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According to park rangers, carving your name into a tree or stone is vandalism — but when does vandalism become protected? Maybe after 150 years!
On the stone wall above a window of a barn, the names and dates of soldiers from the 143rd Pennsylvania Infantry are still visible. Returning to the site where they once fought, the veterans left their mark in stone, transforming what was once a defacement into a treasured piece of Civil War history.
Apparently, the initials correspond to Jonas C. Tubbs and Singleton M. Goss, both veterans of Company F, 143rd Pennsylvania. The McPherson Barn itself is a survivor: during the Battle of Gettysburg it was pressed into service as a field hospital, and over time it fell into disrepair until the National Park Service restored it in 1978, using early battlefield photographs as reference. The barn is the only original structure remaining from Edward McPherson’s farmstead.
Know Before You Go
The carvings are on the south wall in stone above a first-floor window of the McPherson Barn — easy to miss if you don’t pause and look closely. The barn is part of Gettysburg National Military Park and can be viewed from the outside year-round, though interior access is restricted.
Published
October 22, 2025
