The Biggs family (and friend far left). Basil and Mary Jane in center, at their home, the former Frey farm

(Adams County Historical Society)



The middle of the nineteenth century was a busy one for those who lived in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, especially for those of African descent. While Gettysburg was situated ten miles north of the Mason-Dixon Line, the proximity to the slave state of Maryland convinced some from southern Pennsylvania to offer aid and comfort to escaping slaves.

One of them was a Gettysburg civilian who was fortunate enough to be a free man, and intrepid enough to help those in need of liberty. He was Basil Biggs.

Basil Biggs was born in New Windsor, Maryland, a village near Westminster, located nearly forty miles south of Gettysburg. His parents were William Biggs and the former Elizabeth Boynton. They were free from slavery and had some money to their name. Basil’s parents died when he was just four years old. To make matters worse, someone absconded with his inheritance, and he was left to fend for himself. He had no choice but to work as an indentured servant until he became of age at seventeen.1 

Basil moved to Baltimore and found work as a teamster. He always had a special bond with horses and possessed knowledge of how to treat them, train them, and heal them. His work earned him a decent wage and he was soon able to marry his sweetheart, Mary Jane Jackson, whom he had known since childhood in New Windsor. After their marriage in 1859, the couple moved north to Gettysburg, where Basil took whatever honorable jobs he could to make a living. Five children were eventually born to the couple.

Having grown up in a slave state, and seeing first-hand the indignity of slavery, Basil helped a farmer and personal friend, John Fisher, to help escaping slaves on the underground railroad. Gettysburg was a significant location for this work, as it was situated near the border with Maryland. The Fisher Farm, located on the Taneytown Road south of Gettysburg, was one of the places where fugitive slaves were hidden. Basil also worked at the Crawford Farm in Gettysburg as a base for escaped slaves.2

Basil, who was denied an education, knew that literacy was essential to liberty and success. He and his wife insisted that their two sons and three daughters obtain an education. Having significant experience in his work with horses, Biggs was often consulted for treating these necessary equines in Gettysburg. He received small sums that supplemented his income. He also drove a wagon for the Gettysburg Hotel in the center of town.

When the battle came to Gettysburg in the summer of 1863, the Biggs family were in danger, as were the rest of the black community. Confederate forces took some of the minority populace prisoner en route to Gettysburg, to sell them into slavery once they returned to the South. Basil took his family east to Wrightsville, a town near York, where they remained until the battle ended.3

After the Biggs family returned to Gettysburg, Basil was soon engaged in another important work for his country. There were thousands of dead, Union and Confederate, scattered and piled in the fields, among the rocks and in the wood lots. While many were hastily buried in shallow graves on farmers’ fields, many were washed to the surface after the heavy rains. David Wills, a respected lawyer and judge in town, secured permission for a National Cemetery – the first one of many where American soldiers would be laid to rest around the world.

Shortly after Basil passed his 44th birthday in August, he learned that the countless bodies would need to be exhumed, searched, divided into regiments if possible, and reburied in the future National Cemetery. Dr. Samuel Weaver from Hanover was hired to oversee this monumental work, and Weaver hired Basil Biggs to conduct the exhumations under Weaver’s direction. Biggs began the work on October 27, 1863. He would finish by the following March.

According to Dr. Weaver, “The battlefield had been overrun by thousands of sorrowing friends in search of lost ones, and many of the graves had been opened and but partially closed. Many of the undertakers who were removing bodies also performed their work in the most careless manner, invariably leaving the graves open and often leaving particles of bone and hair lying around.”4

Under Weaver’s direction, Basil Biggs meticulously began careful execution of the work, which was exhausting. “Every particle of the body was gathered up…and the grave neatly closed over and levelled.” The bodies, due to the elements and carelessness of the previous searchers, were in various stages of decomposition. The laborers, managed by Biggs, were paid a penny a day for their work. They exhumed the bodies, identified them as much as possible, and placed them in more permanent graves. The Union bodies were buried in the National Cemetery. The Confederate bodies were taken away from the farmers’ fields and buried by state as much as it was possible to determine. Later, in the 1870s, these remains were given back to their native states for their final burials.5

At this time, Basil Biggs lost his friend John Fisher, who succumbed to a lengthy illness. Since Fisher had no descendants, he willed his farm to Basil. Biggs moved there with his young family. Less than two years later, Peter Frey and his wife decided to sell their farm, a neighboring property which was situated on the Taneytown Road near Cemetery Ridge. Biggs purchased the farm and over the years made improvements to it.6

When the Soldiers National Cemetery was dedicated in 1863 it was soon apparent that, in the ensuing war years, that many U.S. Colored Troops from Gettysburg and other towns in central Pennsylvania, were denied burial there. In 1866, Basil Biggs and two other men formed a committee from membership in the AME Zion Church on Washington Street, for the purpose of purchasing a burial ground for the Union soldiers of minority status. A veteran group of these Union soldiers joined this committee, calling themselves “the Sons of Goodwill”. Their only motive was to honor those who had given their lives in defense of the Union. These men purchased land in 1867 in Gettysburg for the veterans of the U.S. Colored Troops of the recent war. It still stands today as Lincoln Cemetery. Basil Biggs was the only non-combatant member of the Sons of Goodwill. It is a testament to his unfailing regard for duty to his fellow man.7

In addition to his many civic responsibilities, Biggs continued treating horses and working on his farm. He became well known for his veterinary abilities and was known to Gettysburg civilians as Dr. Biggs.

In 1896, Biggs sold his acquired properties that held such historic value to the U.S. government, which included the former Frey Farm, the Copse of Trees, and most of the land between the Leister and Hummelbaugh houses – upon which many monuments were already placed by that time. Dr. Biggs and his wife were able to live comfortably in their later years and moved into town. They lived on the corner of Washington and High Streets. His children realized their father’s dream of education. William Biggs, Basil’s son who was named for his late father, became a certified doctor.8

In 1905, Mary Jane Biggs died, leaving Basil a bereft and aged widower. He died the following year of heart trouble at the age of 87. Both are buried in the cemetery that Basil helped to establish, the Lincoln Cemetery in Gettysburg.9

The good works of Basil Biggs can still be seen more than a century after his passing. His duty, humanity, and perseverance – as well as his tireless good will, makes his life a noteworthy one.

Sources: Basil Biggs Family File, Adams County Historical Society (hereafter ACHS). Basil Biggs Personal File, Gettysburg National Military Park (hereafter GNMP). Basil and Mary Jane Biggs Family Tree, Ancestry.com. Basil Biggs Death Certificate, ACHS. Peter Frey Farm File, GNMP. Myers, Betty Dorsey. Segregation in Death: The Lincoln Cemetery Project, 2001. National Cemetery File, GNMP. The Sun Patriot News, Sept. 15, 1974, Harrisburg, PA. Copy, newspapers.com.

End Notes: 

1. Basil Biggs Family File, ACHS. Basil and Mary Jane Biggs Family File, Ancestry.com.

2. Basil Biggs Personal File, GNMP. 

3. The Sun Patriot News, Sept. 15, 1974. 

4. Myers, National Cemetery File, GNMP. 

5. Ibid. 

6. Peter Frey Farm File, GNMP. 

7. Basil Biggs Personal File, GNMP. Myers,  National Cemetery File, GNMP. 

8. Ibid. 

9. Basil Biggs Death Certificate, ACHS.