Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gettysburg, Adams County

I'm not a big fan of winter, as you might have guessed from previous posts. The temperatures this week have been remarkably unpleasant, even for January. So I'm heading back to my sunny weekend in Gettysburg for today's quest.

I'm sure that Dwight Eisenhower doesn't require much of an introduction. He was a hero of World War II, President of the United States, and so on. I imagine that at least some of my readers are also aware that, after his Presidency, he retired to a beautiful farm on the outskirts of Gettysburg, which today is a historic site toured by thousands of visitors annually. However, that's not where we're going, because that's not where his Gettysburg marker can actually be found.

The marker stands in front of the house at
157 N. Washington Street, Gettysburg

Dwight D. Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas, number three out of seven sons born to David and Ida (Stover) Eisenhower. For some reason, all of the boys were nicknamed some variation of Ike; Dwight himself was "Little Ike." This nickname stuck with him all of his life, leading to the famous campaign slogan later that stated, simply, "I like Ike." The family later moved to Abilene, Kansas, where Ike finished high school, and in 1911 he enrolled at West Point. He was a member of the graduating class of 1915, known as "the class the stars fell on," because 36% of the graduates went on to attain the rank of general. More than a century later, the record is yet unbeaten.

Also in 1915, Ike was introduced to a young woman named Mary Doud, familiarly known as Mamie. The two had an instant connection, and after a courtship of only a few months they were engaged. They married in July 1916, the wedding date being moved up because of the looming reality of World War I; Ike requested to be sent on assignment to the Philippines, but was denied and instead sent to various camps in the south. He was overseeing Fort Oglethorpe in Georgia in late 1917 when his first son was born. The baby was named Doud, after Mamie's family, but in the Eisenhower family tradition he had to have an 'Ike' nickname - thus, they dubbed him Icky. (Some sources spell it as Ikky, but the marker says Icky so that's what I'm using.)

In the spring of 1918, Ike, Mamie, and the infant Icky left the south and headed to Maryland, from which he was hoping to be dispatched to France. Instead, he was sent to Pennsylvania, where Ike, now a captain in the Army, had been appointed the commander of a training camp which would make use of the famous Gettysburg battlefield - particularly the site of Pickett's Charge - for instructing soldiers in operating tanks.

When Ike first received his orders, the camp had no name, merely identified as the "tank service camp at Gettysburg," and soldiers had only started to be sent there in the few weeks before his own arrival. By the time the new commander got there, the camp had been formally named Camp Colt - after Samuel Colt, the inventor of the Colt revolver. Ike reached Gettysburg on March 23, 1918, and took official command the following day. The picture at left is of Ike serving as commander of Camp Colt; this is actually a picture of a picture. The life-size image is displayed at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitors Center.

Mamie and Icky joined Ike the following month, right after a severe blizzard covered the town in heavy snow. The little family initially lived in a small apartment above a grocery store, but after a few weeks they took up residence in a splendid house on North Washington Street, just a few blocks from the campus of Gettysburg College (then still called Pennsylvania College). The building actually belonged to the college; it was the house of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, and the college graciously rented it to the Eisenhowers while the school was closed for the summer months.

Camp Colt took up close to 200 acres of the celebrated battlefield, including portions of the Codori and Smith farms, and particularly the site of Pickett's Charge. Honestly, prior to my own visit to the battlefield last year, this description would not have made any sense to me whatsoever; having been there, I now have a better idea of where the camp was situated. Rather than try to explain it, however, let me refer you to this video - this is footage of the Gettysburg Cyclorama, a 360-degree room-sized model of the battlefield that can better depict where things like the Codori farm were located than I can describe in words.

Under Ike's exemplary leadership, the camp was a great success and very highly regarded by the Army. The 3rd Tank Company was organized there as Company A in the 328th Battalion of the Tank Corps. Camp Colt was the only camp specially designed for Tank Corps troops, and included an Officer's Training School. It had its own in-house newspaper, Treat 'Em Rough, although strangely no copies seem to have survived; even the Adams County Historical Society doesn't have a single issue. The camp's drum corps participated in the town's Memorial Day parade and even had a baseball team which played against the college team in a friendly game. (One of the college's players in that game was a young man named Eddie Plank, who has his own marker.) In September of 1918, the camp was placed under quarantine due to the worldwide flu epidemic... history sure does repeat itself.

Pleased as he was with the success of the assignment, Ike was hoping to see overseas action in World War I. It seemed like he would finally get his chance in November when his unit was ordered to report to France. However, one week before he would have sailed out of New York City, his expectations were thwarted by an outbreak of peace. The armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, bringing the war to an end. Ike was severely disappointed, although in 1924 he was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal for his outstanding command of the camp, so that probably took some of the sting out of it.

The Eisenhowers left their Gettysburg home (seen at right) as Ike was sent to Fort Dix in New Jersey, and continued the itinerant life of a military family. Little Icky tragically died of scarlet fever in 1921 at the age of three; the following year, Mamie had a second son, John, who later became the United States ambassador to Belgium. Ike and Mamie never forgot how much they had loved living in Gettysburg in 1918, and after his retirement, they purchased that beautiful farm in the vicinity. You can actually see the farm at a short distance while touring the battlefield, that's how close it is, and visits can be arranged from the battlefield's visitors center. They both remained on that farm for the rest of their lives, and today it's the Eisenhower National Historic Site.

Ike was deeply involved with Gettysburg College after his retirement, receiving an honorary doctorate and serving on the board of trustees; the office where he wrote his memoirs is today the admissions building, with a statue of the President just outside. The PHMC marker, meanwhile, stands in front of the house at 157 North Washington Street. A plaque by the door commemorates Mamie's fond recollection of the place: "It was our first family home." It still belongs to the college; Alpha Tau Omega has moved to different quarters, and the columned house on Washington Street serves as the Eisenhower Institute. 

---

Sources and Further Reading:

Ambrose, Stephen. Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect (1893-1952). Simon & Schuster, New York, 1983.

Jackson, Brett. "Hidden in Plain Sight: The Columned Building: A Gettysburg Legacy." Gettysburg College, Fall 2006.

Official website of the Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College

National Parks Service website of the Eisenhower National Historic Site

Dwight D. Eisenhower at FindAGrave.com

Dwight D. Eisenhower at the Historical Marker Database

---

Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.