Remembering the
Gettysburg Reunion of 1913
By: Calvin E. Johnson, Jr.
1064 West Mill Drive
Kennesaw, Georgia 30152
Phone: 770 428 0978
Do
you know who Gen. Robert Edward Lee, Major Gen. George Edward
Pickett and Major Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain were? Are
children still taught about these men and all those who met on
the famous War Between the States battlefield at Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania? Some call the Gettysburg Battlefield the most
haunted place in America as many thousands died on that fateful
month of July 1863.
The story of the Battle of
Gettysburg and 50th Anniversary Reunion would make
for a heart-warming and touching TV Historic mini-series or
Hollywood movie.
“Comrades and friends, these
splendid statues of marble and granite and bronze shall finally
crumble to dust, and in the ages to come, will perhaps be
forgotten, but the spirit that has called this great assembly of
our people together, on this field, shall live forever.”
-----Dr. Nathaniel D. Cox at 1913
Gettysburg Reunion
The summer heat of July 1913 did not
keep the old Confederate and Union Veterans from attending the
50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. It has
been written that over 50,000 sons of the North and South came
for what has been called the largest combined reunion of War
Between the States veterans.
The youngest veteran was reported to
be 61 and the oldest was 112 years young.
No one dared to criticize the United
States and Confederate flags that flew side by side at the
Gettysburg soldier’s reunion of honored men who had been enemies
on the field of battle just 50 years earlier. Some of today’s
politicians and people’s rights groups could learn something
from these grand old men of yesterday. Knowledge is Power!!
The State of Pennsylvania hosted the
1913 reunion at the insisting of state Governor John K. Tener.
Tener also encouraged other states to arrange rail
transportation for the participants. Down South in Dixie, the
United Daughters of the Confederacy helped raise money for the
transportation and uniforms for their Confederate veterans.
The soldiers of Blue and Gray, Black
and White, came with heads high and full of war stories. It is
written that the hosts did not count on Black Confederates
attending the meeting and had no place to put them but the White
Confederates made room for their Southern brothers. Black Union
veterans also attended this event.
It is written that nearly 700,000
meals were served that included fried chicken, roast pork
sandwiches, ice cream and Georgia watermelon. The temperature
soared to 100 degrees and almost 10,000 veterans were treated
for heat exhaustion and several hundred more were hospitalized.
The United States Army was also present in support and the old
men loved the attention.
A highlight of the reunion was the
Confederate Veterans walk on the path of Gen. George Pickett’s
charge that was greeted, this time, by a handshake from the
Union Veterans.
President Woodrow Wilson spoke to
those veterans with compassion and appreciation, and said, quote
“These venerable men crowding here to this famous field have set
us a great example of devotion and utter sacrifice. They were
willing to die that the people might live. But their task is
done. Their day is turned into evening. They look to us to
perfect what they have established. Their work is handed to us,
to be done in another way but not in another spirit. Our day is
not over; it is upon us in full tide.” Unquote
These men of Blue and Gray are gone
but let’s never forget them. God Bless!!
