son
It might have seemed like a storybook ending. Just before Christmas in 1916, after fifty years missing, when friends and family had given him up for dead, Nicholas J. Codori returned to Gettysburg. The town’s wayward native son, relatives of which were still living in town or nearby, had come home. But this is not…
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Revealing John Wolford: His Legacy and Connection to Caroline Shenabrook
Previously, we looked at the case of Isadore Keefer, Caroline Shenabrook, and John Wolford. You may recall that Shenabrook had a child out of wedlock with Isadore Keefer—a girl named Annie that we’ll cover in a subsequent article. However, census and death records show she also had three other children out of wedlock with a…