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Benjamin Franklin Carter, Henry Johnson, and the Stories We Tell
Benjamin Franklin Carter and Henry Johnson. It’s a story that seems to illustrate the American divide while harmonizing the country. A Union officer is killed in a battle; a Confederate officer so admires his opponent’s bravery that he buries the officer in his own coat. Later, that same Confederate officer is mortally wounded at the…
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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…
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Jim Green and the Killing of Samuel Mars
Jim Green is believed to be the brother or uncle of Catherine Payne, and he came to the Gettysburg area when Mary Maddox first manumitted the enslaved people she had inherited from her husband. Jim was not captured or caught up in the legal drama following Catherine’s kidnapping, but from then on, he carried a…
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Samuel Foulk and the Bonding Out of Young James Wade
Whether he was trying to help the Wades or trying to acquire extra labor, Samuel Foulk took in the son of Captain James Wade, also named James, and spared him further stays at the almshouse. The tradition of the almshouse comes from the United Kingdom. You may recall a reference A Christmas Carol when Scrooge…
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James, Henry, and Edward: The Fahnestock Brothers
The girls were first, and judging by Louisa’s naming of her children, they mothered the later-arriving Fahnestock brothers and adored them. The sons came every two years like clockwork from 1825 through 1829. In 1833, when James was 8, Henry 6, and Edward 4, their father Samuel bought the old tavern down the street from…
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Caroline and Louisa, The Fahnestock Sisters
The Fahnestock sisters, Louisa and Caroline, made up two of the five children born to Samuel and Susan Fahnestock that lived to adulthood. The daughters came first, sandwiched around a brother who passed away in infancy. What we know of their lives is limited to what can be traced in public records, and those are…
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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…
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The Legal Cases of Catherine Payne
For Catherine Payne and her family, three different legal cases emerged. In Virginia, after being taken to the county prison and with the support of Mary Maddox and local Quakers, Catherine Payne filed a suit for damages against Samuel Maddox for kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment. Likewise, Samuel Maddox sought to have the manumission of the…
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Catherine Payne and Her Family’s Escape from Samuel Maddox
In the predawn hours of July 24, 1845, a group of slave catchers composed of six white men and a black man burst into the room where Catherine “Kitty” Payne and her three children were sleeping. At gunpoint, the men violently loaded Catherine and children into a wagon and made for the Mason-Dixon line about…
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The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 and the 1845 Kidnapping of Catherine Payne
In the predawn hours of July 24, 1845, and under the guise of protections guaranteed by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, a group of slave catchers composed of six white men and a black man burst into the room where Catherine Payne and her three children were sleeping. At gunpoint, the men violently loaded…