Elizabeth Thorn

Elizabeth Möser Thorn (December 28, 1832 – October 17, 1907) was an American cemetery caretaker who served as the caretaker of Evergreen Cemetery in Adams County, Pennsylvania, while her husband was serving in the Union Army. While pregnant, Thorn buried approximately one hundred soldiers who had died at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

Early life

Born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, in 1832, Elizabeth and her parents, John and Catherine Möser, immigrated to the United States in 1854. Little was known about her early life. After settling in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, she married another German immigrant, Peter Thorn, in September 1855. Her husband became the first caretaker of Evergreen Cemetery in February 1856, earning $150 a year and living with his family in the gatehouse rent-free in exchange for digging graves and maintaining the grounds. He enlisted in the Union's 138th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment on August 16, 1862, leaving his wife in charge of the cemetery. She had three young sons and was six months pregnant when war swept over Gettysburg on July 1–3, 1863.

Battle of Gettysburg

Thorn was forced to feed hungry Confederate cavalry and later prepared dinner for Generals Oliver Otis Howard, Daniel Sickles and Henry Slocum. She also pointed out strategic roadways to a Union officer. Forced to flee as the battle approached her home, she returned on July 7 to find that General Howard had turned her home into his headquarters as well as into a field hospital thronging with wounded soldiers. The building had been heavily damaged, and goods worth $295 had been stolen or destroyed.

Although six months pregnant amid the summer heat, Thorn went to work tending the wounded and burying the dead. She earned no additional wages for this labor. In later years, Evergreen Cemetery president David McConaughy would deny knowledge of her heroic efforts.