The
Lutheran Theological Seminary at GettysburgGettysburg is a borough that is the county seat, part of the Gettysburg Battlefield, and the eponym for the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. The town hosts visitors to the Gettysburg National Military Park and has 3 institutions of higher learning: Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg College, and...
is America's oldest
LutheranLutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
seminary (
cf.cf., an abbreviation for the Latin word confer , literally meaning "bring together", is used to refer to other material or ideas which may provide similar or different information or arguments. It is mainly used in scholarly contexts, such as in academic or legal texts...
St Mary's catholic seminary, 1791St. Mary's Seminary and University is a Roman Catholic seminary in Baltimore, Maryland; it was the first seminary founded in the United States of America.-History:...
) and a site of 1863
Battle of GettysburgThe Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
military engagements.
History
By 1819, a
Pennsylvania MinisteriumThe Pennsylvania Ministerium was the first Lutheran church body in North America. With the encouragement of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the Ministerium was founded at a meeting of German-American Lutheran clergy on August 26, 1748...
committee (Rev.
John George Schmucker-Biography:His parents emigrated to the United States in 1785, and, after a residence of two years in Pennsylvania, settled near Woodstock, Virginia. In 1789 he began to study for the ministry. A year later he went to Philadelphia to continue his studies with Justus Henry Christian Helmuth and John...
, D.D., Conrad Jaeger and H. A. Muhlenberg) began planning a Protestant seminary. After the board of directors first met on March 2, 1826; a selection group of 9 rejected proposals from
Carlisle, PennsylvaniaCarlisle is a borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The name is traditionally pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2010 census, the borough...
(at
Dickinson CollegeDickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773, Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, making it the first college to be founded in the newly...
) and
Hagerstown, MarylandHagerstown is a city in northwestern Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Washington County, and, by many definitions, the largest city in a region known as Western Maryland. The population of Hagerstown city proper at the 2010 census was 39,662, and the population of the...
; and the "Gettysburg Theological Seminary" was established on August 1, 1826.
Samuel Simon SchmuckerSamuel Simon Schmucker was a German-American Lutheran pastor and theologian. He was integral to the founding of the Lutheran church body known as the General Synod, as well as the oldest continuously-operating Lutheran seminary and college in North America .Later in his career, Schmucker became a...
was elected the first professor and the seminary opened with 11 students on September 5, 1826, at the Gettysburg Academy building.
The seminary was the site of
Battle of Gettysburg, First DayThe First Day of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War took place on July 1, 1863, and began as an engagement between isolated units of the Army of Northern Virginia under Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the Army of the Potomac under Union Maj. Gen. George G. Meade...
, combat and had buildings burned during the battle.
http://www.google.com/search?q=gettysburg+seminary&tbs=nws:1,ar:1&source=newspapers On July 1 from ~4 p.m. until dark, the
Third Richmond Howitzers (with "four 3 inch rifles") fired from the seminary onto
Cemetery HillCemetery Hill is a Gettysburg Battlefield landform which had 1863 military engagements each day of the July 1–3 Battle of Gettysburg. The northernmost part of the Army of the Potomac defensive "fish-hook" line, the hill is gently sloped and provided a site for American Civil War artillery...
and received counterfire
http://books.google.com/books?id=rFHr8ti5sAwC&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&dq=%22smith's+battery%22+seminary+gettysburg&source=bl&ots=pf0WHrNHBD&sig=-y3UuvT_mEV40l-2c7NLIFD1A7s&hl=en&ei=8mRETuCnBeHY0QHvyo24CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22smith's%20battery%22%20seminary%20gettysburg&f=false (
Robert E. LeeRobert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
's headquarters was north of the seminary). Seminary buildings became
field hospitalA field hospital is a large mobile medical unit that temporarily takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent hospital facilities...
s (the last patient of the seminary's Old Dorm left on September 16, 1863), and by 1896, the seminary had 2 academic buildings, 4 professor dwellings, a hospital, and about 38 acre (15.4 ha).
The Gettysburg Park Commission telfordized the seminary's north-south avenue in 1895 (resurfaced in 1927) and had placed
2 Confederate 3" rifles, 2 other Confederate guns, and 2 Union 12 pounders along it by 1912. The "Seminary Hotel" hosted dignitaries for the 50th battle anniversary (an Old Dorm colonial portico to commemorate the reunion was opened in May 1914,
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DzhUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YjoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6392,3948778&dq=hackmen+gettysburg&hl=en but only the concrete base remains.)
http://books.google.com/books?id=rFHr8ti5sAwC&pg=PA164
During the
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
labor shortage, the seminary assisted with the 1942 apple harvest
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HiI_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=w08MAAAAIBAJ&pg=2360,2776032&dq=gettysburg+theological+seminary&hl=en (
German POWs were subsequently usedThe World War II Prisoner of War camp on the Gettysburg Battlefield operated from June 29, 1945, through April 1946 at the former site of the McMillan Woods CCC camp....
), and a seminary auxiliary was organized in 1953.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5o8lAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yfIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=927,913085&dq=gettysburg+theological+seminary&hl=en In 1961, the Adams County Historical Society moved to the seminary's 1832 Old Dorm (added to the
NRHPThis is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Adams County, Pennsylvania.This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States...
in 1974), and the 2011 "
Crossroads Campaign" planned $1.8 million of fundraising for chapel renovations.
http://www.uss-elca.org/gettysburg-seminary-announces-matching-gift-opportunity