"Behind Every Good Gettysburg Monument"
©St. Louis Post-Dispatch - December 16, 2001

At 6 feet 10 1/2 inches, David van Buskirk of Bloomington, Ind., was believed to be the tallest man to fight in the Civil War. He was such a novelty that when he was captured by the Confederates, he was sent to Richmond, Va., and put on display like an attraction in an old freak show.

There is no monument at Gettysburg National Military Park to van Buskirk, but there is a monument to the regiment in which he served, the 27th Indiana Infantry. Over the years since the Battle of Gettysburg, monuments and markers have sprouted all over the battlefields around the town, and despite their cold, gray appearance, many have stories associated with them. Some are amusing, some peculiar, some heart-rending.

Leading a HistoryAmerica tour last month, battlefield guides Timothy H. Smith and Wayne E. Motts disclosed some of the stories behind the monuments.

Monument: 149th New York Infantry

Location: Culp's Hill

The monument to the 149th New York depicts a battle scene in which a color bearer is piecing together a broken flag staff. That color bearer was Sgt. William Lilly. He carried the regiment's flag during intense fighting on Culp's Hill at the right flank of the Union line.

When the fighting was over, 81 bullet holes were counted in the flag. But it was Lilly's resourcefulness and bravery under fire that endeared him to his fellow soldiers. During the battle, a bullet sliced the staff in two, and despite heavy fire, Lilly used slats from a cracker box and straps from a knapsack to splice the staff back together and place it back atop the regiment's breastworks.

Lilly survived Gettysburg but was mortally wounded three months later at Wauhatchie, Tenn. Just before he died, he shared his blanket with a shivering Confederate who also had been wounded.

Monument: Amos Hummiston

Location: in Gettysburg beside the Fire Hall

Hummiston, part of the 154th New York, was killed on the first day of the battle. Before dying, he pulled out a photo of his three children, and he was holding that photo when he died. In the Civil War, dead soldiers often went unidentified, but buttons on Hummiston's jacket identified him as a New York soldier. Copies of the photo were made and distributed to New York newspapers. It was while she was in a newspaper office that Hummiston's wife, Philinda, learned of his death. Later, Philinda took her children to Gettysburg and opened an orphanage for Civil War children.

Monument: statue of John Burns

Location: McPherson's Ridge

Burns was the only Gettysburg resident to come out and fight the Confederates when the battle began. He was wounded three times and captured. He could have been hanged for fighting as a civilian, or "bushwhacker," but he told the Confederates he had been out looking for a lost cow when he got wounded in the shooting.

"The Confederates let him go because they thought he was crazy," said the guide, Smith. "There's a thin line between bravery and insanity. Where were the smartest Gettysburg residents? Hiding in their basements."

Burns became a national celebrity after President Abraham Lincoln insisted on meeting him when he came to town to deliver the Gettysburg Address.

Burial marker: Capt. Nathan S. Messick

Location: Gettysburg National Cemetery

Messick's story reflects how dedicated to duty, honor and country many Civil War soldiers were. In February 1863, after serving in the Union army for two years, Messick was diagnosed with hepatitis. His regimental surgeon advised him to end his military service and go back to Minnesota and tend to his health.

Messick took a month's furlough to return home, where he had a wife and four daughters. At the end of the month, he rejoined his regiment. At Gettysburg, he was killed in the Union's repulse of Pickett's Charge.

"What would you people have done?" asked the guide, Motts. "You had an out. Would you have gone back to the war?"

Monument: 27th Indiana Infantry

Location: Spangler's Meadow, near the base of Culp's Hill

Six-foot-10 1/2 David van Buskirk was captured by the Confederates at Winchester, Va., in the spring of 1862. When he was taken to Richmond, he piqued the curiosity of the Confederacy's president, Jefferson Davis. When Davis asked if everyone in his family was so tall, van Buskirk replied that he had six sisters, and when he went off to war, all six came up and kissed him on the top of his head.

Davis wanted to put van Buskirk on public display in Richmond and charge admission, but he first asked van Buskirk's permission. Van Buskirk agreed, as long as he could have whatever he wanted to eat. By the time the Confederates released him back to the 27th Indiana in October, he was said to have weighed 400 pounds.

