 Old soldiers of the North and South clasping hands over The Angle in fraternal affection | |
 Gettysburg battlefield during the anniversary celebration | |
| Location | Gettysburg National Military Park, Adams County, Pennsylvania in United States |
|---|---|
| Website | United States Department of War |
The1913 Gettysburg reunion was aGettysburg Battlefieldencampment ofAmerican Civil War veterans for theBattle of Gettysburg's 50th anniversary. The June 29 – July 4 gathering of 53,407 veterans (about 8,750 Confederate)[1] was the largest Civil War veteran reunion.[2] All honorably-discharged veterans in theGrand Army of the Republic and theUnited Confederate Veterans were invited, and veterans from 46 of the 48 states attended[3] (all exceptNevada andWyoming).[4][5]
Despite official concerns "that there might be unpleasant differences, at least, between the blue and gray"[6] (as after England'sWar of the Roses and theFrench Revolution),[7] the peaceful reunion was characterized by instances of Union–Confederate camaraderie.[8] PresidentWoodrow Wilson's July 4 reunion address summarized the spirit: "We have found one another again as brothers and comrades in arms, enemies no longer, generous friends rather, our battles long past, the quarrel forgotten—except that we shall not forget the splendid valor."[9]
After a number of smaller Gettysburg reunions, including the 1906Philadelphia Brigade-Pickett's Division reunion during which Brigadier GeneralLewis Armistead's captured sword was returned to the South,[10] in April 1908 GeneralHenry S. Huidekoper of Philadelphia suggested a 1913 50th anniversary reunion to Pennsylvania GovernorEdwin Sydney Stuart.[1]: 178 On September 8,[11]: '13 theGettysburg National Park Commission met with Gettysburg borough officials about the event. Stuart held a sub-committee meeting on October 25, and addressed the General Assembly about the matter in January 1909.[1]: 178
On May 13, 1909, the Pennsylvania Assembly created the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg Commission.[12] The commission's "first tentative programme" of October 13, 1910[11]: '13 included a "Peace Jubilee", with a noon July 3 placement of the cornerstone for a "Great Peace Memorial".[1]: 173 The August 26, 1912, US Congress bill appropriated $150,000 and directed theWar Department to establish the camp.[1]: 181 Because the memorial funding was not approved, the Peace Jubilee plans were removed from the schedule.
The site of the camp and the 8 acres (3.2 ha) for the Great Tent, west of the Codori House, were selected in 1912 and mapped by the Gettysburg National Park Commission.[11]: '14 The commission also painted avenue fencing, gun carriages, iron tablets, pyramids, and shells from 1912 through June 30, 1913.[11]: '14 On April 13, 1913, the Pennsylvania commission completed thePennsylvania State Memorial[13] and mailed invitations to 40,000 veterans.[1]: 22 On June 28, PresidentWoodrow Wilson notified the Pennsylvania commission that he would attend the reunion for a "very limited period".[1]: 173 The 33 contributing states provided a total of $1,033,000 for the reunion, with $450,000 coming from Pennsylvania.[1]: 228
The Pennsylvania commission headquarters at Gettysburg was at 231 Baltimore Street,[1]: 22 with the Harrisburg office of the Secretary (later nicknamed the "Duke of Gettysburg")[14] inPennsylvania State Capitol's Room 509. Commemorative tokens and programs were designed for attendees, including three types of Pennsylvania badges ("Press", "Guest", and "Scout"), a commemorative medal,[15]: 8 and a souvenir program of poems by attending "Veteran Scout"Jack Crawford.[16] ThePennsylvania Railroad added "a telephone line between Gettysburg and Hanover along theWestern Maryland Railway, over which the Pennsy [would] operate a large number of trains during the battle anniversary".[17]: 1 On theChambersburg-Gettysburg turnpike and the Gettysburg-Petersburg turnpike, tolls ended for the reunion. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the 1911 Sproul Roads Act on June 27, enabling the Commonwealth to acquire private toll roads and make them free for the public.[14]: 1 [relevant?]
