African Americans in Gettysburg

For over two years, battles of the Civil War had been raging on between Confederate and Union troops, but the northern states had largely remained physically untouched. That is, until June 1863, when General Lee, seeking a victory in the North, ordered his troops into Pennsylvania. When the Confederates failed to cross the Susquehanna River to push further east, Lee began ordering his army to converge and reunite from their forays across southern Pennsylvania. Gettysburg was a natural destination with major roads converging there. As the Confederate troops arrived, the citizens of Gettysburg were faced with the very real reality of meeting the enemy. They were concerned about their property, businesses and safety. Gettysburg’s African American community, however, had another significant factor to weigh – did the Confederate invasion mean enslavement? Their experiences as former slaves and freed people living near the Mason-Dixon line informed their actions as the Confederate Army closed in on the town. 

The institution of slavery existed in Pennsylvania through 1840, though most enslaved people gained their freedom in the 1830s. Slavery in Gettysburg began with two prominent men of the town, Samuel Gettys, Gettysburg’s namesake, and Reverend Alexander Dobbin, both of whom brought slaves when they settled in the area in 1762 and 1776. While slavery continued to exist in Pennsylvania for many decades, the Pennsylvania General Assembly made efforts to slowly eliminate it. They passed the Gradual Abolition Act in 1780, the first legislation like it of its time, which stopped the importation of slaves and called for the release of slaves upon their 28th birthdays amongst other provisions. In 1780, the estimated Pennsylvania population of enslaved people was 3,700, which in 20 years had decreased to 1,700. Sidney (also Sydney) O’Brien, the Gettys family’s slave, became free following the deaths of Samuel and his son, James. She is thought to be the first free African American living in Gettysburg.

The Gettysburg black population began to grow, reaching 8% of the town’s inhabitants by 1860. It consisted of people born in the town as well as free or formerly enslaved African Americans that moved to its area. Gettysburg’s proximity to southern states allowed the black population to keep contact with family still in the South. Unlike in Virginia and Maryland, where it was illegal for free African Americans to receive an education, they could attend school in Pennsylvania. Basil Biggs and his family moved to Gettysburg from Maryland in 1858 so his children could be schooled. Gettysburg also had two black churches by 1860, which led to a sense of community. 

There were also a variety of jobs, mostly menial, available in the town. The most common occupation held by black men was “day laborer”, but there were some who held work as a cook, blacksmith, brickmaker, janitor, and shoemaker; some held more than one job. Biggs was a veterinarian and tenant farmer. Owen Robinson, who was born into slavery, owned an Oyster and Ice Cream Saloon. African American women commonly employed as “domestic servants” but also worked as servers or nurses. Though they owned less than 1% of the total value of real estate and personal property in Gettysburg, this work afforded the black population a similar economic status to that of other Northern black populations. 

Unlike in areas further North, the closeness to the South mean that slavery was front of mind for the people, both white and African American, who lived in Gettysburg. There was a mixture of citizens who were abolitionists and anti-abolitionists in the town. Some anti-abolitionist townsfolk had economic ties to border or southern states and did not want to risk them. Others profited from catching runaway slaves and returning them to their owners. Some were against abolition because the free African Americans competed for similar jobs, jeopardizing their livelihood. 

The pro-abolitionists of Gettysburg spoke against slavery and fought it in numerous ways. The Adams County Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1836. To gain new members, it published meeting notices in the local newspapers. The Adams Sentinel recounted the meeting minutes in one edition: 

Several thrilling and pertinent addresses were then delivered upon the relation which Pennsylvania, and the North generally, bear to Slavery, and the propriety and constitutionality of our course defended…Resolved, That it is our right and our duty, as Pennsylvanians, to exert all our influence, not only for the Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia, but also throughout the Union, as we are, under the present Constitution of the U. States, bound to return the slaves when they escape from bondage, and to prevent them from asserting what we have most solemnly declared to be their “natural and inalienable rights,” viz: “liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” (The Adams Sentinel, January 23, 1837, p. 3)

The Society touched upon the expectation to return runaway slaves, even though it was against their beliefs. The question of runaway slaves was made more complicated for abolitionists with the passing of The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850; a federal law that outlawed the obstruction of the capture of a fugitive slave. Due to South Central Pennsylvania’s location, it was regularly a stop for runaway slaves on their journey North. For this reason, there were often advertisements included in local papers notifying Adams County citizens of runaway slaves from Maryland, Virginia or even farther. It also brought slave hunters pursuing the missing into Gettysburg.

