00:01 - When many people think

00:02 - about the battle at Gettysburg,

00:03 - they think about

00:04 - the actual conflict.

00:06 - They think about the

00:07 - the officers, the the men,

00:09 - you know, who are heroes.

00:11 - But there were some heroes

00:13 - on the civilian side as well.

00:15 - I'm David Kendall Hart.

00:17 - And I was one

00:18 - of those civilians.

00:20 - People call me a hero, but I.

00:22 - I don't think so.

00:24 - I just did what had to be done.

00:28 - When Jubal Early,

00:29 - the Confederate General

00:31 - started coming towards

00:32 - the towns in Pennsylvania,

00:34 - we had a lot of rumors.

00:36 - We had a lot of different

00:38 - people from Harrisburg

00:41 - telling us different things.

00:42 - They were saying

00:43 - that the Confederates

00:44 - were coming in and

00:45 - taking stores and in

00:47 - and in all different supplies,

00:49 - anything they could

00:50 - get their hands on.

00:51 - And if their

00:52 - demands weren't met,

00:53 - then General Earley

00:54 - would burn the town down.

00:56 - Those are the

00:57 - rumors that we heard.

00:58 - They also said that

00:59 - they were ransoming

01:01 - leaders from the

01:02 - community, the mayors,

01:04 - the burgesses, the

01:05 - postmaster generals.

01:07 - They were actually coming in

01:08 - and ransoming these

01:09 - individuals in these towns

01:12 - in order to get the

01:13 - supplies that they requested.

01:15 - So that being the case, our

01:17 - Burgess, which is the mayor,

01:20 - his name was Robert

01:21 - Martin, a very good man.

01:22 - Very good man.

01:23 - But we encouraged

01:24 - him to leave town

01:26 - because we had heard this.

01:28 - We encouraged the

01:29 - postmaster to leave town.

01:31 - So the only people that

01:33 - were left were people like me.

01:35 - Now my background is I own

01:39 - a boot and shoe store right

01:41 - there on Baltimore Street.

01:43 - And I'm also the president

01:46 - on the bank, the

01:47 - council on the bank.

01:49 - But earlier in

01:51 - 1863, I was elected

01:54 - as the president of the

01:55 - Town Council for Gettysburg.

01:58 - Now, with all the

01:58 - other leaders leaving,

02:00 - that left me alone to

02:04 - basically be the

02:04 - face of Gettysburg.

02:06 - So on the evening or

02:08 - the afternoon of June

02:10 - 26th, 1863,

02:15 - or General early troops came in.

02:17 - Now they wanted to scare

02:19 - the public, so they came in.

02:21 - The riders came in.

02:22 - They were shooting

02:23 - off their pistols.

02:23 - They were whooping and hollering

02:25 - and people ran, scattering

02:27 - back to their homes.

02:29 - And then he set

02:30 - up basically his his

02:31 - base of operations

02:33 - on the 26th, right in the square

02:35 - in the heart of Gettysburg.

02:37 - Now, the first thing he did

02:39 - was ask some of the the public

02:42 - who's in charge.

02:43 - And they said, well,

02:45 - that would be the

02:45 - mayor, but he's not here.

02:47 - And he said, well, who

02:49 - who would be in charge?

02:51 - And they said, Well, just

02:53 - David Campbell, heart me.

02:56 - He's here, but he's only the

02:57 - president of the town council.

02:59 - And he said, well, he

03:01 - drafted a requisition letter

03:04 - and had it delivered to me.

03:07 - What he was demanding.

03:08 - Now, don't forget, we moved

03:10 - since we had rumors of his

03:13 - taking all our supplies and

03:14 - food and and everything.

03:16 - We moved most of it out

03:18 - of town before his arrival. So

03:21 - he requested,

03:24 - if I can remember, £6,000

03:27 - of bacon, 60 barrels of flour,

03:30 - 1000 pairs of

03:31 - shoes and 500 hats.

03:34 - Now, we didn't have

03:35 - anything like that.

03:37 - Even if we hadn't removed

03:38 - all of our our stores,

03:41 - we still wouldn't

03:42 - have had that much.

03:43 - Now, we did not want

03:45 - him to come down

03:47 - with a reign of terror on

03:48 - our town and burn us out.

03:50 - So I drafted a letter and I

03:52 - went up to up to the town

03:55 - square where I did meet General

03:58 - Early and I presented

04:00 - him with the letter

04:02 - and basically it

04:04 - was very apologetic.

04:05 - I was very diplomatic

04:07 - and I explained to him

04:08 - that we don't have

04:10 - enough in our town.

