About Sarah Broadhead
Sarah Broadhead was one of the first Gettysburg residents to witness the arrival of Confederate troops on the afternoon of June 26. She wrote, “They came with such horrid yells that it was enough to frighten us all to death.”
During the three-day battle, Gettysburg residents who stayed in town became captive in their own homes. Though they could see little, they heard terrible explosions and imagined the misery to follow.
Afterwards, Sarah Broadhead became a nurse. Her home, like so many others in Gettysburg, became a hospital. By mid-July the last soldiers cared for in private homes were removed to the General Hospital. Sarah’s closing diary note reads:
“A weight of care, which we took upon us for duty’s sake, and which we had learned to like and would have gladly borne, until relieved by the complete recovery of our men, has been lifted off our shoulders, and again we have our house to ourselves.”