Letters
From Emmitsburg's Past
Emmitsburg as
described in a Union Solder's letter home,
June 30, 1863
(To Mr. Luther Wingetq Milford Center,
Union County, Ohio)
Emmitsburg, Maryland June 30th, 1863
Dear Friends:
I will again pencil another note to you, So that you
can keep track of our whereabouts. We stayed at
Middletown until the evening of the 28th about six
9clock p.m. We started from there to Frederick (about 7
miles) and got there about one o9clock a.m. All that
time we were marching (part of the time Double Quicking)
our officers trying to get us to our camping place
beyond the city without going through it, which they
succeeded in doing by marching us until that time of
night and going entirely around the city. So I did not
get to see the city at all.
It is said to be very large and nice. Well at 4
o'clock that morning (the 29th), we began our march to
this place (a distant of 25 miles) and arrived here last
night about 6 o'clock and stayed in that place until
this morning when we moved to this place, a Shady Grove,
near a Nunnery or rather on the farm and near the
Buildings belonging to the Sisters of Charity.
The town is a very nice one, hardly as large as
Urbana, but all fine buildings* About one half of the
town was burnt about two weeks ago* The people think it
was done by a resident of the town whom they now have in
Jail. He is said to be a union man although the town is
one of the worst secessionist towns in Maryland. But
that was not the reason it was burnt. It was in revenge
for some private wrong done by some individual of the
town, His store was set on fire and burnt the rest with
it.
This institution of the Sisters of Charity (whose
grounds we are now on) Farm and Buildings (especially
the latter) is the finest I ever saw. Nothing in Ohio
will compare with it, I was astonished to find such
magnificence in such a place, a place I have never heard
of before. The buildings cover about a square of ground,
the same as a square in a town, built entirely of brick
and ornamented with marble carvings. The main buildings
are 4 stories high, built in Splendid style, Before the
war began, there were 500 Sisters of Charity of this
institution. But all but about 60 are with the army in
the various hospitals, taking care of the sick and
wounded, And they are said to be very good nurses and
very kind.
The institution belongs to the Catholic Church and on
almost every part of the buildings are crosses stuck on,
They have, of courses a Chapel (a place of worship)*
This is finished beautifully, The room is very large and
in the form of an arch. Beautiful paintings are all
around the room and a large statue of the Virgin Mary
and Child. But the altar is the nicest feature in the
Chapel. It is built of the finest marble and on it is a
splendid cross with an image of our Savior on it with a
crown of gold (real) on his head, an angel on either
side of him (the cherubim's). It is a nice room.
Near the institution is the cemetery and in the
center of it is a small but beautiful Chapel. Beneath
which in a vault is the remains of Mother Mary Seton,
the foundress of the institution, (She left the grounds
and money to build, furnish and set to running the
institution. She died in 1821.) The chapel is a little
round room with an altar in it similar to the one just
described.
The farm has 400 acres in it and is under the best of
cultivation. It is worked by several Catholics, old
Irishmen who I suppose are not able to take care of
themselves, but who find labor and a home here with
someone to take care of them, as there is a directing
hand somewhere, although I know not who it is,
But I forgot something about the cemetery. There are
155 graves in it in regular rows and about 10 in a plot
with paths between the plots. The graves are all in good
condition, very narrow, with the grass growing nicely on
each* Each grave has a cross at the head with the name,
age and death on it; and all have foot stones. One thing
is worthy of note, and ages of those buried there (all
females) all vary from 13 to 25, All young women in the
prime of life.
With respect to the fifty or sixty now in the
institution (I saw but few of them), they wear back
dresses (without any hoops) with white aprons, a cape
coming over the shoulders and coming to a peak at the
waist. And a white bonnet in the shape of a scoop shovel
(only more so.) It has a cape also which comes down to
the shoulder. The bonnet is the ugliest piece of
furniture I ever saw, although it was white as snow as
was the apron. The girls are most all young and good
looking,, while some of them are beautiful. And it
seemed to me to be a shame to keep them immured in a
gloomy building like that with no appropriate society.
But to return to the grounds, they are laid out in
good style. All round among the buildings and grounds
are carriage drivers, and springs are plentiful, while
here and there are statues, some of the Virgin, some of
our Savior and the Apostles, Every once in a while you
come across an iron sofa or seat, among the nice trees.
They have also a large garden of about three acres.
Everything is laid out in good order and the crop is
forward.
But the barn is one of the curiosities. It is brick
also and a bank barn. At each end of the barn is a very
large mow and between them are 3 large barn floors, each
about 18 feet wide. The barn is very high and the upper
part is floored and has stairs to go up into it, and
there kept the farming utensils. Beneath in the basement
are 5 rows of stalls with a feeding room for each, and
each row has room for 8 horses, And there is a shed the
whole length of the barn where it (the barn) juts over.
Thus you can see what a beautiful barn it is. It never
cost less than $3,000.
Author Unknown
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