04:12 - Gettysburg only

04:13 - had 2400 residents.

04:16 - We didn't have all that.

04:18 - So I explained to him, I said,

04:19 - However, if you would like,

04:22 - I will have the all the shops

04:24 - open their doors to you.

04:26 - You can come in

04:27 - and get what you want.

04:29 - In fact, I'll let the

04:30 - residents know

04:31 - that you can come in and

04:33 - take whatever you want from

04:35 - the residents.

04:37 - Well, he seemed

04:38 - to like that idea,

04:40 - and so he spared us

04:42 - from his ransacking

04:44 - or an end, or maybe even

04:46 - burning the town of Gettysburg.

04:48 - So after I delivered the

04:51 - letter and he accepted it,

04:53 - I went back to my home

04:55 - at 110 Baltimore Street,

04:56 - right across the street

04:57 - from the courthouse.

04:58 - And my my wife,

05:00 - Eliza, had made dinner.

05:03 - And so we had sat down

05:04 - to dinner in the dining room

05:06 - when there was a

05:07 - large knock on the door.

05:09 - My daughter, Margarita.

05:11 - She jumped up six years old,

05:13 - jumped up, went to the door,

05:15 - and she said that there was this

05:17 - huge, very large

05:18 - Confederate soldier.

05:21 - And he was asking if

05:22 - her father was at home

05:25 - now, knowing that they were

05:27 - that they were ransoming,

05:28 - you know, town leaders.

05:30 - In fact, some leaders we

05:32 - heard were being taken prisoner

05:35 - and taken into the

05:36 - southern camps, P.O.W.

05:38 - camps.

05:39 - And so I said, well, right,

05:41 - tell them I'm not here.

05:44 - And I jumped up, went

05:45 - through the kitchen,

05:46 - ran out the back

05:47 - door, jumped over the

05:48 - fence into a neighbor's yard.

05:51 - So she went back

05:51 - to the door and said, Well, I'm

05:53 - afraid he's not here right now.

05:54 - And he says,

05:55 - Well, that's curious.

05:56 - Someone said they just

05:57 - saw him not too long ago. Yes.

05:59 - He had to leave on business.

06:02 - And so she

06:04 - she saved them from coming

06:06 - in and taking what they want.

06:08 - So we seem to happy with that.

06:12 - But, you know,

06:14 - because I thought

06:14 - they were going to,

06:15 - you know, changed his mind and

06:16 - he was going to take me again.

06:17 - So I well, I came

06:19 - back into the kitchen

06:22 - after I knew that

06:23 - they were gone.

06:24 - And I said, okay, Margaret,

06:26 - this is what I need you to do.

06:28 - I need you to go to the houses

06:29 - of all the other shopkeepers.

06:31 - You know who they are.

06:32 - You know where they live.

06:33 - You know, tell them

06:35 - to meet us at the

06:36 - at the Reformed

06:37 - Church at 9:00 tonight.

06:40 - And so I went up

06:41 - and hid upstairs.

06:44 - So that evening we met.

06:46 - I snuck over

06:47 - because it was dark.

06:48 - I snuck over or at least dusk.

06:50 - I snuck over to the

06:51 - you know, where we're having

06:53 - the meeting at the church.

06:54 - And a lot of the other

06:55 - shopkeepers were there.

06:57 - And I explained to them, okay,

06:58 - what we have to do is we have

07:00 - to open our doors for them.

07:01 - We have to let them

07:02 - take whatever they want.

07:04 - And they all agreed.

07:06 - So I went home.

07:08 - And the next morning

07:10 - on the 27th, the

07:13 - Confederates went

07:15 - and they went into

07:16 - the different stores.

07:17 - Now, most of the officers

07:20 - that were on the Confederacy,

07:21 - they were gentlemen.

07:23 - They actually paid for

07:25 - the goods that they took

07:26 - from the stores.

07:28 - I however, it was in

07:29 - Confederate script,

07:31 - which was pretty much

07:33 - useless and worthless for us,

07:36 - but a lot of them were

07:38 - nice to our our civilians.

07:40 - They, you know, when

07:43 - when things were starting

07:44 - to get heated, they tell them,

07:45 - you know, okay, go in your

07:46 - homes. Stay in your homes.

07:48 - And and then later that

07:50 - day, on the 27th, they left.

07:54 - They got up and left.

07:55 - As it turns out, they

07:57 - went down to York

07:58 - and went and demanded all

08:00 - sorts of supplies from them.

