Ron Kirkwood returned to CWRT with a talk called “Women to the Rescue at the Battle of Gettysburg’s George Spangler Farm.”
He listed regiments with the most wounded being treated at the farm, and noted that the 153rd PA from Easton had third most wounded there.
He described how some women worked as nurses at the XI Corps hospital at the farm and listened to the dying men talk of their families, gave them water, treated their wounds, wrote letters home for them, held their hands and sang to them as they took their final breath.
He spoke of how others cooked and baked bread and washed filthy and bloody clothes and hospital linens.
In particular he signed out some women like Nurse Rebecca Lane Pennypacker Price and Mrs Hovvey wife of a hospital surgeon as examples of the dedication and sacrifice they made.
Kirkwood is the author of “Too Much for Human Endurance: The George Spangler Farm Hospitals and the Battle of Gettysburg,” which was published in June 2019. Two years ago, he was the tour guide of that farm during our CWRT field trip.
In an interesting highlight, CWRT member Gary Schnell presented Kirkwood with a CMU plaque in honor of their mutual connection to Central Michigan University.
Following his presentation he was presented with a check for the Gettysburg Foundation.
As usual, we held our book raffle for preservation, with the winners shown below.
