Winter Lecture Series 2023: The Great Reunion of 1913

In the summer of 1913, Pennsylvania invited thousands of Union and Confederate veterans to come to Gettysburg to observe and celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, what many considered to be the "High Water Mark the Rebellion". The response from veterans of the Blue and Gray was overwhelming - over 54,000 old soldiers journeyed to a battlefield skillfully transformed by a government commission into a memorial park, where the armies of both North and South would forever be memorialized. Critics scoffed that old enemies could never get along, the divisions that caused the war in 1861 having not been forgotten. But America was changing at home and abroad and those who chose to ignore this commemoration were surprised at its outcome. Was this "Great Reunion" finally the signal of national reunification so many had hoped for fifty years after the final shot had been fired?

[stephenhalley]

My grandpa's grandpa (Samuel Oiler) attended the reunion. He was wounded in the face and hip at Antietam. While recovering from these wounds at his father's farm in Cumberland County, PA, he travelled to Gettysburg to assist with burials and care for the wounded. Following his recovery, he enlisted in another Pennsylvania regiment and was again wounded at Petersburg in 1864-the same day Chamberlain received his grievous wound-and was transferred to the Veterans Reserve Corps. At the time of the reunion, he farmed in Iowa. The government declined his request for transport because he was not a combatant on the field. So he paid his own way to the affair. NEVER FORGET!

[JOE]

Your account of the veterans asking each other for tobacco or coffee is better understood if one remembers that this is exactly what happened, in those exact words, during the Civil War. The Rebs asked for coffee because the naval blockade had cut them off from obtaining coffee beans and the Yanks asked for tobacco because most of it was grown in the south.

[sicily]

I watched some of the footage from 75 year reunion. I find it amazing the last soldier from the Civil war Passed away after WWII ended; and today we have about 150K-200K WWII vets still alive and kicking as of today.

[akrish]

What about the black American Why are they not mentioned in this presentation? Its important to to include them as it was their freedom they were fighting for.
Just an honest discussion. We need to see all of it if we are to truly learn from it.