08:02 - They even got fired,

08:05 - had them give them

08:07 - money and so early

08:09 - got $28,000 from

08:10 - the town of York.

08:13 - Now, he didn't burn

08:14 - York to the ground, but.

08:17 - But they meant he could have.

08:19 - Now, we thought we were safe.

08:21 - Everything was back to normal.

08:22 - The Confederates

08:23 - had left the town.

08:24 - My daughter had

08:25 - done a great job.

08:28 - I was.

08:28 - You know, I didn't have

08:29 - to be in hiding anymore.

08:31 - But then

08:33 - they came back.

08:35 - And that is when

08:36 - I took my family

08:38 - and took them out

08:39 - to McAllister's Mill.

08:41 - I refused to leave Gettysburg.

08:43 - Now, there were rumors

08:45 - that I skipped town

08:46 - and I went to the mill.

08:47 - No, I stayed in Gettysburg.

08:50 - No, I didn't stay at my house.

08:51 - I stayed at the

08:52 - Catholic parsonage,

08:54 - and I stayed there

08:56 - for the entire battle.

08:57 - But yeah, the let's see,

09:00 - the morning of the 27th

09:02 - Margarita told me the story.

09:04 - Later, she said that,

09:05 - you know, the day before

09:08 - that there was a group of

09:09 - young men from the seminary,

09:12 - and they formed

09:13 - this ad hoc regiment

09:17 - to defend the

09:18 - town of Gettysburg.

09:19 - Now, these were all young boys.

09:21 - They they had no

09:22 - experience of war.

09:23 - They didn't have any

09:24 - experience in battle.

09:26 - And so only one of the

09:28 - young men was killed.

09:30 - But the rest of

09:31 - them were captured

09:33 - and put in the prison

09:35 - or the jail in Gettysburg.

09:38 - Now, the morning of the

09:39 - 27th, Jubal Early had them all

09:41 - come out and stand in

09:42 - formation in the town square.

09:45 - Margarita went up there to

09:46 - see what was going on and

09:48 - Jubal Early.

09:51 - Well,

09:52 - the only way I can describe

09:54 - it is he scolded them

09:56 - and told them that they

09:57 - were they weren't old enough,

10:00 - nor were they skilled

10:01 - enough to defend the town.

10:03 - And he paroled every

10:05 - single one of them

10:06 - and let them go home.

10:09 - So anyway,

10:11 - the battle came

10:12 - on the 1st of July,

10:14 - and the Confederates

10:15 - took over most of the town.

10:17 - And you know, I remember,

10:19 - you know, hearing

10:20 - stories about how the

10:22 - Confederates were moving

10:23 - south on Baltimore Street

10:25 - and, you know, union soldiers

10:27 - were starting to back up.

10:29 - They had to retreat.

10:31 - And so the battle started

10:33 - and word went around

10:35 - all the families, you know,

10:37 - which at this point was

10:38 - mostly women and children.

10:41 - So the women and children were

10:42 - told to hide in the cellars,

10:44 - hide in the basements.

10:46 - Now, some of the basements

10:48 - were dark, murky, muddy.

10:49 - Some were filled with water.

10:52 - And so but they had to hide

10:54 - because their

10:55 - boats started flying.

10:57 - Nobody wanted

10:57 - anybody to get shot.

10:59 - Nobody wanted anybody get hurt.

11:01 - In fact, the only person that

11:07 - that was killed during

11:08 - the battle was our friend

11:10 - Jenny Wade.

11:11 - And she was killed

11:13 - while making bread in

11:14 - the kitchen with her mother

11:16 - left.

11:17 - Excuse me,

11:19 - because we knew her well.

11:21 - But anyway, so, you

11:22 - know, during the battle,

11:25 - all the young women, you know,

11:28 - as young as 12 and 13,

11:31 - when the soldiers

11:33 - were were wounded

11:34 - and they bring the soldiers

11:35 - into the different homes,

11:38 - the young girls

11:39 - all the way up into,

11:40 - you know, mothers

11:40 - and grandmothers.

11:41 - You know, they were tearing

11:43 - up sheets to use as bandages.

11:44 - The houses were full.

11:46 - And the thing

11:47 - is, it didn't matter

11:48 - if they were

11:48 - Confederate or Union.

11:51 - You know, I heard

11:52 - stories where you would

11:53 - have a union soldier

11:55 - laying on a table

11:56 - and on another table

11:58 - a few feet away from on a

11:59 - on a butler table would

12:01 - be a Confederate soldier.

12:03 - And to them, they

12:04 - were just wounded

12:05 - and they took care of them.

12:06 - That's what they did.

