The Shirver's and Tillie Pierce- Civilians During the Battlle of Gettysburg

When we visited the Shriver House in Gettysburg, I picked up a couple of books that really go together...  though they were written nearly 130 years apart!

"At Gettysburg or What a Girl Saw and Heard of the Battle" by Tillie Pierce Alleman is available in the Shriver House gift shop as a 2015 reprint (the copyright date is 1889).  It is a very nice, smaller hardcover edition that feels very vintage.  The pages are smaller, and this one could be read in a short setting.  It would also be a very nice gift for a younger reader interested in Gettysburg (but one that can handle reading about the details of war).

Nancie W. Gudmestad (director of the Shriver House Museum AND author of the other book I will be mentioning) writes a short intro to this edition.  It helps set things up, while not taking away from the story Tillie covers.

AND Tillie tells a great tale.  It is a very valuable and rare first hand account of what a young resident of Gettysburg saw.  She has a ring side seat.

You should read her story yourself, but I personally enjoyed reading about her emotions as she observed, and tried to help the injured soldiers.  There are some extremely personal interactions as she contributes to the Union cause.  I especially liked reading about a soldier who her family helped coming back many years later to say hello.  This is a sweet book.

Oh, and for those who enjoy some mysteries/disputed facts about the battle, Tillie gives her first hand story about the death of a major player in the battle.  It differs from the generally accepted facts.

The other book I bought at the Shriver House is "The Shriver's Story:  Eyewitnesses to the Battle of Gettysburg" by the previously mentioned Nancie W. Gudmestad.  This is the more recently written book, and it mostly covers the Shriver family's story.  They lived next door to Tillie's family in 1863, and they invited Tillie to leave the main town area of Gettysburg with them, as it seemed the fighting was happening right in town.  Well, once they left town and went to a family farm (between Little Round Top and Big Round Top) they found that they had moved right into the heart of the fighting.

The family is literally running around the Battlefield at times.  They help the soldiers as much as they can.  AND their vacated house ends up hosting Confederate sharpshooters (and at least a couple end up getting killed in their attic).

These are both interesting books from a unique perspective.  They are especially fun to read after visiting the Shriver House in Gettysburg!