After the war, van Buskirk had a daughter, who was named Gettysburg.

Monument: marking the spot where Union Maj. Gen. Dan Sickles lost a leg

Location: next to Trostle Farm

On the second day at Gettysburg, Sickles made what proved to be a disastrous decision when he broke away from the Union line, positioning his corps of about 10,000 men in vulnerable spots in Devil's Den, the Wheatfield, the Peach Orchard and along Emmitsburg Road instead of on Little Round Top. Sickles suffered about 50 percent casualties, and he lost his right leg to amputation after being wounded.

Years later, Sickles returned and put up a monument to mark the spot where he'd been hit. His amputated leg was put on display in Washington and is now at the National Museum of Health and Medicine at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington.

"It doesn't get many visitors," Smith said.

Monument: 5th New Hampshire Infantry

Location: in woods at the edge of the Wheatfield

This monument marks the spot where Col. Edward Cross was killed. Before the second day's battle at Gettysburg, Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock reminded Cross that his promotion to brigadier general was imminent, saying, "Colonel, this is your last battle without a star." Cross, who had survived 12 battle wounds but often had a premonition of death before combat, replied, "No, this is my last battle." This time Cross was right.

Monument: Alabama State Memorial

Location: Seminary Ridge

The 15th Alabama Infantry was part of Gen. John Bell Hood's division, and it started its day on July 2, 1863, by arising at 2 a.m. and beginning a 25-mile march to Gettysburg at 3 a.m. By about 3:30 p.m., the regiment was in position on Seminary Ridge, and at 4 p.m. the Confederates' attack began. Part of the 15th Alabama was used in the assault on Little Round Top. With the soldiers tired, hot and thirsty, about 22 men were sent to the rear to refill about 400 canteens, but on the way back they got lost and were captured.

The 20th Maine routed the Alabamans on Little Round Top, at least in part because the 15th Alabama was simply worn out.

Statue: Union Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock

Location: Cemetery Hill

Hancock, one of the Union's most capable generals at Gettysburg, was instrumental in keeping the Federals' line intact on Cemetery Hill. He was married to a St. Louisan, Almira Russell, whom he had met while serving at Jefferson Barracks early in his military career. He and their daughter are buried in Hancock's hometown, Norristown, Pa. Almira is buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.

Statue: Confederate Gen. James Longstreet

Location: Seminary Ridge

It wasn't until 1998 that a statue of Longstreet, the second in command of the Southern army at Gettysburg, was placed on the battlefield. After the Civil War, Longstreet lost favor in the South when he served as ambassador to Turkey in the Ulysses S. Grant administration. He was considered too close to Grant, having served as the best man in his wedding before the war. He also lost favor for writing critically of Gen. Robert E. Lee's decision to order Pickett's Charge.

Although he has been portrayed more favorably in recent years, Longstreet was blamed by many Southerners for the defeat at Gettysburg. Battlefield guide Tim Smith believes Longstreet served as a scapegoat for Southerners who couldn't bring themselves to criticize Lee.

"There's no doubt that Longstreet was wronged by the South after the war," Smith said.

Monument: marking spot where first shot of battle was fired

Location: three miles west of Gettysburg along Marsh Creek

At 7:30 a.m. on July 1, Lt. Marcellius Jones of the 8th Illinois Cavalry fired the first shot of the Battle of Gettysburg. In 1887, Jones came back and put up a monument to himself to mark the spot. The marker now sits in the back yard of a home that happens to be for sale.

Monument: statue of Albert Woolson

Location: outside the Cyclorama Center near Cemetery Hill

Woolson, of Duluth, Minn., lived longer than any other surviving veteran of the Civil War. He was 109 years old when he died in 1956. Woolson had been a drummer boy in the Union army in the last year of the war.

"He was in the Civil War, and he lived to see cartoons on television," Smith said.

===

The Battle of Gettysburg

When: July 1-3, 1863

What happened: 150,000 Federal and Confederate troops converged on Gettysburg, Pa., for a battle that began with skirmishes between the armies' advance units.

