By Andrew Dalton, President & CEO of Gettysburg History
One of the most harrowing civilian accounts of the Battle of Gettysburg came from 15-year-old Matilda “Tillie” Pierce, who witnessed unimaginable scenes during and after the fighting. On July 1st, she left her home seeking safety and ended up at the farm of Jacob Weikert (pictured below), which still exists on the east side of Little Round Top.
Here is a chilling excerpt from her account:
“By this time, amputating benches had been placed about the house. I must have become inured to seeing the terrors of battle, else I could hardly have gazed upon the scenes now presented. 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 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! Gazing upon these, too often the trophies of the amputating bench, I could have no other feeling, than that the whole scene was one of cruel butchery.”
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Interested in purchasing a copy of Tillie’s account of the battle? Copies are available in our gift shop and our online store.
