Catechetical Trip to Gettysburg

On Saturday, April 5, six students and seven adults piled into two vans and headed south to Gettysburg. We drove directly to the Seminary, where we were met by Pr. William Jones, a friend of Pr. Elkin. He gave us an “up-close and personal” tour of the Chapel and the Old Dorm (which is now a wonderful museum—do go see it if you have the opportunity). He then led us in to town where we visited Jenny Wade’s House and the Shriver Museum. He tried to give us an idea of what the battle was like for the residents of the community. During the latter portion of the day, we did visit two battlefield sites: Little Round Top and the Devil’s Den. Here is what the students had to say about their trip:

Lydia Ziegler and Family (at the Old Dorm, Gettysburg Seminary):

A few things about Lydia Zeigler and her family is that her family was a big part of the war in Gettysburg. She was born in Gettysburg and she ended up right in the middle of the war. Her family was right near the battlefield at the time of the war. They could hear the shootings and bombings going right past their heads. They left their house for protection but they made sure they had food and the very few belongings they could grab, with them so as they left their house, they went back and got loaves of bread. Also, another thing was when touring the museum I saw the headboard off of one of their beds and it had bullet holes in it, which were from the war. I also learned a lot from Pastor Jones’ stories about the war. In conclusion, those are some of the things I learned while touring a museum in the seminary at Gettysburg.

~ Lynna Robertson

Confirmation trip to Gettysburg I enjoyed the confirmation class trip to Gettysburg because we focused on how the battle affected innocent townspeople. I would have to say that the Jenny Wade House was one of my favorite parts. At the age of only twenty, she was the only civilian killed in the battle of Gettysburg. She went to her sister's house, thinking that she would be safer, and was getting water for the troops. Then she baked bread for them, which was an uncommon treat for the soldiers. She was shot whilst in the kitchen and killed instantly. The soldiers repaid the family by helping to move the body downstairs. Jenny Wade was given a coffin that had been abandoned and she was later buried. There are still bullet holes all across the front of the house, in the doors, and in the brick. It was an amazing thing that she helped the soldiers when others were afraid of getting killed. This is just one of the many powerful stories from Gettysburg that I will remember for the rest of my life.

~ Grace Schreckengast

Shriver House museum In Gettysburg, we went to the Shriver House museum. It was my favorite tour because we all learned that there were sharpshooters in the attic, and they took over the house during the civil war because they needed another hospital. When there was a red flag above your door, it meant that your house had been taken over for surgery. In the basement of the house, the people that had lived in the house had made a saloon, but it was never used. So when the house was taken over, that room was also used for surgery and medics. In the top floor, there were lots of rooms that were pretty good sized. But back then, they didn’t have any closets. So when a person stayed there, they would have all of their clothing under the bed. In the walls of the house, the tradition was to place a shoe of a family member inside of the plaster for luck. When the new people were renovating, they found the shoe in the walls and put it into the museum. The husband, George Washington Shriver was at war for two years, and came home for Christmas. The two children of the family, Sadie and Mollie both died unexpectedly died of tuberculosis. In conclusion, I thought the Shriver house was the most interesting because we learned the most from it, in my opinion.

~ Sadie Wentzel

This is about my confirmation trip to Gettysburg am going to tell you about one of the parts of Gettysburg that we saw. It was Little Round Top. I am going to tell you why I liked Little Round Top. One reason I liked Little Round Top was that you could look down the hill and see things. You could see Devil’s Den and you could see what the Union soldiers saw in 1863. Also, I liked that there were big rocks to climb on (I know that’s a little off topic, but it was still fun!). Also, I thought it was cool that the Union Army walked there, laughed there, and cried there. It’s pretty awesome to think that I stood on history. Lastly, I thought that climbing the castle/tower was fun. I don’t really know why I liked it, but I just thought it was fun. That is why I liked Little Round Top.

~ Hannah Haussmann

When we went on the trip to Gettysburg and Hannah described to me Devil's Den, I imagined it as a hollow in the dirt, hiding a huge network of underground tunnels. Naturally, when Hannah pointed it out to me, I was utterly astounded by the massive pile of boulders I saw, only a short way from the base of Little Round Top. When we finally stopped to explore it, Hannah led me through a few of the tunnels. While inside, we found a tunnel obviously not traveled in before, for we saw no footprints in the damp mud. It was dangerously narrow, as I told her, and warned her that she might get stuck. Eventually, she decided I was right and climbed up with me to the t Observation tower op of the boulders. I understood completely why they called it Devil's Den; When I was in a tunnel, I imagined bullets flying in, out, and all over, ricocheting off of the smooth stone walls. From the summit of the mass of rock, it seemed you could see everything all the way to the purple mountains in the distance, including the little (or what seemed little, compared to Devil's Den) tower on the rounded peak of Little Round Top, which was surrounded by ant-sized tourists. It was so windy that day, and we were so high in the air, that Hannah, being small as she is, nearly blew off the edge. We all went down soon after, at which time Hannah noticed another tunnel, again clearly unused, probably because of the large, intimidating boulder that served as a roof and looked very, very unstable. She did not enter. Nor did I. Overall, that trip was very fun, with no injuries, and I intend on going again, and probably bringing Hannah, again... But she will not go in any unused tunnels next time!

~ Taylor Wentzel