Water wells were being drilled for the July encampment by February 1, 1913,[15]: 7 and hotels in Hanover, Chambersburg, Hagerstown, and "the Blue Ridge section [were] filling rapidly" by June 26.[18] For entertainment, a Gettysburg facility was established in 1912 to display the Boston version of theGettysburg Cyclorama and theEncyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History;The Battle of Gettysburg, anow-lost film, first played at Walter's Theatre on June 26.[18] Local planning for the reunion included expanding the Gettysburg hackman tax to automobiles[19] (upheld by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1914), a 50-cent maximum for taxi fares in the borough,[20] and a request from a few Missouri veterans for "a few good widows or old maids ... good housekeepers and not too young" to go west after the reunion. (The "kind-hearted mayor", J. A. Holtzworth, agreed to forward photos to the veterans in the "Cupid ... operations".)[21]
The War Department's Great Camp (Gettysburg Encampment, Anniversary Camp, or Veterans Camp)[1]: 40, 71, 87, 91 provided tents and support facilities for the Civil War veterans and extended from both sides ofLong Lane on the north to within 500 yd (460 m) of the Bliss House.[22] The Great Camp included the Great Tent (Big Tent, measuring 200 ft × 450 ft [61 m × 137 m])[11]: '14 "with its thirteen thousand chairs"; the veterans' tents; quarters for 1,466 War Department soldiers (including camp commander General Liggitt) and 2,179 mess personnel; 385 camp Boy Scouts from Washington, and other camp personnel for a total of 57,198 "persons quartered and subsisted in the Great Camp".[1]: 40 The camp had a temporary U. S. Post Office;[1]: 84b 90 Pennsylvania Health Department latrines throughout the camp, with a seating capacity of 3,476;[23]: 58 and (near the Great Tent) an emergency station and two health-department Comfort Houses which supplied the Great Tent water fountains.[24]: 75 The Pennsylvania commission set up a temporary morgue in the camp.[23]: 56 A special platform on theRound Top Branch was built for veterans to disembark from steam trains into the camp;[17] in February, trolleys of theGettysburg Electric Railway had been prohibited from using the branch.[15]
After the state health department's chief engineer estimated that Gettysburg (with a population of 4,500) would be inundated with 100,000 people, the borough accepted the commissioner of health's request for his department to take over medical and sanitation efforts in the area from June 25 to July 25.[24]: 75 The department set up a field hospital on the Kurtz property facing Brickyard Lane on the north foot of EastCemetery Hill and six comfort stations in the borough: one at eachrailroad station.[24]: 82 The department tested borough wells and mitigated contamination sources upstream from thewater-works supply onMarsh Creek. The American Red Cross Society and 72 additional Boy Scouts operated fourteen 7 ft × 7 ft (2.1 m × 2.1 m) relief stations for first aid and rest on the battlefield-park roads.[23]: 55 Gettysburg's Tuberculosis Dispensary was also used as a relief station.[24]: 86
Attached to the Great Camp were a battery of the Third United States Field Artillery and several companies of regular infantry.[11]: '14 Companies A-D (14 officers and 285 men)[11] of theFifteenth United States Cavalry arrived on June 26 to guard the battlefield,[11]: '13 camping west ofSeminary Ridge on the Hagerstown Road.[17] A "model Camp" for a Pennsylvania cavalry squadron was on the "College Athletic Field" adjoining the commission's headquarters.[1]: 52 A total of 527 people were quartered at theLutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg andPennsylvania College (renamed Gettysburg College in 1921), including the Pennsylvania Gettysburg Commission, four troops of the Pennsylvania State Police, and (in tents) Governor Tener's staff.[1]: 49 Additional nearby encampments included the leased Newspaper Row ("Meadeboro") for 155 journalists north ofGettysburg National Cemetery,[1]: 40 an encampment of 30 Boy Scouts nearCashtown (west of Gettysburg) for traveler services on the Chambersburg-Gettysburg Pike,[25]: 5 and Philadelphia and BaltimoreSalvation Army members encamped at Stonesifer's Grove inBiglerville.[26]
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The commission planned a four-day series of events, with each day dedicated to a different group. Anticipating that some veterans might arrive early (especially those traveling a long distance), the Great Camp was opened for supper on June 29.Pennsylvania veterans who attended the state reunion, which adjourned on June 28, made up most of the over 21,000 arrivals that day.[17] Other veterans arriving early included two Confederate veterans ofCulp's Hill, who arrived on June 26.[18] Captain McCaskey of the Quartermasters Corps had estimated that 6,000 men might arrive on June 29, and temporarily struggled with shortages of food and supplies.[1]: 52 [17] Some veterans left without staying another night. On June 30, the 1912 base of theVirginia Monument was dedicated; the rest of the monument was completed later.[8]
About 12,000 veterans had already left on July 2, and about the same number on July 3.[28] During the evening of July 2 at the Hotel Gettysburg. W. B. Henry (a Southerner living in Philadelphia) uttered a "vile epithet" about PresidentAbraham Lincoln and caused an argument at his table. A Union man threw his drink at Henry, who stabbed and slashed men at the table and on his way out to the street before he was apprehended.[31] The Virginia governor spoke to officials on behalf of Henry, and his father (a Confederate major) posted bail for his son.[31] The victims (all but one of whom were taken to a hospital) were all expected to recover, and most were released from the hospital the next day.[31]
Dismantling of the Great Camp began immediately after the July 4 tribute. The hospital closed on July 5, and the last veteran left on July 8. The annual military instructional camp (250 college students)[32] used several tents in the veterans' camp[11]: '14 at the "Meadeboro" camp (Newspaper Row) from July 7 to August 15.[33] The quartermaster headquarters on Baltimore Street closed on August 13, and by August 15 the Grand Camp had been removed except for "four great water storage reservoirs". A film,United at Gettysburg, documented the reunion and was shown at local theaters.[34] Lt. Col. Lewis E. Beitler, Secretary of the Commission, finished compiling the organizations' reports on December 31, 1913.[1]: 178 To commemorate the reunion, a colonialportico was opened in May 1914 at the seminary's Old Dorm;[35] only the concrete base remains.[36]
The Congressional committee used the name "Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg", but other organizations and officials used numerous other names:
· Celebration of the Semi-Centenary of the Civil War
· Gettysburg Celebration · Reunion Celebration at Gettysburg
· Gettysburg Reunion · Gettysburg Peace Reunion
· Great Peace Reunion · Great Peace Jubilee · Golden Jubilee
· Great Reunion · Grand Reunion · Blue and Gray Reunion
and, in a souvenir program of poems, Grand Reunion of the Blue and the Gray on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.[16]
Pennsylvanians made up the bulk of them: 22,103 to be exact, 303 of whom were Confederate veterans. Yet men came from all but 2 of the 48 states.
Yesterday afternoon … the dedication of the Lee uncompleted[Virginia] monument took place.
The youngest veteran known to have been at the camp was 61 years of age. The oldest alleged that he was 112 years.(p. 60)
