A year ago, I was beginning to wonder what was going to become of our little tourist town. I know covid hit all of America hard, but Gettysburg seemed particularly vulnerable. Which made the first week of July 2021 all the more exhilarating. On June 30, I was at the Soldiers National Cemetery, gathered with others to decorate the graves, the hallowed ground quickly filled with red, white and blue. I was in the Pennsylvania section, taking notice of the names. One of these, Samuel Finnefrock, had been with the 142nd Pennsylvania, fighting in Chapman Biddle’s brigade. Just days earlier, our Round Table had been on either side of Willoughby Run following Biddle’s brigade on the first day of battle; if I understood what Licensed Battlefield Guide Larry Korczyk was telling us, Private Finnefrock may have advanced through my yard in Twin Lakes. Last summer was the first and only summer since 1957 that the Civil War Round Table of Gettysburg didn’t spend the season on the battlefield and it has been very good to be back.

I was on McPherson Ridge again Thursday, visiting the McPherson barn, open this day to the public. More memorable, perhaps, was interaction with “old John Burns” at his statue on Stone Avenue. Burns, of course, is famous for picking up his War of 1812 flintlock musket on July 1, 1863, and going west of town to fight the invader. I don’t know if the original John Burns was as loud and feisty as his reenactor, but this guy, a fellow septuagenarian, was a hoot.

There were many and various lectures and book signings going on around town, Round Table members Brad Gottfried, James Hessler, Leon Reed and Wayne Motts among the presenters. On Thursday night, actor Stephen Lang was at the Museum and Visitors Center. I’ve been a Stephen Lang fan back to when he co-starred with Dennis Farina on Crime Story, and Nancy and I were currently following him as Pickett in a four-night sequential viewing of Gettysburg. Lang appeared this evening as Medal of Honor recipient James Jackson Purman, who fought with the 140th Pennsylvania in the Wheatfield. Lang’s first-person account was from fifty years after the battle, focused not on his character’s personal heroism, but the courage of an “enemy” who risked his own life to save Purman’s.

When William Barksdale’s Mississippians came howling out of the woods on the afternoon of the second day, they charged past the residence of James Warfield, a free black man who made his living as a blacksmith in Gettysburg. The home of James, Eliza and their children has very recently been restored to its 1863 appearance; on Friday, visitors were invited inside. The exposed floor beams--original to the structure, I suppose--made a particular impression. The juxtaposition of the Warfield house and the Mississippi Monument, on either side of Millerstown Road, makes for what I consider one of the most dramatic places on the battlefield.

A year ago, I was very concerned about our local restaurants. Nancy and I ordered a lot of carry-out during the shutdowns, hoping to lend at least a little encouragement. More recently, of course, there’s been concern about sufficient numbers of wait staff. Downtown on Friday night, it was terrific to see so many people in the eateries. We were at Ping’s on Baltimore Street, enjoying great food and great service. Fun fact from the Round Table vaults: a presenter in 1974 told of least two “Chinamen” who fought here; one going into battle with the 14th Connecticut “wearing pig tails and a black Chinese hat and jacket with his uniform.”

Our July 3rd began at the Daniel Lady Farm. I’d been there the year previous, wanting to support the effort to salvage a reenactment. While giving the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association props for trying, the participation seemed…sparse. Not this year! The 2021 event was a Civil War Woodstock! Even my beloved, who’s not nearly so into battle stuff as I am, was impressed, and had a great time talking with reenactors come from many and various places. Our next stop was Unity Park to present a much-delayed Certificate of Round Table Appreciation to Carolyn Ivanoff, who earlier in the year had given us a Zoom talk on Clara Barton and the Missing Soldiers Office. We found Carolyn in full Clara period costume, and were delighted to engage in kind the face-to-face interaction that has been so missed in our covid-mandated exile from the G.A.R. If all goes as planned, we’ll be back there the 4th Thursday of September.

Of course, I made my annual July 3rd walk of Pickett’s Charge. At the Virginia Memorial, I heard Ranger Matt Atkinson tell of the hit the Gettysburg Foundation took during the shutdowns, leaders of the organization digging into their own pockets to see that the work went on. Wow.

Sunday morning, July 4, seemed like a good time to visit The Memorial Church of the Prince of Peace. The Episcopal church at Baltimore and High Streets was born of an 1888 initiative to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. An usher was kind enough to take me to the Tower Room, the walls of which are covered with memorial tablets, including one to my favorite general, O.O. Howard.

An exhilarating four days concluded watching fireworks from West Confederate Avenue, where the “bombs bursting in air” seemed to be from the mouth of the cannon in front of us.

Finally: I was at the Visitors Center Wednesday morning, thinking the crowds would have thinned. Not hardly. I was particularly impressed by the number of young families milling around. As Gettysburg recovered from the battle of 158 years past, so our town seems to be coming back strong from covid. This is very gratifying.

 
Bruce Davis
President
brdgettysburg@gmail.com