View is of the stone house located just west of Gettysburg on the Chambersburg Road which General Lee used as a headquarters site during the battle of Gettysburg. At the time the building was occupied by the widow Thompson. Image was taken with the camera on the Chambersburg Pike facing north. Visible in the foreground is a white board fence that stood between the house and the road. Next there is a white picket fence that surrounded the house itself. This fence shows much damage with broken and missing slats.

Image is clear with good contrast and is mounted on heavy yellow stock. One end of the card is marked with “STEREO GEMS OF GETTYSBURG SCENERY” while the other edge bears the Tipton mark. Bottom of mount has caption that reads “NO. 573-GEN. LEE’s HEADQUARTERS, WEST OF GETTYSBURG.”

Reverse of image bears a postmark like stamp that reads “GETTYSBURG PA JULY 1, 2, 3, G.H.B.”

The stone building which houses Lee’s Headquarters Museum was originally built in the early 1830s by Michael Clarkson, a prominent Gettysburg businessman, and later Superintendent of the Gettysburg extension of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Clarkson apparently rented the property to the Widow Mary Thompson, who, along with Clarkson, was served an eviction notice in 1844, after Clarkson fell on hard financial times. Mrs. Thompson, however, was granted a reprieve in the person of Thaddeus Stevens, a leading Adams County citizen at the time and later Radical Republican leader in the US Congress, who purchased the house in trust for her. Although Mary never paid her entire debt to Stevens, she was listed as the property owner in local tax records.

At the time of the battle of Gettysburg in 1863, Mary Thompson was the sole resident of the house along the Chambersburg Pike. “On the crest of the Seminary Ridge, where the Chambersburg turnpike crosses it, there stands…a one-story-and-a-half stone dwelling, occupied by Mrs. Thompson. On Wednesday evening (July 1, 1863), after our men had been compelled to fall back and retire to Cemetery Hill, this house was within the Rebel lines. Occupying an elevated position from which the Federal lines could be seen with a field-glass, and being at a safe distance from our guns, it was selected by General Lee and his staff as his head-quarters. Here he lodged all night and took his meals, whilst during the day he was engaged in inspecting his lines, and perfecting his arrangements. (Michael Jacobs, Pennsylvania College professor, for The United States Service Magazine, January 1864).

Mary Thompson died in 1873, and the house remained part of the estate of Thaddeus Stevens until December 15, 1888, when it was purchased by Philip Hennig, who owned a bakery on York St. in Gettysburg. On the evening of August 26, 1896, the house caught fire and the inside of the structure was completely destroyed.  Luckily, Hennig had insurance on the home, and was able to restore the structure to its pre-fire condition.  Hennig rented the house to tenants, one of whom was charged with operating a bawdy house there in 1907. When Hennig died in 1918, ownership of the house passed to his widow, Susan, who sold it to Clyde F. Daley on July 13, 1921. The following notice appeared in a local newspaper at the time:

Headquarters of General Lee Sold. Repairs are underway on the building just west of the borough limits on Buford street, known as the headquarters of General Lee during the battle of Gettysburg, by C. F. Daly, manager of the Five and Ten Cent Store, who recently purchased the property and one across the Lincoln Highway from it, from Mrs. Susan Hennig. Mr. Daly will open a curio and souvenir shop in the front of the building. His family will move there next spring.

Clyde Daley, not a Gettysburg native, was married to Miriam Trimmer, the daughter of Samuel Trimmer, who originally owned the five and ten cent store. Daley operated a one-room curio shop out of his home in the Thompson House, as well as the Lee Campground across the street. Along the way, Daley, with help from his father-in-law Samuel Trimmer, amassed a large enough collection of items relating to the Civil War and the Battle of Gettsyburg that he opened four rooms of the house as the Lee Museum. Most of these items were donated by local citizens and veterans, as well as veterans from other areas of the country who returned to visit the battlefield, or purchased from local collections and estates. The vast majority of these items were connected to the Battle of Gettysburg, although some were from other fields, and noted as such.

In 1945, Daley retired to Florida, but not before selling the property and the museum collection to Eric F. Larson. Larson, originally born in Sweden, had purchased the Dustman house, across the Chambersburg Pike from the Thompson House, and converted it into a tourist home. Larson, who was one of the early licensed battlefield guides, converted the campground into a motel and continued to operate the Museum just as Daley had left it. The Museum was renovated in 1950, and over the next three decades some items from the collection were de-accessioned by Mr. Larson, although the bulk of it remained intact.  Mr. Larson continued to operate the Museum until January of 1995, when he sold the property and collection to its current owners, the Monahan family of Gettysburg. In the late 1990’s the Monahan family downsized the museum selling many items through the Horse Soldier and at auction. In 2014 The Civil War Trust purchased the property with the goal of restoring the building to its 1863 appearance and eventually transferring ownership to Gettysburg National Military Park. Some of the remaining items were sold and a number were donated to The Civil War Trust to dispose of as they saw fit.

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