{"id":1634,"date":"2013-07-03T04:56:47","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T04:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1634"},"modified":"2014-12-24T17:10:34","modified_gmt":"2014-12-24T17:10:34","slug":"at-gettysburg-it-was-horrible-horrible-horrible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/07\/03\/at-gettysburg-it-was-horrible-horrible-horrible\/","title":{"rendered":"At Gettysburg, ‘it was horrible-horrible-horrible’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A book of Nevin poetry, published in 1899. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Amputations <\/a>
Amputations at Gettysburg were often conducted in field hospitals. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

A week after the guns fell silent at Gettysburg, a man named Robert Nevin departed the battlefield by riding atop a packed railroad car bound for Baltimore. The next day, still shaken by what he\u2019d seen in the woods and fields where two massive armies had tried to destroy each other, he wrote a letter to his wife Elizabeth.<\/p>\n

The letter, written in precise script, is now held at the Heinz History Center\u2019s Detre Library and Archives. It\u2019s a deeply moving and at times disturbing document, penned by a Pittsburgh man who would soon become a highly respected newspaper editor and poet. And it helps us to understand the horror of what happened in Gettysburg during the first three days of July 1863.<\/p>\n

Nevin begins his letter by describing scenes of misery in the hospital camps hastily erected on the Gettysburg battlefield.<\/p>\n

He writes, \u201cThe rebels in one of the camps lie in a woods, on the bare ground, the hot sun shining on them \u2014 wounds in their necks, legs, bellies, and on their faces, with, actually, maggots crawling in them, and yet all of them alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

One man, with half of his face shot away, begs Nevin for water. The man drinks, Nevin writes, \u201cwith what apparent rapture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most disturbing is Nevin\u2019s detailed account of an amputation.\u201dGood God, but it was horrible!\u201d he writes. A video of his account is part of the Post-Gazette\u2019s interactive exploration of the battle.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nevin lived near Sewickley. Pittsburgh directories from the 1860s indicate he and his brother owned a paint supply company at 26 Wood Street, the address listed on the letter. But Nevin also was a writer with a strong sense that something of great significance was happening. Most likely he traveled to Gettysburg to write dispatches for local newspapers.<\/p>\n

To Elizabeth he wrote, \u201cWon\u2019t you forgive me for staying so long away? I long to be with you, and yet the vast event that is impending \u2014 the greatest, perhaps, that history will have to record for a hundred years to come \u2014 urges me to tarry a little longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

He tells his children to behave and obey their mother: \u201cSuppose the rebels should happen to catch me up, tomorrow, as prisoner, and I should be kept away from you for weeks or months, wouldn\u2019t I be very unhappy if I thought you would be giving annoyance to your mother?\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly capture was a threat. His nephew John Nevin, a Union soldier from Sewickley, had spent six months in a Confederate prison camp.<\/p>\n

Robert Nevin later became editor of the Pittsburgh newspapers The Leader and then the Times. More than a century later, few people outside of the Sewickley area remember him. His son Ethelbert, however, achieved great fame as one of America\u2019s leading composers and was featured on a 10-cent stamp in 1940.<\/p>\n

Robert Nevin died in 1908 and is buried in Sewickley Cemetery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The letter, written in precise script, is now held at the Heinz History Center\u2019s Detre Library and Archives.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesAt Gettysburg, ‘it was horrible-horrible-horrible’<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[948],"tags":[955,1048],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/tumblr_mp2tppoylI1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C876&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1639,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/07\/01\/former-enemies-come-together-at-gettysburg\/","url_meta":{"origin":1634,"position":0},"title":"Former enemies come together at Gettysburg","date":"July 1, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"They laughed with giddy abandon, flung their arms around each other and made silly jokes.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/tumblr_mp2f7p0AKX1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C567&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":535,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/06\/23\/the-freedom-trains-journey-through-pennsylvania\/","url_meta":{"origin":1634,"position":1},"title":"The Freedom Train\u2019s journey through Pennsylvania","date":"June 23, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Fifty-two railroads shared the task of taking the Freedom Train on its 33,000-mile journey.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tumblr_n7dqfdKlMq1rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C969&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":41,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/11\/26\/black-fridays-of-the-past-long-before-macys-and\/","url_meta":{"origin":1634,"position":2},"title":"Black Fridays of the past","date":"November 26, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Black Fridays of the past, based on the photos we found, looked suspiciously civilized.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/tumblr_nfmdszhT4a1rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C703&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8227,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2017\/10\/18\/the-ku-klux-klan-and-a-family-photo-album\/","url_meta":{"origin":1634,"position":3},"title":"The Ku Klux Klan and a family photo album","date":"October 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"During a visit to his parent\u2019s home in Bridgeville this past summer, Paul Ludwick sat in a living room and pulled open the worn cover of an overstuffed photo album. 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