The Battle of Gettysburg has been documented by more than any other conflict of the Civil War. The three-day fight was witnessed and fought by many thousands, some of whom wrote down their experiences. Here are some of them:

July 1st, 1863: “The bullets soon began to whiz. They have such a bewitching, embarrassing tone!...Thrice struck by bullets myself, all harmless except one which pierced my left arm at the elbow. I walked, and bled, and fought…The onslaught, the beginning of the conflict was terrible. One sees pictures of battles; they give no adequate idea of the carnage. The moan, the roar and the tumult are absent. You hide from one bloody scene only to be introduced to another and more horrible one.” – Private Francis Stofflet, 153rd Pennsylvania, Barlow’s Knoll.1

“When fighting began, an officer of cavalry, a cousin of our father, saw and recognized us and sent us home. Went to [the] roof of our house. Sat on ridge back of chimney. Could see fighting on Seminary Ridge…we were not in the direct line of fire but [saw] an occasional shell go over the house. Having a good time when Uncle G., who was in search for us, saw us there. Came and called us in. We were not allowed to return to the position.” – Gates Fahnestock, age 10.2

“Unwarned, unled as a brigade, went forward, Iverson’s deserted band to its doom. Deep and long must the desolate homes and orphan children of North Carolina rue the rashness of that hour.” – Capt. Vines E Turner & Sgt. Henry C. Wall, 23rd North Carolina, Iverson’s Pits.3

“The men fell like daisies before the mower’s scythe. Buel Roropaugh fell just in front of me and I was struck with a ball on my left side, but fortunately my belt buckle, which was a solid cast New York State buckle, instead of a United States lead buckle, had worked around my side on which I carried my six-inch Colt revolver. The bullet struck the brass…cutting it off and passing through the leather struck the belt buckle.” – William Saxton, 157th New York, Schurz’s Division.4

July 2, 1863: “The cannonballs commenced at about 10 o’clock, and we went to the cellar and remained until it ceased. When the noise subsided, we came to the light and tried to get something to eat. My husband went to the garden and picked a mess of beans, though stray firing was going on all the time, and bullets from sharpshooters or others whizzed about his head in a way I would not have liked. He persevered until he had picked them all, for he declared that the Rebels should not have one. I baked a pan of shortcake and boiled a piece of ham, the last we had in the house, and some neighbors coming in joined us, and we had the first quiet meal since the contest began.” – Sarah Broadhead.5 

“Our regiment was mantled in fire and smoke. I wish that I could picture with my pen the awful details of that hour – how rapidly the cartridges were torn from the boxes and stuffed in the smoking muzzles of the guns; how the steel rammers clashed and clanged in the heated barrels; how the men’s hands and faces grew grim and black with burning powder…how our officers bravely encouraged the men to hold on and recklessly exposed themselves to the enemy’s fire – a terrible medley of cries, shouts, cheers, groans, prayers, curses, bursting shells, whizzing rifle bullets and clanging steel.” – Theodore Gerrish, 20th Maine Regiment, Little Round Top.6

“Such hand-to-hand fighting. Johnnies pushing, crowding, gained our first epaulments in spite of our efforts to block the way. It was almost impossible to distinguish who were Union, who were Confederate; to shoot and not kill our own men. Artillerists fought with ramrods, wielding them like ball bats…Fought with rocks! A tall rebel shoved right at my elbow, a huge rock raised ready to dash it at Major Fox! I jabbed with my bayonet. A burst of fire! The rebel fell, shot through the head. The rock crashed upon one of his screaming comrades.” – William B. Southerton, 75th Ohio Regiment, Cemetery Hill.7

“We had two men killed just before dark, held our ground well, fighting until after dark. Criesh and Shram and three men wounded…Edmons was shot through the ankle taking his leg completely off, yet they think he will get along. We laid by our guns all night without any blankets, yet we slept well, as we were so tired…one shell passed so near me that it made me quite dizzy for a short time.” – John H. Merrell, First Ohio Light Artillery, Cemetery Hill.8

“During the night, we could hear the cries of hundreds of wounded and dying men on the field. It was the most distressful wail ever listened to. Thousands of sufferers upon the field, and hundreds lying between the two skirmish lines, who could not be cared for, through the night were groaning and wailing or crying out in their depth of suffering and pain. They were the mingled cries of friend and foe that were borne to us on the night-breeze, as a sad, wailing, painful cry for help.” – Major Samuel Hurst, 73rd Ohio, Cemetery Hill.9

July 3, 1863: “The rebels melted away before our volleys, and after they had been broken, numbers of the enemy took refuge behind trees and rocks. We put in the time while waiting for the next charge, sharp shooting them. A spot of gray showing from behind a tree, or a hat above a rock, was sure to draw fire of a dozen muskets. We took as deliberate aim at that line of gray coming up the hill as we would at a target.” – Sherman R. Norris, 7th Ohio, Culp’s Hill (against Steuart’s Maryland Brigade).10

