BATTLE SCARS
Tales of local people who fought at Gettysburg.
Tending to the wounded
After the Battle of Gettysburg, thousands of wounded and dying soldiers were left behind on the fields.
That’s when individuals whose names never made the history books stepped in.
Rebecca “Beckie” (Pennypacker) Price, a young woman who lived in the heart of Phoenixville, was one of those individuals who donated months of her time in hellish conditions to ease the suffering of the men left behind.
The Confederate invasion and the Battle of Gettysburg affected the people who lived in nearby Pennsylvania towns, including Pottstown.
Anxiety grips the
home front
Photo by John Strickler/The Mercury
For the first time in at least a decade, two re-enactments, planned and organized by different groups, will take place on farms outside Gettysburg during the commemoration.
They are expected to draw thousands of re-enactors and tens of thousands of visitors.
A war for re-enactors
Pottstown area militia’s role
History has preserved the names of the leaders, such as Robert E. Lee, George Meade, George Pickett, of Pickett’s Charge fame, and John Buford and Joshua Chamberlain, both brought to well-earned prominence by the movie “Gettysburg.”
But there were about 90,000 men, now forgotten, who fought in this battle and helped to make Gettysburg a Union victory.
Hundreds of these were from this part of the Schuylkill Valley and lived in Pottstown, the Pottsgroves, the Coventries, and Phoenixville and other nearby towns and villages.
Ed Zamorski, who has been a Civil War re-enactor for 13 years, is the chief engineer and safety officer, with the rank of major, who is taking charge of drawing battle plans for nine public battles and one private battle re-enactment scheduled for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg the first week of July.
Read about the obstacles he faces and what it takes to organize a battle here.
A big undertaking
Photo by Jason Plotkin/21st Century Media
Photo by John Strickler/The Mercury
