The Shrivers' Story: Eyewitnesses to the Battle of Gettysburg

by Nancie W Gudmestad

George Shriver descended from one of the oldest and wealthiest families in Adams County, Pennsylvania. His great-grandfather immigrated to the New World from Germany in the 1730s. More than a century later, just months before the Civil War began, George sold off the large farm to build a new home for his family in Gettysburg.

This is the true story of one young family whose lives were forever changed as a result of the events that occurred on the rolling hills of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during the summer of 1863.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

112 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2008

Reviews

[W.B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancie Gudmestad and her spouse purchased and restored an antebellum downtown Gettysburg house. She wanted to see how much she could discover about the family who were living within its walls at the time of the Civil War. This was the Shriver family, a married couple with two young daughters. Gudmestad did a fantastic job of fleshing out their lives in this book using historical records including diary journals of close neighbors. It's unsurprisingly filled with sad and horrifying stories. Even without the great bloody war that split the country in two, life was brutal and unsparing in those days. With the Civil War added in, it was often a Grand Guignol. Unflinching accounts abound of the aftermath of the battlefields when soldiers would come bloody and dazed and flop down in farmyards to be tended by kind strangers who would be overloaded for days and who could do little to nothing to ease their great pain or stop their dying. Of course, most of these were practically boys. Fields completely decimated, farm animals slaughtered, men dying faster than one could bury them. The Gettysburg diarists did not spare the details. Mother and daughters were caught up in this as witnesses and caregivers. The young father went off to war, leaving behind his dream of establishing a tavern and his half-finished bowling alley behind the house. He ended up in Andersonville prison and like so many others did not come out alive. He died a concentration camp death. This book is very gritty and it's a compelling read. You can visit the house to this day and it has been restored with great care and attention to detail.

[Lisa Consiglio-Wolff · Rating 5 out of 5]

My husband and I recently took a long weekend getaway to Gettysburg. On our first day there we headed to the Shriver House Museum. It truly set the tone for our visit. We were pleased to be given a tour by Nancie Gudmestad the author of this wonderful historical read. She is not only the owner of the museum but the woman who brought us the story of the lives of George and Hettie. It is because of Nancie, their story will be told for many generations to come. When we headed to Gettysburg our focus like so many was the battle and the soldiers however upon visiting the Shriver museum our focus swiftly changed to the 2,400 civilian residents who lived and survived the three day battle in July 1863.

This amazing historical read gives a deeper insight to the civilian life of a young family in Gettysburg and what life was like before, during and after the bloodiest battle.

I highly recommend this read and a visit to the museum!

[Kevin Keating · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be boring at first but it was actually very good. Through diary entries the author painted a pretty compelling picture of what life might have been like for the residents of Gettysburg, whose lives were upended when the largest battle for the war dropped by for a visit. War stayed a week and destroyed much. Author also does some great genealogical work about the family who was living there at the time.