Existing comment:
Gettysburg Railroad Depot:
Built in 1858 in the fashionable Italianate Villa style, this railroad depot and its attendant telegraph line afforded Gettysburg with modern day transportation and communication. The Battle of Gettysburg expanded its use for unanticipated purposes.
On July 1, 1863, this building and its passenger platform were commandeered for use as an army hospital.
When train service was restored following the battle, the U.S. Sanitary Commission set up a tent lodge across the tracks from the rear platform to assist the wounded brought from the field hospitals for transportation to home or distant hospitals. Volunteer Georgeanna Woolsey recalled: "Twice a day, the trains left... and twice a day, we fed all the wounded who arrived for them."
On November 18, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln arrived by train at this depot for the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery, where he delivered the Gettysburg Address. |