The Bread Baker of Gettysburg

The Overlook

By Tom Clavin

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With the first Thanksgiving officially celebrated during President Abraham Lincoln’s term and the holiday having become a big food event and last week seeing the 167^th anniversary of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, the story of Josephine Miller Slyder is appropriate for this week.

The Battle of Gettysburg resulted in as many as 40,000 deaths, laid waste to the town’s structures, and prompted many of its civilian population of 2400 to hide in cellars and ditches. However, several Gettysburg residents remained in the fray to feed the hungry soldiers soon to be engaged in battle and to care for those who fell.

At the time of the battle – July 1-3, 1863 -- the Rogers farm was just south of town on the west side of the Emmitsburg Road, midway between General George Meade’s line of battle on Cemetery Ridge and General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate line on Seminary Ridge.

There was a one-story log farmhouse on the property, which was the home of Peter Rogers, his wife, Susan, and their granddaughter Josephine Miller, a woman 23 years of age. Peter Rogers is said to have stayed in the house during the battle while his wife took refuge east of the Round Tops. Josephine also stayed behind with Peter during the fighting, baking bread and carrying water to the thirsty Union soldiers.

On the second day of the battle, Josephine was in the kitchen baking bread. A Union officer later wrote that he told Josephine to leave home immediately, but she had bread baking in the oven and said she would stay until it was done. It appears that she continued to bake for the troops until the battle was over.

Troops of the First Massachusetts were stationed around the Rogers farm that hot July day, and they devoured the bread so quickly that Josephine decided to stay and bake another batch. After the fighting was over for the day, she remained at the farm, caring for wounded Union and Confederate soldiers.

Like other farms on Emmitsburg Road, the house was struck by several shells and dead soldiers covered the ground. It was considered a miracle that Josephine and her father survived the many flying bullets.

The First Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was commanded during the Battle of Gettysburg by Lieutenant Colonel Clark B. Baldwin. It brought 384 men to the field, losing 16 killed, 83 wounded, and 21 missing.

A monument to the First Massachusetts Regiment was to be dedicated in Gettysburg in July 1886 on the Peter Rogers farm. When the veterans of that regiment learned that the Rogers couple had passed away, they asked about Josephine. They learned that she had married William Slyder in October 1863 and moved to Ohio.

The veterans insisted that Josephine attend the ceremony and they paid her fare both ways. She was introduced to the veterans of the First, who greeted her with three hearty cheers and presented her with a gold corps badge. Josephine was remembered for her tireless service to their regiment and others by baking bread, carrying water, and tending to the wounded.

When the men of the First discovered that stove was still in the house where she had baked bread during the Battle of Gettysburg, they carried the stove from the house and placed it beside the monument, and a photograph was taken of Josephine standing beside it.

In a reunion address at Gettysburg, General Henry Slocum said about Josephine, “The great artillery duel which shook the earth for miles around did not drive her from her oven. Pickett’s men, who charged past her house, found her quietly baking her bread and distributing it to the hungry. When the battle was over, her house was found to be riddled with shot and shell, and 17 dead bodies were taken from the house and cellar, the bodies of wounded men who had crawled to the little dwelling for shelter.”

Josephine Miller Slyder died on January 9, 1911, at age 70.

For those of you in the area: I will be giving a Bandit Heaven presentation this Sunday, December 1, at the John Jermain Library in Sag Harbor at 2 p.m. Thinking ahead to the holidays: Books will be available for discounted purchase and signing. Please call 631-725-0049 to reserve a seat.

Tom Clavin is the bestselling author/co-author of 25 books, including Bandit Heaven, which was published last month by St. Martin’s Press. Please go to your local bookstore or to Bookshop.org, Amazon.com, BN.com, or tomclavin.com to purchase a copy.