12:10 - But, you know, I look back

12:12 - and I think the strategy

12:13 - that we used in Gettysburg,

12:17 - you know, on the on the

12:18 - 26th was really significant

12:21 - as it led up to the

12:22 - to the battle because

12:25 - General Early could have

12:26 - come in and, you know,

12:28 - had the Burgess had, you

12:29 - know, the leadership of the town

12:32 - because then he could negotiate

12:33 - with them or threaten them,

12:35 - depending on the point of view.

12:38 - But it because we had all

12:39 - of our leaders leave town.

12:42 - There was no face

12:44 - of the town to them.

12:46 - It was described in

12:47 - something that I read

12:49 - years later was that to them

12:51 - there was no

12:52 - leadership to talk to

12:54 - except for Colonel Hart,

12:56 - and he couldn't find me.

12:59 - So it

13:00 - was just a mere

13:01 - smattering of houses.

13:03 - There was no town board anymore.

13:05 - There was no, you know,

13:07 - town council anymore.

13:09 - And so they couldn't,

13:11 - in good conscience,

13:13 - burn the town down

13:15 - or blame the residents

13:17 - for not having their

13:18 - requisition filled.

13:21 - So the strategy of

13:22 - having all the leadership

13:23 - leave and just leaving

13:25 - one person myself

13:26 - actually saved the town

13:28 - from being burned down.

13:30 - Now, during the

13:31 - battle, of course,

13:34 - we had, you know,

13:36 - a lot of different wounded

13:37 - that came in and out,

13:39 - a lot of gunshots, a lot of

13:40 - cannon and everything else.

13:43 - Well, the battle finally

13:45 - ended on the 3rd of July

13:48 - and on the 4th of July, that

13:50 - was kind of a drizzly day.

13:52 - It had been hot and dry on

13:53 - the first, second and third.

13:55 - But on the fourth, it

13:56 - was kind of kind of drizzly

13:58 - and cool down quite a bit.

14:01 - And I

14:02 - came out of hiding

14:03 - from the parsonage

14:05 - and I could see that

14:06 - the streets were empty.

14:08 - The Confederates had

14:09 - moved out and I realized

14:12 - I had to let somebody know

14:14 - because there aren't I don't

14:16 - see too many union soldiers.

14:17 - I don't see any confederates.

14:20 - So I made my way south

14:23 - to General Meade's headquarters,

14:26 - and they let me through.

14:28 - And I talked to General

14:29 - Meade and I explained to them,

14:31 - the Confederates are

14:33 - gone, the town is empty.

14:34 - They have retreated.

14:35 - They have moved on.

14:37 - And he was delighted

14:38 - to hear that news.

14:39 - He really was.

14:40 - He was he was quite

14:41 - happy about that.

14:42 - But because nobody else had

14:45 - gotten that information

14:47 - to him until I did.

14:49 - So the the aftermath of the war,

14:52 - this is something you

14:53 - don't hear about either.

14:56 - There were hundreds,

14:58 - if not thousands of dead horses.

15:01 - There were dead soldiers.

15:04 - And the smell of death

15:07 - just permeated the town.

15:10 - It was a horrendous odor.

15:12 - And the thing is,

15:13 - since the Confederates

15:14 - had burned the railroad

15:15 - bridge over Rock Creek,

15:17 - which was the only way for

15:18 - the railroad to get through,

15:21 - we couldn't get medical

15:22 - supplies through.

15:24 - So we we had to do

15:26 - with what we could

15:28 - and all the civilians, the,

15:29 - you know, the men, women,

15:30 - children, what men

15:32 - were left to care.

15:33 - The wounded. They

15:35 - buried the dead.

15:36 - But the stench of

15:38 - death lasted so long.

15:41 - It lasted months.

15:43 - As we buried them and,

15:45 - as I said, buried the men.

15:48 - We we had to burn the horses.

15:51 - It was it was a it was a very

15:56 - our town was not the same town.

15:59 - I mean, what once

16:00 - was a beautiful town,

16:01 - you know, beautiful

16:02 - sidewalks, businesses, gardens

16:06 - was now all destruction.

16:08 - You saw holes in the sides

16:10 - of homes, windows shattered.

16:13 - You saw the aftermath of it all.

16:18 - But we survived

16:20 - and we rebuilt it.

16:22 - And we made

16:24 - Gettysburg what it used to be.

16:27 - So that is the civilian

16:30 - perspective of the war

16:34 - and how I, I have to

16:35 - say, I played a huge part

16:38 - that prevented the

16:52 - destruction of Gettysburg.