By Karen Hendricks + Photo by Noel Kline
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| A replica of the Shriver family kitchen, featured at the Shriver House Museum |
Ephraim Wisler, a blacksmith who lived
along Chambersburg Turnpike, was paralyzed by shock or concussion when a shell
exploded dangerously close to him during the early morning hours of July
1. According to the only account of this incident, “The shock to his nervous
system was so great that he became totally prostrated. He took to his bed soon
afterwards and never rose from it.” Records indicate that Wisler died on August
15, 1863, some five weeks later, and was buried in Lower Marsh Creek
Presbyterian Cemetery.
John L. Burns joined Union soldiers in
the line of battle and was wounded several times in the fighting west of the
town on the afternoon of July 1, 1863. He survived his wounds and the war.
Charles F. Weakley, a young man of
Emmitsburg, Md., following the Union Army to Gettysburg and shortly before the
fighting, joined the ranks of Company A, 12 Massachusetts Infantry. He was
wounded on the afternoon of July 1, but survived the battle. He later
enlisted in the Company G, 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Weakley died
in camp near Petersburg, Va., on November 23, 1864.
Charles W. Griest of York Springs
volunteered to carry a dispatch from Gov. Andrew Curtin to the Union army at
Gettysburg on June 30, 1863. He delivered the message to Gen. John Buford and
remained with his division. On July 1, while he was carrying a message to
the 17th Pennsylvania Cavalry, his horse was shot and fell upon him,
his leg severely injured. Griest and his horse both survived the ordeal.
Lizzie Waltz was wounded in the fighting at Hanover, Pa.,
on June 30, 1863. In 1899 an act was passed by congress directing that her name
be placed on the pension rolls. According to the account, she “was wounded on
the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg during a skirmish near Hanover, Pa.,
while giving food and administering to the wants of the Union soldiers.”
Amos Whetstone, a Lutheran Theological Seminary Student at
Gettysburg, was boarding with the Weikert family on Chambersburg Street at the
time of the battle. Whetstone was wounded in the skirmishing on July 4, 1863. According
to Mary McAllister, who lived nearby, “I went over to old Mrs. Weikert’s and on
her back porch there was a man. He said, ‘Take care, you will be shot! Oh, I
believe I am shot.’ He looked down and a bullet had just gone through the
fleshy part of his leg.”
Georgianna Stauffer lived on Baltimore Street
with her two children at the time of the battle. An eyewitness saw Mrs.
Stauffer “sink to the ground after being shot in the hip, during the second day
of the battle, as she was about to carry water to the men of his company.” The
incident is said to have occurred near the home of Henry Garlach, in the area
of heavy skirmishing on July 2, 1863. Her husband Jacob was a member of Company
K, 1st Pennsylvania Reserves and was present for duty at Gettysburg.
That he must have visited his wife and family immediately following the battle
is illustrated by the fact that Georgianna gave birth to a child on April 5,
1864. Jacob was captured during the Mine Run Campaign in November 1863 and
subsequently died in Andersonville Prison on February 1, 1865.
Research
provided by the Adams County Historical Society for the Gettysburg Heritage
Museum
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