When Abraham Lincoln stopped at Hanover Junction on his way to Gettysburg to give his famous Gettysburg Address, crowds appeared wherever he went. They continued to supplicate him, begging him to speak a few words to them. Many were heard to call, “Father Abraham, come out, your children want to see you!”¹

When Lincoln and his entourage stepped off the platform of the train at the Gettysburg depot, the crowds persisted throughout the night, hoping for a chance to catch a glimpse of their Commander-in-Chief. There weren’t enough hotels, homes, barns and beds to accommodate the thousands who came to Gettysburg for the dedication of the National Cemetery, which took place the next day, on November 19, 1863.

Adults and children alike hoped to see Lincoln, and three boys in particular, from the nearby town of Hanover, Pennsylvania, decided to make the journey.

George Gitt, age 14, and his brother, William, age 12, were the sons of well-to-do businessman and store owner, Joshua Gitt, and his wife Maria. George and William were two of thirteen children, and their father put them to work in his company store on the Hanover Square as soon as they were old enough.²

On the morning of November 19, George went to his father at the store and persuaded his father to allow him and his brother, and an additional friend named John Anthony, to ride one of the family horses to Gettysburg. Josiah Gitt, a friend of Judge David Wills – the man who invited Lincoln to speak at Gettysburg – gave his permission.³

The boys rode twelve miles through McSherrystown and Bonneauville, and finally reached the outskirts of Gettysburg, realizing they needed to put their horse somewhere safe for the journey home. They stopped at a farmhouse, where George worked his persuasive skills a second time, asking the woman of the house if they could tie their horse to a tree in the yard. The woman was the only one at home, as “the men folks having all gone to town to see Lincoln.” She not only allowed the horse to remain in her yard, but promised to feed and water the animal. The boys then ran toward town and into the National Cemetery – the place of dedication.⁴

By the time the three boys reached the cemetery, thousands were already in attendance, with the area so crowded, many people were uncomfortable. The cemetery was yet to be finished, with uneven ground, little to no vegetation, and the phalanx of people – all of which undeterred the boys. They pressed through the tightly packed sea of humanity and came to a stop right at the dais where Lincoln and many others were seated. When they reached their destination, the honorable Edward Everett, the keynote speaker, was already giving his 2-hour oration.

As George and his two companions stood near the platform, the “press of the crowd was so great, the edge of the platform was cutting into [George’s] chest.” It was nearly impossible to counteract the closeness of the crowd. George saw only one way to relieve his discomfort, and that was to drop and crawl underneath the dais – and his promptly did so.⁵

He remained there for the duration of the dedication.

He looked up through the spaces in the planks and listened to the rest of Mr. Everett’s speech.

After a song, Lincoln rose and approached the platform. The President had no idea that one of his listeners was a fourteen-year-old boy who sat at a unique vantage point. That day George Gitt became an ardent admirer of the Great Emancipator.⁶

After the ceremony, George and his two companions pushed through the crowds as boys tend to do, and hurried toward the square. Having outrun the crowds, they watched Lincoln’s carriage (a stately barouche, bearing Lincoln, Everett, and others) as it passed by them toward Judge Wills’ home on the square. They dashed to the judge’s home in time to see Lincoln emerge and enter the house. George later explained that the three boys watched Lincoln in conversation with Judge Wills, as the two stood by the staircase. Wills noticed George and William in his doorway, and, acquainted with their father, beckoned to them. He introduced them to the President as “three York County boys from Hanover.”⁷

The boys shook hands with the President, who bore “a humorous twinkle lighting his careworn and tired face.”⁸ 

Lincoln said to them, “You boys had a lively time just recently. How did you like it?” He was referring to the recent Battle of Gettysburg. The boys answered, “Not so well.”⁹

Lincoln then turned to the stairs, and asked Judge Wills if he could be undisturbed for the next hour. The boys turned and left as quickly as they came, touring the battlefield, picking up shell fragments, minié balls, and even a bayonet before returning to their horse, and eventually home.¹⁰

The two Gitt brothers and the Anthony boy never forgot their experience with the President of the United States. George especially held a fondness for the man whom he had heard below the dais on the dedication of the cemetery. 

George’s birthday was April 13^th. Two days after he reached his sixteenth birthday, the shocking news of Lincoln’s assassination occurred at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. The pouring rain in the ensuing days mirrored the outpouring of grief and shock among the populace. George, who was working in his father’s store, again used his powers of persuasion to pay homage to the slain President. His father had just received fifty yards of black calico. “The youth proposed that they use this black print to drape the front of the store.” Josiah Gitt granted permission, and George Gitt went to work on his sober decoration. The dry goods store in Hanover square was the first business in the downtown area to honor the nation’s martyred commander.¹¹

George Gitt grew up to be an accomplished businessman like his father, and inherited the store at his father’s passing in 1898. He was well known in both Hanover and Gettysburg, and was interviewed many times on his experience with Abraham Lincoln. “His recollections of the dedication of the National Cemetery…when Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address were unique,” wrote one contemporary, “and have become an undying part of the historical material connected with that great event.”¹²

George survived his brother William, who died in 1896, and the Anthony boy, who died in 1892. He lived until the summer of 1935. The father of eight, Gitt had also lost his first wife, Emma, the mother of his two eldest children. He later remarried the former Lillian Jeffers, who gave birth to six more children. George, well known and loved by all, died at his home on Frederick Street after a lengthy illness, at age 86. He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Hanover.¹³

The month of April was always an important one for George Gitt. It was the month of his birth, the month of the opening of his father’s dry goods store – which the family celebrated every year along with George’s day – and the month America lost its greatest President.

Three boys started off on an adventure, because they wanted to hear Father Abraham, and were forever changed as a result. And one of them will always be remembered for his unique point of view during Lincoln’s greatest speech.

Sources: Committee of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce. Encounter at Hanover. Hanover, PA: The Historical Publication, 1963. George Gitt Death Certificate, Ancestry.com. The Hanover Evening Sun, Aug. 20, 1935. Josiah Gitt Family Tree, Ancestry.com. The York Dispatch, Aug. 20, 1935. Historic newspapers found at newspapers.com.

End Notes: 

1. Encounter, p. 203. The quote given was by the Rev. MJ Alleman, who was present at Hanover Junction as Lincoln’s train passed through enroute to Gettysburg. 

2. Gitt Family Tree, Ancestry.com. The Hanover Evening Sun, Aug. 20, 1935. 

3. Encounter, pp. 203-204. 

4. Ibid. 

5. Ibid. 

6. The Hanover Evening Sun, Aug. 20, 1935. The York Dispatch, Aug. 20, 1935. 

7. Encounter, p. 204. 

8. Ibid. 

9. Ibid. p. 206. 

10. The York Dispatch, Aug. 20, 1935. Encounter, p. 206. 

11. Encounter, p. 206. 

12. The Hanover Evening Sun, Aug. 20, 1935. 

13. The York Dispatch, Aug. 20, 1935. Gitt Family Tree, Ancestry.com. George Gitt death certificate, Ancestry.com. The cause of death was listed as a myocardial infarction due to arteriosclerosis. In other words, a heart attack due to hardened arteries, not uncommon with age in those days before cholesterol medications.