Tillie Pierce: Teen Eyewitness to the Battle of Gettysburg
INTRODUCTION Gettysburg a Crossroads Town LONG BEFORE WHITE SETTLERS MOVED INTO SOUTHERN PENNSYLVANIA NATIVE AMERICANS HAD WORN AN EAST WEST TRAIL THERE The path later turned into a well traveled dirt road when French and English trappers ventured into the wildlife rich Allegheny Mountains Over time another road developed This one ran north and south connecting Shippensburg Pennsylvania and Baltimore Maryland The place where these two roads crossed would one day be called Gettysburg In the 1730s and the 1740s settlers who wanted nothing of city life in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and other large towns moved to York County in south central Pennsylvania They were hardworking independent families who managed to turn the rock filled rolling hills into working farms One of those areas was known as the Marsh Creek settlement Samuel Gettys an immigrant from northern Ireland was a settler there He bought 381 acres 154 hectares of the Marsh Creek settlement as a farmstead around 1740 In 1761 he built the Gettys Inn and Tavern
near the crossroads of the town's two main roads Gettys knew that weary travelers would be glad to pay for a place to sleep eat and drink During the Revolutionary War 1775 1783 American troops found refreshment and rest at his inn In 1783 Samuel's son James bought 116 acres 47 hectares from his father James laid out a town on that parcel and named it Gettystown in honor of his father He established a central square known as the Diamond Several streets splayed out from the Diamond like the spokes of a wheel He divided the area along these streets into 120 individual lots The streets were named to show where people were traveling to or from Baltimore Street York Pike Harrisburg Road Chambersburg Pike Taneytown Road and Hagerstown Road People passed through Gettystown on their way to bigger and more exciting cities In 1800 the town's name was changed to Gettysburg and it became the county seat In a few years two colleges were established northwest of town Lutheran James Gettys founded Gettystown in the 1780s In 1800 the town's name was changed to Gettysburg This 1863 photo shows Gettysburg from Seminary Ridge
