In the summer of 1913, a journalist on assignment for The Indianapolis News traveled to Pennsylvania for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. While there, he overheard a colleague ask one of the Union veterans in attendance why he had made the trip.
Library of CongressA Union and Confederate veteran bid each other goodbye.
The old man replied that while it had taken some effort to convince himself and his wife that doing so was wise, in the end he couldn’t resist. “This is most likely the last chance I’ll have to do anything for the Union, and I’d like to do it fifty years from the time the Union was saved,” he explained. “It’s going to mean something to all the younger generation to have us old fellows get together and show there isn’t any hard feeling…. It’s a duty we owe the country, about the last we can fill….”
This aging veteran was hardly alone in his desire to attend the commemoration. In the end, the four days of events—which had taken over four years to plan and involved thousands of military and civilian volunteers—attracted over 50,000 former Union and Confederate soldiers, in addition to throngs of civilians and politicians (among them President Woodrow Wilson) eager to meet and celebrate the old troops, who ranged in age from 61 to 112.
In this issue’s cover story, “Reunion at Gettysburg” (p. 26), we use photographs to tell the story of the massive affair, where veterans made peace with old enemies, reminisced with old comrades, and—perhaps above all—helped promote a narrative of renewed American strength through the healing of old sectional wounds. As one Confederate veteran who spoke at the event put it, “I am more than half a thousand miles from my home, but all the same I am at home. In this land everywhere is my home…. America … belongs to us all, whether we be men of the North or men of the South….”
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