“While the fight went on, we fed the soldiers in our house, dressed their wounds, sent broth and gruel to the wounded men in the hospitals, supplied those who wanted it with coffee, did what we could for all within our reach, but I remained indoors, so much depended on me, and what would happen if a stray shot or shell should strike me…Our dear little ‘Allie’ our ‘baby pet’ who went to Heaven in September after the battle, was quite amused as the shells were sent whizzing over our house, and said to me, looking up as if to see something, ‘Listen mamma, do you hear the birdies?’” – Fannie Buehler, Gettysburg resident.11

“About noon our batteries opened upon the enemy & then commenced a terrific cannonade which lasted nearly two hours. The men & officers who were lying upon the ground in an open field enduring the heat of a broiling sun suffered considerably from the iron hail of the enemy’s batteries…The reg’t advanced deliberately in good order at common time receiving as we cleared the top of the hill…with three or four company officers and a few men [we] stemmed the torrent of iron and leaden hail with great gallantry.” – Captain W.W. Bentley, 24th Virginia, Pickett’s Charge.12

“There was a man there who had been wounded in a dozen places, still breathing, one shot had gone clean through his head, striking the temple on one side and coming out at the other temple, he laid there just breathing, he would gradually stretch out his hand, feel around till he got something between his fingers…then he would gradually raise his hand to his head and try to poke the stuff into his wound. We expected him to die at any moment, so dug a grave for him.” – Captain George Bowen, 12th New Jersey Infantry, Pickett’s Charge.13

July 6, 1863: “On the morning of the sixth we fall in and start right off across the battlefield where still lies the corpses of men not yet buried and horses also, while our tread puts to flight millions of flies who are gorging themselves upon the decaying flesh and blood.” – Avery Harris, 143rd Pennsylvania.14

“We have several hundred rebels to feed and take care of which adds to the horror of the scene. Dr. Brinton was ordered to the Reg. this morning and he left me to take care of our wounded. […] The work is very great and I can scarcely get a moment’s rest. Loads of rebel wounded still come in and they say the field is just covered with dead.” – Dr. Charles Merrick, 8th Ohio surgeon.15

Sources: Avery Harris Diary Excerpt, 143 Pennsylvania File, Gettysburg National Military Park (hereafter GNMP). Baumgartner, Richard A. Buckeye Blood: Ohio at Gettysburg. Huntington, WV: Blue Acorn Press, 2003. Broadhead, Sarah. “Diary of a Lady.” Unpublished manuscript, Civilian Accounts File, Adams County Historical Society (hereafter ACHS).. Campbell, Eric. “The Aftermath and Recovery of Gettysburg.” Gettysburg Magazine, issue number 12, 1995. Fahnestock, Gates. “Recollections of the Battle of Gettysburg.” Civilian Accounts File, ACHS. Gerrish, Theodore. Army Life: A Private’s Reminiscences of the Civil War. Portland, ME: Hoyt, Fogg, & Donham1889 (reprint by Butternut & Blue, Baltimore, MD, 1995). Kirkwood, Ronald D. “Tell Mother Not to Worry”: Soldier Stories from Gettysburg’s George Spangler Farm. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie Publishers, 2024. Linderholm, Barbara, ed. John H. Merrell Civil War Diary. 1992, 2006. Found in Welch, Dan, Compilation of XI Corps First Hand Accounts at Gettysburg, Book #8, Reference only, GNMP. Murray, R.L. “The 157th New York Volunteers at Gettysburg”. Gettysburg Magazine issue #40, 2009. Pfanz, Harry W. Gettysburg: The First Day. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2001. Rollins, Richard, ed. Pickett’s Charge! Eyewitness Accounts. Redondo Beach, CA: Rank and File Publications, 1994. Welch, Dan. Eyewitness and Primary Source Accounts of the XI Corps at Gettysburg. Reference only, GNMP. Book #8.

End Notes: 

1. Kirkwood, p. 61. 

2. Fahnestock, Recollections, Civilian Accounts, ACHS. 

3. Pfanz, p. 178. 

4. Murray, Gettysburg Magazine #40, p. 38. 

5. Broadhead, Sarah. Diary of a Lady, ACHS. 

6. Gerrish, p. 108. 

7. Welch, p. 87. 

8. Linderholm, Book #8, p. 6. 

9. Baumgartner, p. 142. 

10. Ibid. p. 139. 

11. Buehler, p. 18. 

12. Rollins, p. 176. 

13. Campbell, Gettysburg Magazine, issue  #12, p. 98. 

14. Avery Harris Diary Excerpt, 143rd PA   File, GNMP. 

15. Baumgartner, p. 175.