Davis Wills House & Gettysburg Train Station in Gettsburg, PA
The Davis Willis House and the Gettysburg Train Station is about a block away from each other. So, it is best to see them about the same time as parking in Gettysburg can get a bit hard to find.
Davis Wills House
The Davis Wills used his cellar to hid locals during the Confederate occupation. After the battle, he opened his home to wounded and dying soldiers. The U.S. Provost Marshall used the house as headquarters. The house was also used for planing the Soldiers’ National Cemetery.
As you walk into the Entrance Foyer, you can tell just how wealth Davis Wills was at the time because this is a big house. You don’t even get to see the third floor. To the right is the gift shop, tickets, and information area. Here you can tour the house on your own or when available a tour guide will take you around.
I started upstairs and the stair have room for at least four people across and the doors at one time must have been pocket doors or had doors that where double doors to most of the rooms.
The places has so many windows which was very expensive back in the day. But look out onto the street while you are there and just image all the commotion of carriages, horses, soldiers, and neighbors running around during the time of the Civil War.
On November 19, 1863, the cemetery was to be dedicated. Davis Wills invited President Lincoln to speak and to stay at his home the night before. The President agreed. Lincoln would compete the Gettysburg Address, a total of 272 words, during his stay at Mr. Wills house.
The first room on the left is the bedroom that Lincoln slept in. I can just image him walking to the windows and looking out completing his speech before getting a bit of sleep before morning.
Each room is dedicated to a different topic: Lincoln at Gettysburg, The Legacy (a movie that is on a continuous loop), War & the Wills’ House, and so much more.
The movie is compelling with even more information about the Civil War. I was nice to be in this house and see were one of our great leaders slept.
The House not over done but just a house full of information about the leaders of the town and how they where handing the Battle, the aftermath of the Battle, and surviving for another day. See my Gettysburg National Military Park Overview post for prices and hours.
Brief History
On July 1 to July 3, 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg was fought. It was to be the bloodiest battle with over 11,000 dead and over 40,000 injured.
The bodies of the dead had been left behind just laying where they fell and the town of Gettysburg’s houses, offices, warehouses, schools, barns, and other building were filled with the injured.
Gettysburg at the time had a population of about 2,400 people which at the time was a good amount of people. But most of the health young men had left to join the War which left few behind the women, the young, and the old to deal with the injured and the dead.
Mr. Wills was one of the men who help organize the effort to get help to the wounded and bury the dead. He also help form a Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg and asked President Lincoln to come and say a few words.
On November 19, 1863, President Lincoln joined the procession at outside David Wills house to the Soldiers’ National Cemetery with over 20,000 people attending.
The dedication included music, an invocation, and a two hour speech by Edward Everett. Then it was Lincoln’s turn to say a few words.
The Gettysburg Address. It took him two minutes with 272 words and it has been burned into the American mind or at least the open, “Four score and seven years ago…”
Amazing how people remember short speeches with words that are picked correctly and accurately for the particular time, place, and event.
Gettysburg Train Station
The Gettysburg Train Station is about a block away from David Wills House and the best thing is that you don’t have to change your parking spot. Next best thing is that it is Free of charge.
The door is in the back of the train station which can be a bit confusing but this is a great little place for the right price, Free.
The train station is the same station that President Lincoln arrive for his Gettysburg Address and also where his funeral train went through.
But even more as the train station has a wonderful architecture with a cupola, arched windows, and so much more. They have a window in the floor so that you can see all the way down to the stone foundation and seats that have been with the station from the time of the Civil War.
It also tells the story of the of the railroad station transporting thousands of wounded and dead soldier home, medical staff and supplies to Gettysburg, and relatives of family members searching for their wounded and dead soldiers.
It has a miniature of the station and train going through town which is very cool and the original station during the 1859 to 1886 dollhouse.
It does not take more then 30 minute to an hour to go through but it has a nice little stop while your around the David Wills House.
Brief History
The Civil War created a new kind of war with the beginning of moving troops on the railroad and not marching the military from one place to another which created speed for an troop movement. It also allowed for supplies to be delivered quickly and left more soldiers for fighting and less to transport supplies or find supplies in towns as they passed through.
The north had the advantage because their lines where standardized gauges (the width between to two rails) and held 2/3 of the nations railroad lines.
The south had never pushed for a standard gauges which meant that the railroad owners built their track between four and six feet across as to not be taken over by other lines.
In order to transfer to another track, all items would have to be taken off the freight train and put back on a new freight train that fit the other companies gauges which cost time and money.
In addition, the Southern Gentlemen felt that the running of the railroads was beneath them. They hired Northerner to operated the railroads. Many of these Northerner returned to the North when the Civil War broke out.
Other Buildings around Wills House and the train station
Around the David Wills House and the Train Station, there are a lot of other buildings that are landmarks. Here are a few pictures of them.
This is to the right of Wills house and across the street. It was the family house of Professor Martin Stoever and the J.L. Schick General Store. But during the Battle of Gettysburg, it became the impromptu hospital for union soldiers with an amputation room.
After the war, the store was taken over as a supply and distribution center and the Stoevers ran a commissary in the back yard which helped feed the hungry soldiers.
The Gettysburg Hotel started as a tavern in 1797. It is directly across the street from David Wills house front door. During the Civil War, it was in the heart of the Battle on July 1st when Union soldiers rallied here and the Confederates over ran them and took possession of the square and it is believe that about 3,000 soldiers were wounded or killed during this fire storm in town.
In 1955, the Gettysburg Hotel was also the temporary White House while President Eisenhower was recovering from a heart attack. In 1964, he and his wife were the last guest before they closed.
The hotel was burn down in 1983. But reopened in 1991, after being rebuilt according to historical accurate but with all the modern conveyances.
