Summer of 21 - #21 - Exploring Gettysburg Town - Jennie Wade House, Shriver House Museum

 May 17th, 2021 -  Part 2 of 3 

After leaving the Eisenhower National Historic Site we drove into town and stopped to get pictures of "The Jennie Wade House" Jennie Wade was the only civilian killed by fire during the Battle of Gettysburg. You can read the story HERE. 

Jennie Wade House

This house was opposite the Wade house.  It looked as though there had been a fire there recently.

Our next stop was the Shriver House Museum. 

Here is a LINK to the Museum website which has more historical information on the family and the house.

While I was getting the link I noticed that they were having a special event on July 3rd titled "Civilians caught in the crossfire".

The following is an extract from the website that explains what this special event entails but it also gives an account of what it was like to be a civilian in Gettysburg during the battle.

"The Shriver House Museum will present the Battle of Gettysburg from a very different perspective - through the eyes of one family who was caught up in one of the deadliest battles ever to take place on American soil.  A visit to the Confederate sharpshooter's nest is always a highlight of the tour.  Confederates will be on hand, firing as they did in July, 1863.

Families all over town watched the conflict unfold from their cellar windows; the home of George and Hettie Shriver, one of the wealthiest families in town, was commandeered by Confederate sharpshooters where at least two Confederate snipers were shot and killed; forensic blood evidence still lingers to this day. Learn what occurred during those three days of horror that terrified the citizens of Gettysburg and how the Shrivers’ lives were affected before, during, and after the fighting.
 
The Battle of Gettysburg was a terrifying experience for the residents of this historic town. But the end of the battle was truly the beginning of a nightmare for people who had never been exposed to the incredible horrors of war. More than 170,000 Union and Confederate soldiers converged on the town in July 1863. Approximately 70,000 of those soldiers were Confederates which, no doubt, was frightening for the citizens of this Union town who were not aware of Gen. Lee’s orders which forbade the seizure or injury of private property by his men. The majority of Lee’s men followed his orders; but there were some who did not. One resident stated the Confederates “went from the garret to the cellar, and loading up the plunder in a large four-horse wagon, drove it off.” Another citizen recounted how the invaders “tried to see how much damage they could do.” Step back in time to understand what the battle was like for one family who called Gettysburg ‘home’ in 1863.
 
Living historians, in period attire, will bring the Shrivers story to life as you stand just feet from an authentic Confederate sharpshooters nest in the attic of their home. As you walk through the house, see beautiful rooms ransacked by the invading forces."

 

We went into the house where there is a small museum and paid for the next tour which was starting in 20 minutes. We walked around the museum. 

There were a lot of artifacts in the museum that had been found when the house was being restored.

Then we went outside where the lady had told us to look for bullet holes in the alleyway.

There's the original bullet/mortar holes

Back Garden

Back porch of the Shriver House

Back in the front, the houses across and down the street.

The tour started, the guide was in period costume.  We started in the parlor. She took us back in time by explaining how it was to be living in the house then. The inside had been restored and furnished to as close to how it was back then as possible.

As Hettie heard the roar of the cannons getting closer she decided to take her two young children and a neighbors child to her parents' farm about 3 miles south of the town. She ended up being in the midst of the battle between Little and Big Round Top.      She returned to her home on July 7th after staying to help the wounded who were laying all around the farm.

As she was telling everyone that they only had an outside toilet back then and so had to use a pot in the night.  She remembered as a young girl herself, that she had to empty the pot  each morning. She really didn't seem old enough but I told her that I also remembered that. I could see the look of disbelief on everyone's faces but then they were all a lot younger than me. 

When I was a child we only had an outside toilet and our bath was a tin bath that was put on the kitchen floor and filled with hot water. I don't remember how we emptied it.The house wasn't bad, we had two reception rooms and the kitchen downstairs. I think there were three bedrooms upstairs but it may have only been 2. I really don't remember if we had sinks in the bedrooms or not but I'm thinking it was a bowl that was filled with water to wash.  We moved when I was 8 to a much more modern house with a full bathroom. It is still standing and lived in today so they built them well back then.

Oops sorry, I got off on a tangent. Back to the tour!!!

We went upstairs.

On the first landing was a sewing machine in front of the window.  The guide told us that it was placed in the window so the neighbors could see her sewing and knew she must be wealthy as sewing machines were very rare back then.

Bedroom

See the "pot" under the bed

Some of the rooms were in a state of disarray to portray how they were left by the sharpshooters.

At the very top, fourth floor, of the house was the attic.   This is where Confederates set up a sharpshooters nest. A neighbor that had stayed in his home across the street observed the soldiers knock two 10" holes through the attic wall to shoot at Union soldiers.  He also saw one of them being carried through the back garden after being shot and killed. Another neighbor told her he knew of at least two sharpshooters who were killed in her home.  The guide told us that bloodstains found there had been tested and DNA confirmed it was likely the sharpshooters blood. It is also said to be haunted.

Confederates Sharpshooters Nest

Landing window looking over back garden

We went back downstairs to the kitchen. 

The cellar had been set up by the Shrivers as a saloon and there was a ten pin alley. When Hettie Shriver returned to the house, it and the ten pin alley were being used as a hospital.

This LINK, taken from the website, tells you the story of the lives of the Shrivers of Gettysburg. It is a short summary of their lives and quite interesting.

We enjoyed the tour and were glad we did it. There are lots of tours here that you can pay for but we have opted to do the self tours for the most part.  This was the only one we decided to pay for.

Our next stop for the day was downtown where we wanted to see the train station and David Wills House.