Hello again.  Been busy, I think.  Marty and I have been gone a couple of times again.  Yesterday we went to Leavenworth.  They must have had 15 feet of snow.  Lovely day, I will have to show you the pictures somewhere down the line but today we are going to Gettysburg.

Today is still Oct. 9th

and we are heading to Gettysburg

These are pictures of downtown Gettysburg.  Just a few.  A quaint town with lots of tourists.  If you have been following us you know that I think the tourists should go somewhere else and look so I can see stuff on my own.

This first picture is not relevant to anything.  I just liked their names.  With free advertising maybe the next time I am in town and need help they can give me a free consult, just saying.

Now we head to the Jenny Wade house.

So let's see if I can get this straight.

Jenny Lind was the only civilian to be killed in the Civil War.  Her house was in proximity to the Union Army.  The soldiers would come and get water out of the well on her property.  To do her part in the war she would bake fresh bread and pass it out to the troops, who were more than grateful to have a bit of fresh bread to fill out their meals of hardtack and other leathery bits of preserved food.

She lived in the house with her sister, brother-in-law and their small baby child.

On this particular day the Confederates had flanked the backside of her house and started shooting at the Union.  The musket balls began hitting her house.  This is a picture of the original bed post with the musket hole in it.

She was in the process of baking bread for "the boys" as the musket balls came flying through the house.  Sister and her family headed for the basement, Jenny would be along but she still had bread that needed to come out of the oven.  To protect herself from the flying ammo she shut the kitchen door directly behind the stove and she would be on the other side.  As she is standing at the oven a musket ball came through the flimsy kitchen door and hit her in the small of the back, killing her.

This wall was destroyed by a shell from a canon.

They slept on beds of hay gathered from outside and put in sleeves.  So they also gathered bugs and such with the hay.  So each night before going to bed they would take the big club shown below and beat the crap out of the bed hoping to dislodge and get rid of the bugs.  Thus the term "HIT THE HAY" and don't let the bed bugs bite.  Also, the sleeping mat was placed on the bed frame and held up with hemp cords.  Well, with all the beating of the mattress and just sleeping in general the rope would loose up.  It was in general the job of the children to tighten up the ropes before they could go to bed.  Can you guess what is coming next?  "SLEEP TIGHT"

 

There is a story about these two gentlemen but I don't remember the entire story.  It kinda goes like this.  A lady wanted to send a letter to her husband she had not seen for some long time and the other gentleman offered to take it to him since he was going back into battle where the first man was stationed.  If I remember it took weeks for the man to get to his destination.  In the end he was shot and killed.  The second man was on his way to the same spot the first man was to be but he was also shot and killed.  So the letter was never to be delivered.  It was a very sad story as I listened to it being told.  Apparently I was taken by emotion more than I was by the words.

This is Jenny

This board was behind glass.  It was one of the original floor boards in the house.  It was stained by quite a bit of blood.  After the war the house was bought and rented out to a family.  They lived in it for a short while but then they had to move because the woman of the house could not stand the site of the blood stains.  Eventually the floor was replaced with fresh boards.

 I think this was where they laid out her body after she was killed.  It is in the basement of the house.

The dark spots you see on these pictures are bullet holes.  The one across from the door handle was the shot that killed her.

.On our way back to Delta we came across this bunch playing in the field.

   Tomorrow, Oct 10th. we are staying home, at Marty's mom's house in Delta.  At 6:30 we go to her brother Jimmy's house so we can visit with him and I can meet him and his family.

So I will see you back here on Oct. 11th where we will start down Pylesville Street.  Where do they come up with these names????

Until next time

Love to all