Silvers Ghosts

Gettysburg  

April 09, 2009

The Battle of Gettysburg


Following his success at Chancellorsville in May 1863, General Robert E. Lee led his army through the Shenandoah Valley for his second invasion of the north. Prodded by president Lincoln, Maj Gen. Joseph Hooker moved his army in pursuit, but was relieved just three days before the battle and replaced by Meade.



The two armies began to collide at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, as Lee urgently concentrated his forces there. Low ridges to the northwest of town were defended initially by the Union cavalry division, which was soon reinforced with two corps of Union infantry. However, two large Confederate corps assaulted them from the northwest and north, collapsing the hastily developed Union lines, sending the defenders retreating through the streets of town to the hills just to the south.


On the second day of battle, most of both armies had assembled. The Union line was laid out in a defensive formation resembling a fishhook. Lee launched a heavy assault on the Union left flank, and fierce fighting raged at Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devil's Den, and the Peach Orchard. On the Union right, demonstrations escalated into full-scale assaults on Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill. Acroos the battlefield, despite significant losses, the Union defenders held their lines.


On the thrid day of battle, July 3rd, fighting resumed on Culp's Hill, and cavalry battles raged to the east and sounth, but the main event was a dramatic infantry assault by 12,500 Confederates against the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. Pickett's Charge was repulsed by Union rifle and arillery fire at great losses to the Confederate army. Lee led his army on a torturous retreat back to Virginia. Between 46,000 and 51,000 Americans were casualties in the three-day battle. Although the war continued for two more years, Gettysburg is reported to being the turning point of the civil war.

Meades Headquarters

The battle that lasted from July 1st-3rd was the battle with the largest number of casualties in the American civil war. Union Maj. Gen. Geaorge Gordon Meade's army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee's invasion of the North.

Lee's Headquarters

Besides being a famous historical site, Gettysburg is supposedly one of the most haunted places in America because so many soldiers lost their lives in such a short period of time and in tragic ways. The battle resulted in 51,000 American casualties, including one civilian, a woman by the name of Jennie Wade who died when a stray bullet entered her window at the very beginning of the battle. It was a morbid massacre. Because of the instances of the brutal hand-to-hand combat and high number of deaths, it is believed that nearly all 40 miles of Gettysburg battlefields are ripe with paranormal activity. The most active location, however, is the area known as "Devil's Den"


Devil's Den, site of heavy fighting on the second day of the battle. For a very long time, some visitors to Devil's Den suddenly have a variety of camera problems-suddenly they jam, lock up, batteries seem to die-and when they leave the area, their camera works fine!

General Robert E. Lee

The rocky area full of massive boulders really does look like a lion's den. Due to it's unique layout, a sharpshooter was able to hide behind the rocks in "blind spots", and systematically take out hundreds of soldiers as they passed through unknowingly without being seen. Eventually, Union forces were able to use mirrors and field glass to determine the sharpshooters location and kill the man. Photography was in it's infancy during the civil war, and it is said that photograper/war correspondent Alexander Gardner was at Devil's Den snapping pictures right after the battle ended. In order to get a better shot, he instructed his assistants to move the bodies of the dead soldiers to different locations so he could get a better picture. Supposedly, he even went so far as to drag one particular fall soldier to the pile of rocks behind the blind spot so he could snap a picture and fabricate a story about the unrelated man being the infamous sharpshooter.
It is believed that since these men were not left in their final resting places, their souls have never found peace. From that infamous day on, photographers have had inordinate amounts of difficulty taking pictures in Devil's Den as well as in several other areas of notroious fighting.

Civil War drummer boys

Devil's Den hasn't changed much in the 146 years since the battle was fought, which could account partically for the high level of paranormal activity that takes place there. For the spiritis that exist in this location, the surroundings look exactly as they did the day they died, a factor which could lead the restless ghosts to believe that the war has never ended, as they continue to fight the same battle day after day.


During the fierce battle, many of the dead were brought into town and the stench of death, in addition to that of the animal dead from the streets and surrounding area was overpowering. The townsfolk used lilac water to cover up the smell of death and decay, and to this day it is said tha thte lilic smell is often noticeable at ghost sightings.

OTHER ANOMALIES

Jennie Wade, the one civilian casualty, is said to wander the house where she died along with the ghost of her father, who was institutionalized after her death and ended up passing away in the "poor house". Several people have reported seeing a rugged man, barefoot, with floppy hat and sloppy, ragged clothes on the rocks at Devil's Den. According to Civil War buffs, this perfectly matches the description of the unkept, poorly dressed Texans who were at Gettysburg fighting for the Confederate army.

Cashtown Inn Bed and Breakfast

In 1863 this Inn was a witness as Robert E. Lees Confederate army passed in route to the battle of Gettysburg. In the days that followed, the Inn was a beehive of activity as the grounds served as an encampment for Confederate soldiers, it's rooms hostd famous Confederate Generals, and after the tragedy of battle, it's doors were opened to the wounded. The Inn is reported to being one of the most haunted structures in the Gettysburg area. Today many experience strange sounds, odd feelings and wandering apparitions in the Inns halls and rooms.


Union Major General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, who led the famous downhill bayonet charge at Little Round Top, survived the war going on to later become the Governor of Maine. In 1889, he spoke words that may describe the spirit sightings best...."In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirites linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls."

General Joshua Chamberlain
Gettysburg official website
Gettysburg Ghost tours

by FreyjaSilver