Abraham Bryan, or Brian was a free black man who owned a farm on Cemetery Ridge at the time of the Battle of Gettysburg near the High Water Mark of the Confederacy. During the battle, Bryan and several other blacks left the area to avoid capture and enslavement. Federal troops positioned around the Bryan House and barn were assaulted by Confederate troops under the command of J. Johnston Pettigrew. The small farm was the target of an attack by Mississippi troops. When Bryan returned after the battle he discovered his house was nearly destroyed; its walls filled with bullet holes, windows broken, and furniture tossed about. His fences were gone, crops trampled, and his orchard trees were useless. Bryan assisted in the reburial of Union soldiers and received $1/body, which were reinterred in the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Later, Bryan filed a claim with the Federal government for damages to his property totalling $1,028 and received $15 as compensation for damage by Union troops.
Bryan had purchased the farm in 1857 just south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and his wife died soon after (he had five children). He then married a third wife.
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