At stake for the South: Seemingly invincible after a series of victories, Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had just begun an invasion of the North. A victory at Gettysburg could have ended the war in the South's favor.

At stake for the North: With the Civil War going so badly for the Army of the Potomac, it desperately needed a victory. Four days earlier, President Abraham Lincoln, frustrated by the failed leadership of three previous commanders, had put Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade in control of the army.

Battle's climax: On July 3, after failing to dislodge the Federals from their advantageous location on high ground, Lee ordered an attack in which 12,000 soldiers marched a mile across an open field to hit the Federals' center. The assault, which came to be known as Pickett's Charge, was a dismal failure; roughly half the attackers were killed, wounded or captured.

Total casualties for the battle: 51,000 (28,000 Confederates, 23,000 Federals). Copyright (C)2001, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Desoto Joe/The Record Man

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

MacLinks would like to take this opportunity to thank the St Louis Post-Dispatch and their staff for the preceding story. Their web site is located at: http://home.post-dispatch.com/

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"A link to Lincoln"
©St. Louis Post-Dispatch - December 16, 2001

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - * Each fall, HistoryAmerica Tours revisits two momentous events of 1863 -- the Gettysburg Address and the Battle of Gettysburg.

We know now that Abraham Lincoln sold himself woefully short when he started one of the 10 sentences that made up the Gettysburg Address by saying, "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here . . ."

The president had been asked to come to Gettysburg to offer "a few appropriate remarks" on Nov. 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery. So certain was he that he'd failed that when he returned to his chair, he remarked to an aide, "That speech won't scour" -- an expression referring to a plow whose blade won't come clean and do its job.

(Self-deprecation was a Lincoln trademark. When, during the Lincoln-Douglas debates, political foe Stephen Douglas accused him of being two-faced, Lincoln replied, "If I had another face, do you think I'd wear this one?")

We know now what Americans have known for generations -- that the two-minute speech delivered by Lincoln at Gettysburg was a masterpiece of vision, clarity and eloquence, "271 of the most sublime words ever uttered in the English language," says historian John C. Waugh, author of "Re-electing Lincoln: The Battle for the 1864 Presidency."

Though Lincoln would learn in the weeks that followed that his speech would indeed scour, he might be astonished to learn that 138 years later, Americans are so deeply moved by the Gettysburg Address that some of them plan their vacations around a celebration of it. Every year in the third week of November, HistoryAmerica Tours offers "Lincoln at Gettysburg," a three-day smorgasbord of insights into the nation's 16th president as well as the Battle of Gettysburg, which preceded Lincoln's address by 41/2 months.

Waugh, who is working on his fifth and sixth books about the Civil War era, was the principal historian on last month's tour. He was ably abetted by Frank Williams, chairman of the Lincoln Forum and chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Waugh made three 30-minute talks on Lincoln during the Nov. 17-19 tour. Williams spoke on Union Gen. George Gordon Meade and his role in the Army of the Potomac's victory over Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

With plenty of activity packed into three days, the HistoryAmerica tour delivered numerous highlights:

* On Nov. 19, the group attended the town's annual Dedication Day program at Gettysburg National Cemetery. This year's keynote speaker was U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, and he was followed to the lectern by James A. Getty, a Lincoln portrayer who recited the Gettysburg Address. The program, embellished by a color guard, brass band and the attendance of a dozen or more people in period dress, was capped by a soloist's inspiring rendition of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." The preceding night, the group attended the Lincoln Forum's annual dinner.

* On the evening of Nov. 19, the group assembled at its base, the deluxe Gettysburg Hotel, to hear a local musician play hammer dulcimer, banjo and button accordion and sing Civil War-era songs. The musician taught the group to sing the chorus of "We Are Coming, Father Abraham," a song that celebrated the enlistment of new recruits for the Union Army. The group then walked next door to the historic Wills House to serenade Lincoln, just as townsfolk did with that same song on the evening of Nov. 18, 1863, while Lincoln was in his room putting the finishing touches on the Gettysburg Address.

As the group sang, James A. Getty, the Lincoln portrayer, appeared at the same window of the Wills House where Lincoln did, said a few words and invited the group to join him upstairs. Getty then fielded questions from the group for a half-hour, all the while staying in character.

