Customer Reviews

At Gettysburg or What a Girl Saw and Heard of the Battle: A True Narrative

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Tillie Pierce's book about her involvement in the Battle of Gettysburg is a quick reading book that was enjoyable to read. It covers her involvement from Confederate early marches into Gettysburg to the aftermath of the battle. Tillie explains how she reacted to various events that unfolded in front of her and how she helped tend to wounded soldiers. She doesn't ever get too detailed as to the horrors she witnessed although I could get a good sense of the enviroment she was in as she explains her feelings quite well. Tillie does an excellent job giving us a resource for valuable information as to how locations on the field appeared in 1863 be it a home, road or situation happening upon the fields. Tillie's writing is priceless and really conveys civilian perspective to the horrors witnessed at Gettysburg. This is a great book for those seeking civilian commentary on Gettysburg.

At Gettysburg, or What a Girl Saw and Heard Of the Battle is a wonderful book! It is considered one of the most vivid civilian accounts of the battle of Gettysburg. Tillie Pierce, a 15 year old girl leaves the town of Gettysburg during the battle to escape danger. She ends up at a house that becomes a field hospital. When Tillie is in her 40's, she wrote down all of her experiences of the battle and aftermath. I would recommend this book to anyone who is intersted in the battle of Gettysburg. It is especially good if you are interested in the civilian point of view.

Tillie Pierce was a 15-year-old girl when the battle erupted in her hometown of Gettysburg. Just before the battle began, Tillie was sent by her worried parents to what they thought was the safety of a farm outside of town: the Jacob Weikert farm, 3 or so miles down the Taneytown road, on the east side (or behind) the round tops. This was a relatively good place to be on the first day of battle. But on the second day (and, to a certain extent, the third), it was a terrible place.

On the second day, with the battle rolling toward the Union left and centering in the wheat field, the peach orchard, and especially the round tops, the Weikert farm became a vast field hospital. Tillie saw her share of dead and wounded men--her description of the amputation benches and piles of severed limbs is hair-raising--and lived through the peril of sniper bullets and artillery shells. She gave a drink of spring water to a grateful General Meade and talked with General Stephen Weed, desperately wounded on Little Round Top, the night before he died. She tended wounded soldiers, fed hungry and exhausted ones, and in general saw and experienced more violence than any teenager ought to.

Although written when she was in her 40s, Tillie's memoir really does seem to capture the guilelessness and wide-eyed amazement of a teenager. Although it occasionally indulges in the purple prose beloved by 19th century amateur authors (especially in the introduction and conclusion), it otherwise smacks of authenticity. Of the 80-some firsthand accounts of the battle written by Gettysburgians, it's my favorite.

Historians have only begun to explore the impact of the Civil War on children, both the boy-soldiers who actually served in combat and the kids left at home while dad went off to war, or the kids caught up in the total warfare into which the war sunk during its final two years. Tillie's memoir is a valuable resource in this new line of research.

A personal note, I have a special fondness for Tillie. I live in two places: Gettysburg and Lewisburg. My home in Gburg is one block from the house Tillie grew up in (it's now a B&B) and I pass it nearly every day. My other home, in central PA, is 10 miles from Selinsgrove, the small town Tillie moved to when she married. She raised her family, died, and is buried in Selinsgrove.

Incredible decription of the Town of Gettysburg during the July battle from a citizens point of view. Very telling prose of war from a young innocent girl caught in the middle of a horrible 3 day battle. Whether some of the actual facts are correct is not the point, this book puts the 'feelings' of war and this momentous historical event into a 'citizens perscpective'. This book and a trip to 'Shriver House' in Gettysburg is a great learning experience.

I rated this book at a 3 because it was short and to the point, which I liked, but I also would have enjoyed more detail. I know that contradicts each other. What I mean is that at the end of the day, I would have enjoyed a book that was longer that really told me more about the battle, but since I didn't get that, then I'm glad that it was short. I have visisted Gettysburg many times and truthfully have leared more while there than I did in this book. I guess I expected more detail as to what it was like to see the battle occurring right outside your window. The book was good in that she told you about friends she made with soldiers and since she stayed at a different location than her family, you got a nice look at what it was like in both towns, but really at the end of the day, there is not much in this book that is really worth reading. The one thing it did have going for it is that it was a fast, easy read.

This is a great little book written by a girl who witnessed the Gettysburgh battle.I recommend it.