Billy Bayly

For the past 4 or 5 years, I have been devouring everything and anything Gettysburg. Not that prior to that I didn't, but I seem to have put my focus on Gettysburg rather than the Civil War in general. One name that seemed to pop up in any book that I have read was a 13 year old boy by the name of Billy Bayly. I have become intrigued by this young boy who witnessed the fighting on the first day.

Thanks to one of Greg Coco's books, I was able to locate the area in which the Bayly family lived. They lived on Table Rock Road near Goldenville Road on a hill called Bayly's Hill (now, where did they ever come up with THAT name????). There is an old home at the top of the hill that I am assuming (should I do that?) is the Bayly home. This area is about 3 miles north of the town. Three miles is a quick drive in the car, but they didn't have cars back then so three miles was quite a walk....but I guess if a battle is going on, those three miles in nothing to a 13 year old boy.

I can't quote here all the things that I would love to quote....this post would be 10 miles long....but the story of Billy and his family is really quite interesting. It seems that Billy, his 9 year brother and a cousin decided to go pick raspberries on Seminary Ridge (they knew that the battle was in that area) and to sort of keep an eye on things.

As the battle got closer to them, they started to get a bit scared and then they took off. How much of the battle they actually saw, I'm not sure, but I am in the process of getting the book "Gettysburg" by Earl Schenck Miers and Richard A. Brown. This sounds like a great book, in that it tells the story of the battle from the perspective of over 40 eyewitnesses....from participants to civilians. I'm hoping that I receive this book soon because once I do, I will devour it. This is precisely the type of books I love to read: eyewitness accounts.

Billy and his mom, Harriet, seemed to be right smack dab in the middle of the crisis in Gettysburg and yet they both lived to tell about it in future years. I was able to locate Harriet's headstone at Evergreen Cemetery...but I have yet to find Billy's. One day I hope to locate him and pay homage to him just like he was able to do to so many of the participants that invaded his hometown.