"...expecting to find all dead." - Gettysburg, PA
N 39° 49.859 W 077° 13.950
18S E 308956 N 4411382
This sign along the Lincoln Highway can be found on the north or right side of the road if traveling westbound. It is in front of the Scott House, another important Civil War site created out of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Waymark Code: WMBMKB
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 06/02/2011
Views: 7
This beautiful interpretive, complete with an 1885 picture of the site with one if its owners standing out front, is part of a huge collection of markers found throughout this Civil War town. They are all set horizontally into a strong, black, metal frame and stuck into the ground. They are waist level and always include a picture and a direct quote from a first hand account used as a title for the interpretive. The SOH reads:
In 1863 this building was the home of the John and Martha Scott family, and Martha's sister, Mary McAllister.
On the morning of July 1st, Mary McAllister went across the street to the Christ Lutheran Church to volunteer as a nurse.
During the Union retreat through town that afternoon, Mary braved the combatants and bullets in the street and returned home to find her front step "...covered with blood," and cautiously entered, "...expecting to find [her family] all dead."
Her fears were unfounded. The Scotts were unharmed and busy attending a crowd of wounded and unwounded Union soldiers seeking aid and shelter inside the building. Confederates arrived and captured the soldiers without incident; the severely wounded were permitted to remain in the family's care. The house served as a hospital to these wounded until after the Confederate retreat.
Funding for this project assisted by NPS / American Battlefield Protection Program