Chaplain Horatio Howell, USA, Christ Church Linden Witness Tree Wood Shadowbox

This product is made from the wood from one of two Linden trees that stood in front of Christ Church on the south side of Chambersburg Street in Gettysburg.  Where on the afternoon of July 1, 1863 Chaplain Horatio Howell was shot dead by a confederate soldier at the top step of the church entrance.  The church was serving as a field hospital.  Late in the afternoon, the Confederates began to push the Union troops back through town. Shortly after 4 o'clock, the overwhelmed First Corps soldiers fell back through the streets of Gettysburg to the heights on Cemetery Ridge and Cemetery Hill south of town. A chaotic scene ensued as jubilant Confederates followed closely on their heels. As the Union retreat swept toward the College Lutheran Church, Chaplain Howell was assisting members of the medical staff inside the building. After hearing shots outside, Howell turned to a nearby surgeon and said, "I will step outside for a moment and see what the trouble is. 
 
A Confederate skirmisher arrived at the foot of the church steps just as the chaplain and I came out. Placing one foot on the first step the soldier called on the chaplain to surrender; but Howell, instead of throwing up his hands promptly and uttering the usual 'I surrender,' attempted some dignified explanation to the effect that he was a noncombatant and as such was exempt from capture, when a shot from the skirmisher's rifle ended the controversy... The man who fired the shot stood on the exact spot where a memorial tablet (pictured) stands today.  Chaplain Howell, fell upon the landing at the top of the steps.  Howell was 42.