A Labor of Love for 43 years​

 

Historic Gettysburg Adams County is pleased to announce that not only has it completed its four-year project to replace worn-out Civil War Hospital Signs in and around Gettysburg -- but also that the long-awaited updated Battle of Gettysburg Civil War Field Hospital Guide has now been published. 

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The new guide includes 48 field hospital sites, 13 more than the 2001 edition, as well as an updated map created by HGAC Preservation chair Curt Musselman.  New photographs in the booklet have been taken by award-winning photographer Andrew Muenzfeld. To order, check the webpage at HGAConline.org for more information.

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The installation of Civil War hospital signs has been a labor of love for HGAC for the past 43 years.

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During the three-day Battle of Gettysburg many homes, barns, churches and public buildings in and around Gettysburg were pressed into service as Union and Confederate field hospitals. While the battle lasted three days, the pain and suffering of those in the field hospitals continued until November 1863, when the last hospital, Camp Letterman, closed. The ordeals of the wounded soldiers and those who cared for them in the field hospitals deeply affected the Gettysburg community.

 

Beginning in 1983, HGAC undertook a project to install signs marking the sites of these field hospitals, many of them outside the boundaries of the National Battlefield Park. The original signs were metal and by 2001, needed replacement with new metal signs. By 2022, many of those updated signs once again needed replacement.

 

A new partnership was then forged in 2022, as HGAC began working with students from the Gettysburg Area High School (GAHS) Technology Education Program to fabricate the new hospital signs. This partnership grew out of HGAC’s Bonnie Braun Investing in Youth Initiative program, with the goal of fostering interest in historic preservation and restoration among the younger generation -- and encouraging appreciation for our area’s history.

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Under the direction of GAHS Technology Education teacher Stan Licharowicz, students Elliott Walker, Cole Redding and Logan Moseley designed and constructed a prototype sign using Corian, a solid surface material made from a combination of acrylic resin and natural minerals.  After seeing the results, HGAC requested the students take on producing replacement signs, which were then installed by HGAC volunteers. This year, the replacement program which began in 2022 was completed, after students finished making 43 signs.

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As part of those 43 manufactured signs, 11 have been placed at various sites throughout the Gettysburg National Military Park. Placement was coordinated with the National Park Service and two more signs were placed on Gettysburg Foundation property at the George Spangler Farm.

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HGAC wishes to offer a sincere ”thank you” to all the GAHS students who participated in the project since 2022.

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Back in 2001, HGAC and the Hospital and Health System Association of Pennsylvania published the “Gettysburg Civil War Field Hospital Tour” booklet for those who wished to visit the area’s hospital sites. The new guide replaces that booklet.

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In 1983, In a cooperative effort between Historic Gettysburg-Adams County (HGAC) and The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, 17 Union and 18 Confederate Civil War hospital signs have been erected at sites which were known to have served as field hospitals after the Battle of Gettysburg.

A "field" hospital was, as the name suggests, a place in the battlefield area, such as barns, shops, homes, schools and churches, which were used to give medical attention to the wounded.

While the battle lasted three days in July 1863, the pain and suffering of wounded in Gettysburg continued into October when the last field hospital, Camp Letterman, was closed.