The Battle of Gettysburg: The Country, the Contestants, the ResultsStorrick, W. C. (William Clayton)
History
The Battle of Gettysburg: The Country, the Contestants, the Results
Storrick, W. C. (William Clayton)
Gettysburg National Military Park (Pa.); Gettysburg, Battle of, Gettysburg, Pa., 1863
While the battle raged on all sides, a granddaughter of the owner, Miss
Josephine Miller, remained, and, notwithstanding the great danger, baked
bread and biscuits for the hungry soldiers. In 1896, Miss Miller, then
Mrs. Slyder, paid a visit to her old home, and related the following
story of her experience to Mr. Wilfred Pearse, of Boston, Mass., a
visitor to Gettysburg at the same time. After his return he published
the following article.
“The veterans of the 1st Massachusetts Infantry Regiment will be glad to
learn that the only woman member of the 3rd Army Corps ‘Veterans’
Association,’ Mrs. Slyder, née Miss Josephine Miller, granddaughter of
farmer Roger, owner of the farm near which the 1st Massachusetts
monument stands, is visiting her old home on the battleground where she
stood from sunrise to sunset for two days of the battle making hot
biscuits for the Boys in Blue. She refused to take money for the bread,
and refused to stop her work even when Confederate shells were bursting
around the house. She told me the other day that when her stock of flour
was almost exhausted six members of the 1st Massachusetts kindly
volunteered to go out and steal three sacks of flour from General
Sickles’ commissary stores. In an hour’s time they returned with flour,
raisins, currants, and a whole sheep, with which a rattling good meal
was made.
“The old range still stands in the kitchen, and in it, at the last
reunion of the 3rd Corps, Mrs. Slyder cooked a dinner for General
Sickles.”
Spangler’s Spring
This spring, which takes its name from Abraham Spangler, its owner at
the time of the battle, is located at the southeast corner of Culp’s
Hill. Inasmuch as it was used by soldiers of both armies during the
battle, and since then by thousands of tourists, it is an interesting
feature of the field. Only during the drought of 1930 has it failed to
give forth a copious flow of cool, pure water. At the time of the battle
it was surrounded by a wall of flat stones with a flagstone cover over
the top. These were removed and a canopy top erected.
The 12th Corps of the Army of the Potomac occupied this part of Meade’s
line on the night of the first day and until the afternoon of the 2nd,
when the troops were ordered to the left to help repel Longstreet’s
assault. Until this time the spring was used only by the Union troops.
During their absence, the Confederates under Johnson moved up and took
possession of part of the vacated line. In the early morning of the
third day, the Union forces, who had returned from the left during the
night of the 2nd, attacked Johnson, drove him out and succeeded in
regaining possession of the line that had been vacated by them on the
afternoon of the 2nd, including the spring.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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