"…sights and sounds…too horrible to describe…"

"…sights and sounds…too horrible to describe…". . Four years after Gettysburg became the county seat in 1800, the first Adams County Courthouse was placed in Lincoln Square (one block to your right). In 1859 this larger building was erected to serve the growing populace., The arrival of the Union and Confederate armies in the summer of 1863 forced the courthouse into unconventional uses. On June 26th, Confederate troops temporarily held the town and according to Margaretta Kendelhart, "...Rebels...occupied the Court House during the night...", Five days later the great battle at Gettysburg began. The carnage created a new role for the courthouse, one of an army hospital. Beginning on July 1st, the grim work of the surgeons continued well after the armies departed., Fannie Buehler, living opposite the courthouse (at 112), vividly described the scene: "The sights and sounds at the Court House for a week after the battle are too horrible to describe... Limbs were amputated amid the cries and groans of suffering humanity... Loads of arms and legs...were carted outside of town to be burned or buried."