The activities of the Underground Railroad in Gettysburg made slave catchers’ searches more difficult. White abolitionists and African Americans participated in the network by providing shelter and acting as conductors. Biggs functioned as a guide on the Underground Railroad. Between 1850 and 1858, an estimated two hundred runaway slaves passed through McAllister Mill alone. The Dobbin House, where two people were enslaved in the 1700s, was also a safehouse. The Gettysburg Slave Refuge Society founded by African American members of St. Paul’s A.M.E. Zion Church in 1841 also supported Underground Railroad efforts. 

Slave catchers did not only seek out runaway slaves. On some occasions, they took free African Americans south into slavery. Margaret Palm, an African American washerwoman who had spent most of her life in Gettysburg, was so successful at shepherding runaway slaves through the Underground Railroad, that at least one attempt was made to abduct her. She, however, fought off her attackers. Local newspapers also highlighted other “Attempt[s] to Kidnap,” demonstrating that even legal documents that proved an African American’s freedom provided little safety. 

Concerns for their safety and freedom were amplified for Gettysburg’s African Americans during the Civil War when General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia crossed into Pennsylvania in June 1863. With this move, Lee’s army sought supplies, sustenance, and a decisive victory on northern soil. At the time, Gettysburg’s black population had dwindled to under two hundred. Unlike the white citizens of Gettysburg, who were concerned about their homes and property, the African Americans were also afraid of being taken into slavery by the Confederate Army. Over the past decades, the slave catchers demonstrated that there was a perceived correlation between blackness and being enslaved. Black families did not expect Confederate troops to make a distinction either.

Gettysburg’s black population’s worst fears were confirmed by reports that free African Americans in neighboring towns of Mercersburg and Chambersburg were searched for, seized, and most likely taken to the South into slavery. John Gay from the 4th Georgia Infantry described the troops’ actions in a letter to his wife in late June 1863:

We are on a regular raid, gathering up horses, cattle and army stores- have already captured a great many of each, besides over a hundred negroes. All are sent back as soon as captured except such articles as are necessary for the army.

One of the reasons Confederate troops carried this out was in retaliation to the Union Army’s refusal to return runaway slaves categorized as “contraband”. Fearing for their freedom, Gettysburg’s African Americans went into hiding or fled from the town before the Confederate troops arrived. Tillie Pierce, a fifteen-year-old white eyewitness recorded the “amusing” actions of Gettysburg’s black population hurrying out of town with their belongings. White citizens stepped up to help hide African Americans or spoke up when seeing them being taken. In total, an estimated fifty African Americans from Adams County were seized by the Confederate Army and sold into slavery. 

Following the conclusion of the Battle of Gettysburg, those that had fled returned to a destroyed town. Over 165,000 troops had converged there and over 51,000 were wounded, missing, captured or dead. The bodies of soldiers were hastily buried and many along with decaying horses remained scattered across the battlefield. Biggs and a group of other African Americans were contracted to exhume Union soldier’s bodies, place them into coffins and rebury them in the cemetery. Biggs reburied around 3,500 bodies earning $1.25 a piece; today that would total around $100,000. 

The battle affected each family and person in different manners. Confederate and Union armies alike had utilized the town’s food and supplies. Abraham Brian’s (or Brien) hay had been fed to Union horses, Union troops ate Owen Robinson’s livestock, and James Warfield’s blacksmithing tools were taken. Worse was the damage to the properties; five or six African American families had farms directly on the battlefield. Warfield’s home was ransacked and had fourteen Confederate soldiers buried on the grounds, Bigg’s home was used as a field hospital during battle, and Brian’s and other homes were irreparably damaged by artillery. Brian submitted a damage claim to the government for his property along Cemetery Ridge amounting to $1028 and received only $15 in aid; nevertheless, he would go on to rebuild his home. Others, like Warfield, chose to sell their property and start over elsewhere with the population dwindling down to just under 65 people. 

None of Gettysburg black population fought at Gettysburg, but many participated in other battles. Over 30 United States Color Troop veterans participated in the Civil War from Adams County including Lloyd F.A. Watts (schoolteacher and deacon of A.M.E Zion Church), Clem and Solomon Devan, and Samuel Staton. Despite their veteran status, they were denied burial in the soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg. Instead, they were interred at Lincoln Cemetery, which was established in 1867 for Gettysburg’s African Americans; over 450 are buried there.

Further Reading:

• Colors of Courage: Gettysburg's Forgotten History: Immigrants, Women, and African Americans in the Civil War's Defining Battle by Margaret S. Creighton (2006).
• African Americans and the Gettysburg Campaign by James M. Paradis (The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2005)
• On the Edge of Freedom: The Fugitive Slave Issue in South Central Pennsylvania, 1820-1870 by David G. Smith (2011)
• "We Never Expected A Battle": The Civilians At Gettysburg by Robert L. Bloom (Adams County Historical Society, 1988)