The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Gettysburg

GETTYSBURG, a borough and the capital of Adams co., Pennsylvania, situated on elevated ground in a rich farming country, at the terminus of the Susquehanna, Gettysburg, and Potomac railroad, 36 m. S. W. of Harrisburg; pop. in 1870, 3,074. The court house and public offices are commodious brick structures; the residences are generally neat and substantial. The borough is extensively engaged in the manufacture of carriages, is supplied with good water conveyed in iron pipes from a neighboring spring, and has two national banks, a female seminary, two weekly newspapers, a theological quarterly, and eight churches. It is the seat of Pennsylvania college (Lutheran), founded in 1832, and having in 1871-'2 11 professors and instructors (3 in the preparatory department), 92 collegiate and 37 preparatory students, and libraries containing 18,300 volumes; and of a Lutheran theological seminary, founded in 1825, and having 4 professors and 2 lecturers, 46 students, a library of 10,100 volumes, and an endowment of $100,000. The buildings belonging to these institutions are large and beautiful edifices. The national cemetery, containing the remains of Union soldiers who fell in the battle of Gettysburg, occupies about 17 acres on Cemetery hill adjacent to the village cemetery, and was dedicated with imposing ceremonies, and an impressive address by President Lincoln, Nov. 19, 1863. A monument occupying the crown of the hill, dedicated July 4, 1868, is 60 ft. high, and is crowned with a statue of Liberty. At the base of the pedestal are four buttresses, surmounted by statues representing War, History, Peace, and Plenty. Around the monument, in semicircular slopes, are arranged the dead, the space being divided by alleys and pathways into 22 sections, one for the regular army, one for the volunteers of each state represented in the battle, and three for the unknown dead. The number of bodies interred here is 3,564, of which 994 have not been identified. Adjoining the national cemetery is a national soldiers' orphans' homestead, founded at the close of the war by benevolent contributions of Sunday schools and individuals, containing usually about 100 orphans. One mile W. of the borough, near the spot where Gen. Reynolds fell on the first day of the battle, are the Gettysburg springs, whose waters, denominated katalysine, have acquired a wide reputation for their medicinal qualities. A fine hotel near by accommodates the patients who resort in large numbers to these springs during the summer. Since the battle Gettysburg has attracted tourists from all parts of the world.