The Confederates had entered Pennsylvania a few days earlier before one brigade ventured toward Gettysburg on Tuesday June 30th to search for supplies in the town. Once there they noticed arriving Union cavalry south of town. The Confederates returned to nearby Cashtown, thus postponing the first Gettysburg engagement till the following morning.
The cache page coordinates are for a nearby overflow parking area, on the wrong side of a sometime busy road, but it does have the best visual sight line to spot oncoming traffic before crossing the road. Then there is a sidewalk to follow all the way to GZ. Do not park directly on the main road. There are other options, but cemetery parking and access is limited to daytime only.
Another road crossing required option has a less desirable sight line of traffic flow. Be very careful if you have to cross the road at any time. Remember that an approach through or from the cemetery during daylight hours avoids having to cross the road. Since the cache is NOT on cemetery property, it is possible to log it at night. The cemetery is off limits after dark, so don't park there then. The main road should have less traffic at night. This is a guardrail cache. The guardrail is separated from the road by a sidewalk. It is within 100 feet of a reasonably wide vehicle access point to the cemetery. There are quite a few cemetery access points for vehicles. The only reason this cache is a Puzzle is to to make sure you read the page.
ALL THE INFORMATION NEEDED TO SOLVE THIS "PUZZLE" IS RIGHT HERE ON THE CACHE PAGE.
Cache is hidden at N40 19.ABC W75 53.DEF
ABC = (John’s birth year) minus (1000) minus (the single digit position number of William A. Lewis on the list of Civil War Veterans wounded or killed during the war)
DEF = (total number of Civil War Vets buried in Aulenbach) plus (number of tombstones toppled by vandals) plus (the Heavy Artillery Regiment number John joined as a Corporal) minus (three times John’s age when he died) minus (date in April that John mustered into Company H as a Private)
I decided to do a little research to see if I could find the grave of any Berks County veteran that died in 1863 during the Civil War. I found one. I will let John represent all the Soldiers and Sailors that died in the war. I went online looking for a candidate cemetery. There are quite a few in Berks County holding Civil War Veterans. I came across a news report that the week of Christmas last year, 317 tombstones were toppled and desecrated by vandals at Aulenbach Cemetery on Perkiomen Avenue in Mount Penn. A few of the knocked over tombstones were for Civil War Veterans. That was why I decided to conduct my physical search here, and eventually found John. Some good has come out of the vandalism though. Because of it several offers of volunteer help to restore and maintain the cemetery were received.
The oldest headstones for graves identifiable as GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) are not very legible. The ones I could read were identifying veterans who had survived their time in service, dying years after the war. I finally found a stone marked for John B. Eisenbise Born: 1836 – Died: 1863. Is it possible a stone in such good condition could be 150 years old, or is it a replacement headstone? Go visit John at N40 19.734 W75 53.790 and see for yourself.
I do not know where John died, but out of 522 total Civil War Vets buried in Aulenbach, his name is recorded on a list of 15 actually wounded or killed during the war. They are: William Roland, John Christ, Cyrus S. Anthony, William B. Hoffmaster, Henry Hyneman, William A. Lewis, John Moyer, William Hafer, D. Jackson Guldin, Florentine H. Straub, James J. Fisher, James J. Weidner, Samuel J. Field, John B. Eisenbise and Samuel P. Reed.
John was recruited in Reading and mustered into the Army on April 20, 1861 as a Private into Company H 5th Regiment Light Infantry for 3 months. He came out of that service as a Corporal. He then entered into service again with Battery K 3rd Heavy Artillery 152nd Regiment retaining his previous rank of Corporal. If there are any Civil War historians who can find a better account of John’s service, please share. If anyone spots the headstones of any more of the Veterans on the list, let me know. I would include those waypoints here as well.
I will occasionally revisit myself to look, and and do what I can to straighten any veterans Flag that is not standing as tall as it should be. There were a few crooked Flags this year. The Flags go up shortly before Memorial Day and will stay there at least through the 4th.
