Large wars have long been said to create many ghosts, and the American Civil War was no exception.
Famous warfields
Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was the largest battle in North America. Fittingly, it has many ghost stories. The 20th Maine was said to have seen the ghost of George Washington, and it was due to the ghost that they found their way to the Gettysburg battlefield.[2] The Soldiers' Orphanage cellar is said to make even psychics too afraid to enter the house, due to its legend.[3] The Herr Tavern was built in 1815, but during the battle it was used as the first Confederate hospital at Gettysburg, where amputations often resulted in limbs being thrown out through the window to be collected later, only for many of the soldiers to die afterward. As a result, four of the guest rooms are said to be haunted, and the rooms are numbered so that there is no room 13.
The interest of ghosts and Gettysburg remains to the present day. In recent times, people have claimed to seen ghost soldiers, and sometimes even ghost battles, in many places around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Eight separate companies offer ghost tours in Gettysburg; some seasonally, and some all year.
Other battlefields
Among the locales famous for Civil War ghosts was the Sharpsburg battlefield near Sharpsburg, Maryland (both Union and Confederate Ghosts have reportedly been seen placing artillery), Chickamauga battlefield outside Chattanooga, Tennessee across the Georgia border, Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, Buras, Louisiana, and Warren, Arkansas.
References
- Hertzog, Kate (2006). Insiders' Guide to Gettysburg. Globe Pequot. ISBN 0762737867.
- Ogden, Tom (1999). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Ghosts and Hauntings. Alpha Books. ISBN 0028636597.
- Okonowicz, Ed (2007). Haunted Maryland: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Old Line State. Stackpole Books. ISBN 0811734099.
- Scott, Beth (2007). Haunted America. Macmillan. ISBN 0765319675.