Matilda (Tillie) J. Pierce was born in Gettysburg in 1848 to James and Margaret Pierce. She would be 15 at the time of the battle. Her father was a butcher by trade and the family lived in comparative financial comfort. He married Tillie's mother in 1835 who was Margaret McCurdy of Gettysburg. Tillie had two brothers James and William and one sister Margaret A. Brother James was with Co K 1st PA reserves and William Co E 15th PA Cavalry, both survived the war. Her father's butcher shop was at the SW corner of S Baltimore and Breckridge Street. The original building is at 301-303 Baltimore Street. Tillie was attending in 1863 the "Young Ladies Seminary" at Gettysburg. On July 1,1863, Tillie Pierce left her home on Baltimore Street to accompany her neighbors to the Jakob Weikert farm several miles south of town, unaware that the second day's fighting would rage nearby at Little Round Top. In spite of her tender age of fifteen, Tillie Pierce assisted in nursing the wounded soldiers over the next several days, including Brig. General Stephen Weed and Col. William Colvill. In 1888, Tillie Pierce Alleman published one of the most comprehensive narratives of civilian experiences during the Battle of Gettysburg, AT GETTYSBURG, OR WHAT A GIRL SAW AND HEARD OF THE BATTLE.

She married Horace P. Alleman in 1871 who was a lawyer. They had 3 children and lived in Selinsgrove, PA. Tillie died in 1914 and is buried in Selinsgrove at the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery .

From her book:
"At last we reached Mr. Weikert's and were gladly welcomed to their home."

Tillie Pierce at the time of the battle:
"It was not long after our arrival, until Union artillery came hurrying by. It was indeed a thrilling sight. How the men impelled their horses! How the officers urged the men as they all flew past toward the sound of the battle! Now the road is getting all cut up; they take to the fields, and all is in anxious, eager hurry! Shouting, lashing the horses, cheering the men, they all rush madly on.

"Suddenly we behold an explosion; it is that of a caisson. We see a man thrown high in the air and come down in a wheat field close by. He is picked up and carried into the house. As they pass by I see his eyes are blown out and his whole person seems to be one black mass. The first words I hear him say are: 'Oh dear! I forgot to read my Bible to-day! What will my poor wife and children say'

"I saw the soldiers carry him up stairs; they laid him upon a bed and wrapped him in cotton. How I pitied that poor man! How terribly the scenes of war were being irresistibly portrayed before my vision."

Alleman Plot

Matilda (Tillie) J. Pierce Alleman

Detail of Matilda's monument