The Littlest Nurse of Gettysburg

In this short story, readers find out how nine-year-old Sadie Bushman may have experienced the battle.

Sadie’s Reflections

Years after the battle, Sadie gave interviews to two different papers and shared stories of her experience that gave different, sometimes conflicting, details. Her mother told a third story to yet another paper with even more discrepancies.

The Road to Grandma’s House

Sadie traveled at night to the George Bushman Farm where her grandmother lived. Learn about the route she might have traveled and some of the landmarks she might have passed.

The Friendship Quilt

Near the end of her life, Catherine Bushman gave a friendship quilt to her granddaughter and reflected on the battle and what her children had experienced. In this short story, we see what notes her granddaughter might have taken.

The Battlefield Embalmer

He put Sadie Bushman to work helping with amputations, feeding of the men, and distribution of dressings for wounds. But who was Dr. Benjamin Lyford, and would he and Sadie ever cross paths again?

Emanuel Bushman, an Early Ghost Tour Leader

Sadie claimed that her father sometimes whipped her for going out to the field hospitals, and Catherine said he might have saved her life during the battle. An amateur historian and writer, Emanuel Bushman helped mythologize the town.

The Jennie Wade Connection

Jennie Wade, the only civilian killed in the battle, died at the home of her sister, Georgia (pictured far left). Catherine Bushman and her children might have been the last residents to see Jennie alive, and years later, Catherine would help Jennie’s mother in a surprising way.