Gettysburg Diaries: Tillie Pierce's Field for Profound Thought
Today in 1863, Gettysburg shuddered beneath its second day of battle. Yesterday, I shared housewife Sarah Broadhead's perspective of hiding in the cellar during the July 1 fighting. Today, it's teenaged Tillie Pierce's turn in the spotlight. The following is excerpted from my nonfiction book, Stories of Faith and Courage from the Home Front:
A Field for Profound Thought
[[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"677", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignleft wp-image-228 size-full", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"124", "height":"179", "alt":"BB-homefront-cover_125"}}]] When fifteen-year-old Tillie Pierce fled to a neighbor’s farmhouse a few miles away, she thought she would be safe from the battle. Instead, she was right behind the Union lines on the eastern slopes of the Round Tops for the second and third days of the battle. She and her neighbors passed out water to the soldiers in blue as they proceeded into battle, and watched in horror as they came back wounded or dead. After tearing all the muslin and linen in the house into strips for bandages, Tillie finally looked up.
I was looking out one of the windows facing the front yard. Near the basement door, and directly underneath the window I was at, stood one of these [amputating] benches. I saw them lifting the poor men upon it, then the surgeons sawing and cutting off arms and legs, then again probing and picking bullets from the flesh. Some of the soldiers fairly begged to be taken next, so great was their suffering, and so anxious were they to obtain relief . . . To the south of the house, and just outside of the yard, I noticed a pile of limbs higher than the fence. It was a ghastly sight!
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After the battle ended, Tillie and many other women in the town threw themselves into whatever they could do to bring comfort to these strangers, who by now felt more like family. They brought lemons, oranges, cakes, jellies and rolls. The women also spent hours reading to the wounded and participated in their religious services at the hospital. Though the Battle of Gettysburg certainly left a mark on Tillie, she chose to dwell not on the human suffering now forever linked with her hometown, but on God’s sovereignty.
What in my girlhood was a teeming and attractive landscape spread out by the Omnipotent Hand to teach us of His goodness, has by His own direction, become a field for profound thought, where, through coming ages, will be taught lessons of loyalty, patriotism and sacrifice. . . . we cannot fail to learn that: “The God of battles” is ever present, that on those memorable days at Gettysburg “The hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy.”
Prayer: Lord, help me focus on You and learn the lessons you have for me. “The hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy.” ~Ezra 8:31
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[[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"771", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignleft wp-image-891 size-full", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"125", "height":"193", "alt":"Widow cover 3 125"}}]]Tillie's diary, At Gettysburg: Or What a Young Girl Saw and Heard of the Battle, is a wonderful eyewitness account, and one I used in my research for Widow of Gettysburg. It can be read online in its entirety for free at Google Books or purchased in paperback (or 99 cents for Kindle). Tillie's house is now the Tillie Pierce Inn, where you could lodge during your next visit to Gettysburg! (Also be sure to check out the home of Tillie's neighbor, Hettie Shriver. The Shriver House Museum is on my list of 9 Must-See Sites of Gettsyburg!) If you liked meeting Tillie Pierce and Sarah Broadhead, you may also enjoy 3 Heroines of Gettysburg. Learn more about Widow of Gettysburg here, or view the one-minute trailer below for a taste of the story.
