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The 1913 Gettysburg reunion was a
Gettysburg Battlefield The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the site of the first shot & at Knoxlyn Ridge ...
encampment of
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
veterans for the
Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was a three-day battle in the American Civil War, which was fought between the Union and Confederate armies between July 1 and July 3, 1863, in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle, won by the Union, ...
's 50th anniversary. The June 29July 4 gathering of 53,407 veterans (about 8,750 Confederate) was the largest Civil War veteran reunion. All honorably-discharged veterans in the
Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (United States Navy, U.S. Navy), and the United States Marine Corps, Marines who served in the American Ci ...
and the United Confederate Veterans were invited, and veterans from 46 of the 48 states attended (all except
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and
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). Despite official concerns "that there might be unpleasant differences, at least, between the blue and gray" (as after England's
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and the French Revolution), the peaceful reunion was characterized by instances of Union–Confederate camaraderie. President
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
'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."


Planning

After a number of smaller Gettysburg reunions, including the 1906
Philadelphia Brigade The Philadelphia Brigade (also known as the California Brigade) was a Union Army brigade that served in the American Civil War. It was raised primarily in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with the exception of the 106th regiment which cont ...
- Pickett's Division reunion during which Brigadier General Lewis Armistead's captured sword was returned to the South, in April 1908 General Henry S. Huidekoper of Philadelphia suggested a 1913 50th anniversary reunion to Pennsylvania Governor Edwin Sydney Stuart. On September 8, the Gettysburg 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. On May 13, 1909, the Pennsylvania Assembly created the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg Commission. The commission's "first tentative programme" of October 13, 1910 included a "Peace Jubilee", with a noon July 3 placement of the cornerstone for a " Great Peace Memorial". The August 26, 1912, US Congress bill appropriated $150,000 and directed the War Department to establish the camp. Because the memorial funding was not approved, the Peace Jubilee plans were removed from the schedule. The site of the camp and the for the Great Tent, west of the Codori House, were selected in 1912 and mapped by the Gettysburg National Park Commission. The commission also painted avenue fencing, gun carriages, iron tablets, pyramids, and shells from 1912 through June 30, 1913. On April 13, 1913, the Pennsylvania commission completed the Pennsylvania State Memorial and mailed invitations to 40,000 veterans. On June 28, President
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
notified the Pennsylvania commission that he would attend the reunion for a "very limited period". The 33 contributing states provided a total of $1,033,000 for the reunion, with $450,000 coming from Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania commission headquarters at Gettysburg was at 231 Baltimore Street, with the Harrisburg office of the Secretary (later nicknamed the "Duke of Gettysburg")
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's Room 509. Commemorative tokens and programs were designed for attendees, including three types of Pennsylvania badges ("Press", "Guest", and "Scout"), a commemorative medal, and a souvenir program of poems by attending "Veteran Scout" Jack Crawford. The
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added "a telephone line between Gettysburg and Hanover along the
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, over which the Pennsy
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operate a large number of trains during the battle anniversary". On the Chambersburg-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. Water wells were being drilled for the July encampment by February 1, 1913,
Gettysburg Times, Feb 1)
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filling rapidly" by June 26. For entertainment, a Gettysburg facility was established in 1912 to display the Boston version of the ''
Gettysburg Cyclorama ''The Battle of Gettysburg'', also known as the Gettysburg Cyclorama, is a cyclorama painting by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux depicting Pickett's Charge, the climactic Confederate attack on the Union forces during the Battle of Gettys ...
'' and the '' Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History''; ''
The Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was a three-day battle in the American Civil War, which was fought between the Union army, Union and Confederate States Army, Confederate armies between July 1 and July 3, 1863, in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylva ...
'', a now-lost film, first played at Walter's Theatre on June 26. Local planning for the reunion included expanding the Gettysburg hackman tax to automobiles (upheld by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1914), a 50-cent maximum for taxi fares in the borough, 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".)


