Evergreen Cemetery Gatehouse - U.S. Civil War - Gettysburg, PA
N 39° 49.248 W 077° 13.755
18S E 309206 N 4410245
The cornerstone for the Evergreen Cemetery gatehouse was laid on September 1, 1855. Not too long after its completion, its owners were tended to the wounded and the dying. This site was in the center of the fighting.
Waymark Code: WMH8X7
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 06/08/2013
Views: 2
During the battle, it was the Peter Thorn residence. It served as a Field Hospital during and immediately after the battle. Peter Thorn had joined the Union Army in 1862, serving in Company B, 138th Pa. Infantry. His wife, Elizabeth, lived in the gatehouse with her family and cared for the cemetery during the war years while Peter was away. Mrs. Thorn, age 31, who was pregnant, along with members of her family fled the residence for safety on July 2nd. On July 3rd, they returned to the home. After the battle, Mrs. Thorn helped to bury 105 soldiers. She said it took four days of washing to get the blood out of the families' bedclothes.
The Evergreen Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Gettysburg, predating the Nat'l Cemetery by almost a full decade; the gatehouse the oldest of all the structures found here. The cemetery saw action & suffered significant damage during the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. Several monuments can be found here as well as some restored cannons flanking some of the monument tablets.