In Bel Air, on July 22, 1863, Margaret Webster Bissell sat down to write a memoir of her experiences relating to the Battle of Gettysburg and the search, in the days after the July 1863 battle, for her mortally wounded husband, Capt. William R. Bissell.
William Bissell was a prominent businessman who owned Bissell's Gover House, a prosperous inn on Bel Air's Main Street.
In 1861, he left Bel Air to join the 8th Virginia Infantry Regiment of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, under the command of Gen. George Pickett. Bissell participated in most of the division's battles from Bull Run to Fredericksburg. He was wounded in the thigh and shoulder during Pickett's Charge on July 3, 1863, in Gettysburg. Mrs. Bissel got word a week later of her husband's wounds, made an arduous journey to his side and was with him when he died of shock after an amputation on July 17.
Conditions for the wounded at the battle site were extremely primitive, though many had gone to Gettysburg to lend their aid, including Dr. E. Hall Richardson, Dr. Richard D. Lee and Dr. William S. Richardson from Bel Air. Many details of the time can be gathered from Margaret Bissell's memoir, which was donated to the Historical Society of Harford County.
William Bissell was buried at Gettysburg Presbyterian Church; his remains probably were later moved to Churchville. His monument is in the Churchville Presbyterian graveyard.
[Source: Harford Historical Bulletin, No. 60, Spring 1994; research: Harford County Public Library]