The Hubster and I drove to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Here we toured the Shriver House Museum.
Nancie W. Gudmestad, Founder and Director, and her husband, Del, purchased the Shriver house in 1996. During restoration of the house, they made many discoveries that now give us insights into the civilian life and how the Battle of Gettysburg impacted civilians. It wasn’t only outlying fields that experienced the ravages of battle, but the entire town of Gettysburg as well.
*Clicking on a photo will give you a closer look!
In 1860, George W. Shriver built one of the finest homes in town just months before the Civil War. The house served as a residence for his family, Hettie (his wife), Sadie (7), and Mollie (5).
The house also served as a business for George, called ‘Shriver’s Saloon & Ten-Pin Alley’.
There are hundreds of items to see in the house/museum, including live Civil War ammunition, medical supplies, and more.
Confederate sharpshooters occupied the Shrivers’ home during the Battle of Gettysburg. Tillie Pierce, the Shrivers’ neighbor, recalled her father’s account of what he saw in the Shrivers’ garret (attic) during the fighting:
The south wall of this house, had a number of port holes knocked into it, through which the Rebels were firing at our men. All at once one of these sharp-shooters threw up his arms, and fell back upon the garret floor . . . afterward they carried a dead soldier out the back way, and through the garden.
Almost 143 years later, the residue of blood was still evident. Investigator Det. Lt. Nick Paonessa, a Crime Scene Investigator from New York, used a blood reagent called BLUESTAR® FORENSIC, to reveal the presence of blood directly underneath the portholes knocked through the Shriver’s attic wall during the battle. According to their website, “. . . the oldest blood discovered by BLUESTAR® FORENSIC was that of two confederate soldiers that were killed at the Battle of Gettysburg.”
Medical supplies found hidden in the house testify that the house was also used as a hospital.
There was utter devastation left behind by the invading armies.
Our wonderful tour guide showing us the saloon in the cellar.
Numerous bullet holes scar the bricks. They can be seen when one walks in the alley.
When battles and war happen, no one is left untouched in some way.
George W. Shriver mustered into Company C, of Maryland’s Cole’s Cavalry in September, 1861, just months after the Civil War broke out. On New Year’s Day, 1864, George was one of 12 men captured in a skirmish with Mosby’s Raiders near Rectortown, Virginia. About that same time a stockade was being constructed in Andersonville, Georgia, to house Union prisoners of war.
George’s fate would be forever sealed in that small southern town.
*We did not have time to visit Jennie Wade’s House, but if you would like to learn more about the effect of the Battle of Gettysburg on civilians, then I suggest watching this excellent YouTube video – Jennie Wade: Gettysburg’s Lone Civilian Casualty
Jennie Wade was just 20 years old when a bullet struck her in the back while she was making bread for Union soldiers.
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