Facilities

The War Department's Great Camp (Gettysburg Encampment, Anniversary Camp, or Veterans Camp) provided tents and support facilities for the Civil War veterans and extended from both sides of Long Lane on the north to within of the Bliss House. The Great Camp included the Great Tent (Big Tent, measuring ) "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". The camp had a temporary U. S. Post Office; 90 Pennsylvania Health Department latrines throughout the camp, with a seating capacity of 3,476; (p. 60) and (near the Great Tent) an emergency station and two health-department Comfort Houses which supplied the Great Tent water fountains. The Pennsylvania commission set up a temporary morgue in the camp. A special platform on the Round Top Branch was built for veterans to disembark from steam trains into the camp; in February, trolleys of the Gettysburg Electric Railway had been prohibited from using the branch. 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. The department set up a field hospital on the Kurtz property facing Brickyard Lane on the north foot of East
Cemetery Hill Cemetery Hill is a landform on the Gettysburg Battlefield that was the scene of fighting each day of the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863). The northernmost part of the Army of the Potomac defensive " fish-hook" line, the hill is gent ...
and six comfort stations in the borough: one at each
railroad station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing such ...
. The department tested borough wells and mitigated contamination sources upstream from the water-works supply on Marsh Creek. The American Red Cross Society and 72 additional Boy Scouts operated fourteen relief stations for first aid and rest on the battlefield-park roads. Gettysburg's Tuberculosis Dispensary was also used as a relief station. Attached to the Great Camp were a battery of the Third United States Field Artillery and several companies of regular infantry. Companies A-D (14 officers and 285 men) "''The United States land on the battlefield is used by the Quartermaster's Department for camp site No. 1. Part of the farm (formerly Codori) of William F. Redding, lessee, approximately 28 acres, also tract (formerly Barrett heirs) and part of the farm (formerly McMillan), both properties rented to the Quartermaster Corps, U.S.A., by O. D. McMillan, 56 acres; a total of 84 acres.''" (1913 report) "''The Pennsylvania Commission, a congressional committee, and State representatives, composing a joint commission. They have had various meetings as the work developed. The first meeting was held in Gettysburg at the courthouse October 13, 1910, noted in the annual report for 1911. There were other meetings held elsewhere. A meeting was held at Gettysburg December 13, 1912, at Hotel Gettysburg. The next meeting was held at the Union League, Philadelphia, January 23, 24, and 25, 1913. ... This great project, which was inaugurated September 8, 1908, by the chairman of the Gettysburg National Park Commission''" (after the April 1908 idea of General Henry S. Huidekoper) of the Fifteenth United States Cavalry arrived on June 26 to guard the battlefield, camping west of Seminary Ridge on the Hagerstown Road. A "model Camp" for a Pennsylvania cavalry squadron was on the "College Athletic Field" adjoining the commission's headquarters. A total of 527 people were quartered at the
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (Gettysburg Seminary) was a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Gettysburg (; ) is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Adams County, Pen ...
and Pennsylvania 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. Additional nearby encampments included the leased Newspaper Row ("Meadeboro") for 155 journalists north of Gettysburg National Cemetery, an encampment of 30 Boy Scouts near Cashtown (west of Gettysburg) for traveler services on the Chambersburg-Gettysburg Pike, and Philadelphia and Baltimore
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members encamped at Stonesifer's Grove in Biglerville.


Events

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. Other veterans arriving early included two Confederate veterans of
Culp's Hill Culp's Hill,. The modern U.S. Geographic Names System refers to "Culps Hill". which is about south of the center of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, played a prominent role in the Battle of Gettysburg. It consists of two rounded peaks, separated b ...
, who arrived on June 26. 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. Some veterans left without staying another night. On June 30, the 1912 base of the Virginia Monument was dedicated; the rest of the monument was completed later. About 12,000 veterans had already left on July 2, and about the same number on July 3. During the evening of July 2 at the Hotel Gettysburg. W. B. Henry (a Southerner living in Philadelphia) uttered a "vile epithet" about President
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
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. The Virginia governor spoke to officials on behalf of Henry, and his father (a Confederate major) posted bail for his son. 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. 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) used several tents in the veterans' camp at the "Meadeboro" camp (Newspaper Row) from July 7 to August 15. 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. Lt. Col. Lewis E. Beitler, Secretary of the , finished compiling the organizations' reports on December 31, 1913. To commemorate the reunion, a colonial
portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...
was opened in May 1914 at the seminary's Old Dorm; only the concrete base remains.''The Hospital on Seminary Ridge at the Battle of Gettysburg''
McFarland & Company, 2002


See also

* *
Historical reenactment Historical reenactment (or re-enactment) is an educational entertainment, educational or entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history enthusiasts dress in historical uniforms and follow a plan to recreate aspects of a histor ...


References


Further reading

* Flagel, Thomas R. (2019). ''War, Memory, and the 1913 Gettysburg Reunion.'' Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, . * * Hopkins, John L. (2024). ''The World Will Never See the Like: The Gettysburg Reunion of 1913''. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, {{DEFAULTSORT:Gettysburg reunion 1913 in Pennsylvania June 1913 in the United States July 1913 in the United States Pennsylvania historical anniversaries American Civil War anniversaries Reunion Woodrow Wilson Reunions United Confederate Veterans