Check this out. I’ve been working on the King Family Book and came across this in a hint to my tree. The year must be 1906 or 1907 as Caroline Guy is noted as an infant in the picture. Records indicate she was born in 1906.
Just the fact that we can place this photograph in a specific location and date it to over 100 years ago is awesome. It was shared to http://www.ancestry.com, by member stacibbw, on 12 Nov 2016.
Standing Left to Right: Hunter (Guy); Blanche (Loser) Guy; Lucetta (Paine) Loser… Blanche’s Mother; Annie (Fugitt) Guy… Hunter’s Mother. Seated Left to Right: Helen (Guy) and Caroline (Guy).
This is Great, Great, Grandmother Annie (Fugitt) Guy with the Hunter Guy Family at the High-Water Mark of the Rebellion Monument at Gettysburg National Military Park. I do not see the year of the picture anywhere in the notes. I recognized the monument in the picture right away. Monument Notes below are from Wikipedia.
Name Image GPS Designer Year Comments
Of course, I recognize 2x Great Grandmother, Annie (Fugitt) Guy from the Photograph of Annie and Charles Wesley Guy, shared by cousin, Laura Schaffner, several years ago.
I found in my research that, from 1901 to 1937, Hunter Guy and family lived in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The visit in the High -Water Mark Monument picture could just have been an afternoon outing to Gettysburg. It was not that far away from Harrisburg. (I learned during my research that taking the train from Harrisburg to Gettysburg was the way to travel back then.)
I wonder if Charles W. Guy or Jonathan W. Loser is with the family, maybe taking the picture. It certainly is possible that is was taken by a photographer, like the picture of the couple directly above.
Just look at the clothing in the Gettysburg picture. Those long dresses and hats. It seems like warm weather clothing. Maybe it is dress up clothing, like that to be worn for church or a special occasion.
Would both Mothers have been routine visitors to the Hunter and Blanche Guy household? Did this family get together to just visit the Battlefield that day? Between 1900 and 1910, Charles and Annie Guy lived in Berkeley County, West Virginia and then Fayette County, Pennsylvania. They were not too far away, but it would take at least several hours to travel to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Records indicate that Jonathan and Lucetta Loser were living in the Harrisburg area.
I feel like the choice of location for the picture connects to where Annie (Fugitt) Guy grew up. Annie (Fugitt) Guy grew up in Fredericksburg, Virginia, pretty much at the heart of the Confederacy, as it was an hour north of Richmond, Virginia. Annie’s Dad, George Fugitt, brother George Fugitt, and brother Scott Fugitt all lived in the Fredericksburg, Virginia area. We know that the Georges, father and son, were Confederate Soldiers. We could presume Scott was also, but he was only twelve when the War started. Annie’s other brother, Jerry Fugitt, had a farm in Winchester, Virginia in 1860. Jerry Fugitt was a Confederate Soldier too. His tombstone in Rock Creek Cemetery, Seneca County, Ohio, is marked as such.
Jerry Fugitt was a member of the famous 5th Virginia Infantry, the Stonewall Jackson Brigade. At Gettysburg, our 2x Great Uncle, Jerry Fugitt fought at Culp’s Hill at on Day 2 of the Battle (July 2, 1863), almost directly across from our Great, Great Grandfather Benjamin Franklin Miller, who was a Union Corporal in the 3rd Maryland Infantry by that time. (I wrote up a family article a few years ago about tracing their footsteps at the Gettysburg Battlefield).
For that matter, Hunter Guy’s father, Charles Wesley Guy, also grew up in the heart of the Confederacy in Winchester, Virginia, an hour and a half north of Fredericksburg, Virginia. My research indicates there were no male direct relatives of Charles Wesley Guy of the right age to be in the Civil War. I am not sure about the husbands of his sisters. I have not found enough detail yet about them. Charles Wesley Guy married Annie Fugitt after the War years, and so far, I have found no records linking him to the Civil War. Charles Wesley Guy would have been 14 at the start of the Civil War, so it is possible he was kept at home. (His father, Branson Guy had died in 1850). The whole Guy family history I find for that time is in Frederick County, Virginia, where Winchester is the County seat.
What must Annie Fugitt have been thinking and feeling to be at Gettysburg? I feel like it is no coincidence that this specific monument was selected for a photograph. Were they paying respects to those Confederate soldiers in the family? Was this a special occasion at the park to celebrate all of the Veterans?
As you can see from the monument information included, the High-Water Mark Monument in the Gettysburg picture was placed in 1892. Quite a few monuments were placed in the park by the turn of the Century, by 1900. The High-Water Mark monument pictured is nowhere near Culp’s Hill, where Jerry Fugitt would have battled across from Benjamin Franklin Miller on Day 2 (July 2, 1863) of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863.
The High- Water Mark monument is located at the end of the current auto tour route and was located very close to the former Visitor Center. A new visitor center was built further out of town more recently. Action at the spot chosen for the monument would have taken place on Day 3 of the Battle (July 3, 1863). It marks the end of the famous Pickett’s Charge. Visiting this monument could simply have been a short walk rather than a planned nod to the Confederate family members. It may be a romantic notion on my part to attach a connection to those who fought at or near that spot.
It could have been just a tour stop at that time. I have been researching what someone would have experienced when visiting Gettysburg Battlefield back in the early 1900’s. I have learned that an Electric Trolley operated from 1893 to 1916. The research is interesting and lends itself to a separate post at a later date.
Another thing that sparks my curiosity is if automobiles were easily accessible at that time. I would think maybe but I do not assume so. The people in the picture do not seem to be dressed for a long walk. The babies could not have walked that far either. Considering how spread out the site is, I wonder if they traversed it by walking, trolley, auto, or horse & buggy. I wonder even how much of the Battlefield that visitors in 1906-1907 would have been able to visit compared to the twenty-three miles of countryside we would travel today.
I also have to realize that many of today’s Gettysburg Battlefield features seen in my experience did not exist back in 1906-1907. The auto tours by which Dave and I explored the Battlefield have even changed a few times in the decades we have been going to Gettysburg. Several monuments on Confederate Avenue did not even get donated to the National Park until the 1960’s to the 1980’s.
I believe a moratorium on adding more monuments to the Battlefield went into effect between 2000 and 2010, so no more monuments will be placed there. With something like 1300 monuments placed on and near the Battlefield, it is no surprise that books have been written about the Monuments at Gettysburg Battlefield.
Dave and I had a conversation about the picture and the Battlefield as it would have looked at the turn of the 20th century. This High-Water Mark is certainly a spot we have visited every time we have been to Gettysburg over the last 40 years. It is such a crisp picture that it makes you see the spot in your memory. The landscape is a little different now. The copse of trees is much older and larger. You do not see off in the distance past the monument as you would in the left side of this picture. The last time we were there was in the fall of 2013, it was so crowded at that tour stop that you would not be able to take that High- Water Mark picture. You would have had to get past a whole line of cars and a lot of people to get close to the monument.
One last note is that Gettysburg National Park spent several months last fall cleaning the bronze on the High- Water Mark Monument. The giant book from the monument is now a bright and shiny copper. There are pictures all over the Gettysburg National Park Facebook Page that you could look at to compare it to older pictures.
There are definitely a few more things to look for on our next trip to Gettysburg, including the perspective that more family members walked the same ground that we have walked. We can even place them at a specific spot. We can also look forward to comparing the picture and the monument as it looks now, having been cleaned in 2018.
So, look closely at those photos shared on family research sites. They may help you discover an interesting story like this one has shown me.
Until next time…….
Rose
Rose's Reflections and Ruminations 