History & local legend
Captain William Edward Miller of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry earned the Medal of Honor for his actions at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. Without waiting for orders, he led his squadron against the flank of a Confederate column, disrupting the attack. He survived the war, died in 1919 and was buried in Gettysburg National Cemetery.
In a ghost story collected by Mark Nesbitt, Miller’s spirit began appearing in the cemetery at night. The explanation was an omission on his gravestone: it did not acknowledge his Medal of Honor. Once the inscription was changed to recognize the award, the sightings supposedly ended.
