Can we step back in time to the see the past with our own eyes? Well, maybe not literally but the new Adams County Historical Society’s Beyond the Battle Museum will enable your imagination to take you through centuries of Adams County’s history. There you will be able to see and even touch some of the artifacts of the unique and fascinating past of our area from prehistoric times to the present.
What can we learn about the people of Adams County during the American Revolution era and the decades that followed? Part of the new museum will tell us. For example, in those days, taverns were the cultural center of colonial Pennsylvania. At these establishments, food and lodging were provided to travelers along the few main roads that existed at the time. For residents, taverns played a central role in keeping citizens informed about what was happening in the world beyond their town. Here they also socialized with friends, picked up their mail and discussed the politics of the day. In 1760, in what was to become Adams County, there were five licensed taverns. By the end of the American Revolution in 1783, nearly 50 had been established. In taverns like these throughout the American colonies, sparks of the American Revolution were ignited.
In 1775, area residents met in Samuel Gettys’ tavern (located in what was to become Gettysburg) to discuss the growing tensions between colonists in Massachusetts and British soldiers. There a company of volunteers was organized to fight with General George Washington. In the new museum, you can sit at a table in a recreation of Samuel Gettys’ tavern and listen to conversations by local settlers who are discussing the start of the Revolutionary War and the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
One of those Adams County residents who joined General Washington’s army was Lt. William Houghtelin. He served throughout the Revolutionary War with the Continental Army. He crossed the Delaware with Washington on Dec. 25, 1776, and fought the Hessians at Trenton. He also fought the British at Brandywine and Germantown and spent the brutal winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge. He died in Gettysburg in 1833 at age 80. Lt. Houghtelin’s pension record from the Continental Army is on display in the new museum.
Another Revolutionary War veteran named John Troxell moved to Adams County not long after the town of Gettysburg was established in 1786. It was said that he constructed the first house in town. He and his wife Elizabeth were the parents of the first child born in Gettysburg. When John Troxell died in 1855 at age 94, he left behind 10 children, 71 grandchildren, 120 great-grandchildren and 20 great-great-grandchildren. In the Adams County Historical Society’s new museum, you can see a grandfather clock John Troxell owned that was made around 1790. It was passed down through his family to Sallie (Myers) Stewart, one of his 120 great-grandchildren.
In 1776, William McPherson became a lieutenant in the 7th Pennsylvania Rifles at age of 19. He and his family were from the Marsh Creek area of Adams County. In August of 1776, he and several of his fellow soldiers were captured by the British at the Battle of Long Island. He spent several months as a captive on a British prison ship. McPherson survived the war and served in the Pennsylvania State Legislature, securing the passage of a bill that divided Adams County from York County in 1800.
Many other stories of our area during the Revolutionary War can be experienced at the Adams County Historical Society’s new museum, Beyond the Battle. The museum is located at 625 Biglerville Road in Gettysburg and will open to the public on April 15. More information is available online at http://www.achs-pa.org.
Howard Burrell is a trustee of the Adams County Historical Society.
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