Reverend F. J. F. Schantz was one of those who reached Gettysburg by rail. He left Allentown, Pennsylvania on November 17 at 9 a.m., reaching Gettysburg at 9 p.m.: “Three hours of time were required for the trip of 18 miles from Hanover Junction to Gettysburg. We had no parlor cars, no ordinary passenger cars; we were glad to find room in freight cars!”6 Emily Souder was another who traveled to Gettysburg the day prior to the ceremonies. In a letter written November 20, 1863, she noted that her party “had supposed, that in view of the great number of visitors from all parts of the country, efforts would be made to place a sufficient number of cars on the route to insure the speedy transmission of passengers, and also a reasonable degree of comfort.” She was somewhat irritated by the accommodations, the last part of her journey being spent in an overcrowded freight car on an extemporized seat.7

The editor of the Indianapolis Journal wrote that the excursion “was certainly the worst conceived, arranged and executed expedition of the war not excepting the Peninsula Campaign.”8 And a correspondent for the Cincinnati Commercial was most harsh in his criticism when he concluded, “there are no railroads in the United States that comprise so many discomforts, delays, vexations, and privations to the passengers or exhibit so mean and illiberal a spirit as the Northern Central and its legitimate offspring, the Gettysburg Branch.”9

As would be expected, however, the President of the United States had a more pleasant journey to Gettysburg. The train carrying Abraham Lincoln left Washington at noon on November 18. The party traveled to Baltimore, Maryland where the cars were transferred onto the Northern Central Railroad. For Lincoln, the journey must have brought some bittersweet memories. It was his first time back since his clandestine passage through Baltimore in the middle of night on his way to Washington in February 1861.10 Upon leaving Baltimore, the train passed through the northern Maryland countryside and over the same tracks torn up by Maryland authorities in April 1861, at the onset of the war. But times had changed and through some harsh but necessary measures Maryland was well under Federal control.

At Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania, the cars were transferred onto the branch line leading to Hanover and Gettysburg. At the junction, plans had been made for the President’s train to rendezvous with another one traveling down from the state capital of Harrisburg, which carried Governor Curtin and the governors of several other Northern states. The “governors’ train,” as it has come to be called, experienced some mechanical difficulties and was delayed.11 After waiting an hour or so the President’s train was sent on ahead.

Abraham Lincoln and his party pulled into the Gettysburg Railroad Station just after six o’clock on the evening of November 18.12 The time of Lincoln’s arrival was not exactly stated and was not generally known by the people already in town for the ceremonies. Perhaps for that reason, and the fact that many of the visitors were touring the battlefield, there are very few eyewitness accounts of the President’s arrival at the Gettysburg station. The train that brought Lincoln also carried his secretaries, three members of his cabinet, a number of foreign ministers, and members of the military from Washington and Baltimore. The large crowd assembled at the station included Edward Everett, the keynote speaker for the ceremonies. His daughter Charlotte and her husband, and Captain Henry A. Wise of the United States Navy, were also on the train.13

The railroad connection from Hanover to Gettysburg had been completed in December 1858, and the station itself was opened in May 1859, less than five years earlier. It was at this station, in April 1861, that the first of Gettysburg’s soldiers were sent off in defense of their country. During the Battle of Gettysburg the station was used as a hospital. The railroad was used to bring supplies for the care of the wounded and for transportation of those who could be moved to larger hospitals in Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

The station of the Gettysburg Railroad proudly stands today, probably best known for its association with Abraham Lincoln on the evening of November 18, 1863, and his departure 25 hours later.14 According to Harvey Sweney, the arrival of the President’s train “was the signal that this was to be one of the most grand and interesting occasions that this country ever witnessed.”15

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