* The group spent two days touring the Gettysburg battlefields, each day with a different battlefield guide. The guides, Timothy H. Smith and Wayne E. Motts, are both historians and authors of books on the Civil War. They enthusiastically re-created the battle, discussed strategy, dispelled a few misconceptions created by the movie "Gettysburg" and offered opinions about some of the key figures at Gettysburg.

The chronological tours of the battlefields ended when the group re-enacted Pickett's Charge, the Confederates' disastrous assault of the well-entrenched Federals on the third and final day of the battle.

Doing something American

Crammed with history, "Lincoln at Gettysburg" is a tour that attracts people who have more than just a passing interest in Lincoln and the Civil War. Our group of 20 included travelers from all over the country, 14 of whom attended solo.

Among them was Bob Marecek, a 50-year-old librarian from Berwyn, Ill., who has been a Civil War buff most of his life and says he gets the urge every few years to take a Civil War vacation.

Nancy Gerstad, a physician from Chicago, had been considering a trip to Bali until Sept. 11, when she changed her mind and decided she "wanted to do something American, something patriotic."

Tony Trosley, a Roman Catholic priest from Champaign, Ill., has been interested in the Civil War since he was a boy growing up in Wood River. His trip to Gettysburg with HistoryAmerica was a gift from the parish staff and some parish organizations for his 50th birthday.

Born in Alton, Trosley says he was inspired as a youngster after learning about the Lincoln-Douglas debate in Alton, the town's Lovejoy Monument and the remains of the Confederate prison in Alton. He honed his interest in Lincoln while living in Springfield, Ill., for a few years.

"What I like about this trip is that in a very, very short period of time, we receive a very good presentation of the battle as it actually developed and the personalities involved," Trosley said. "You go see a lot and learn a lot, and by the end of the day I'd realize how much I'd taken in."

A double whammy

HistoryAmerica Tours was set to offer 31 different tours next year until it was hit with the double whammy of the Sept. 11 attacks and the demise of the steamboat Delta Queen when American Classic Voyages declared bankruptcy. Nine of the 31 tours had to be canceled -- including the one that began in St. Louis -- because they involved travel on the Delta Queen.

Pete Brown, who owns the Dallas-based HistoryAmerica Tours with his wife, Julia, has been scrambling to revise the 2002 schedule during a time when tour operators are suffering.

Brown was so happy to see 20 people show up in Gettysburg for last month's tour that he told the group on the first night, "I feel like embracing everyone I see who's willing to crawl out from under their beds and travel."

Brown, a history major in college, was in the construction business and living in Chicago when he saw the Ken Burns television series on the Civil War and was inspired to visit the Shiloh battlefield in Tennessee. That trip prompted him to make a career change at age 50.

"I came back with a vision of doing something like this," he said, "with good historians and walking the grounds, as our motto says, 'taking you where history happened.' "

He started in 1991, emphasizing Civil War sites, then expanding to the Indian Wars and cruises on American waterways. Early on, he did a tour in St. Louis that focused on the 1904 World's Fair.

Over the years Brown has enlisted such prominent historians as Ed Bearss, James McPherson and Gary Moulton. Bearss, featured prominently in Burns' Civil War series, is one of HistoryAmerica's biggest draws.

Looking on the bright side of things, Brown thinks the events of Sept. 11 will result in schools putting a renewed emphasis on American history, and he hopes to benefit from American travelers' shift from international travel to domestic travel.

"We had steady growth until Sept. 11," he said. "We're not different from any other tour company. There are people who are hesitant to travel.

"But we'll have our new brochure ready after Jan. 1. It'll have Uncle Sam on the cover, and it'll say 'We want you in 2002!' "

The Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it cannot forget what they did here.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.

-- Abraham Lincoln

Nov. 19, 1863

If you go

Getting there: Gettysburg, situated eight miles north of the Maryland line, is 55 miles northwest of Baltimore, 78 miles northwest of Washington and 118 miles west of Philadelphia.

HistoryAmerica Tours: This year's "Lincoln at Gettysburg" tour cost $1,195, double occupancy. The price included hotel, most meals and shuttle service to and from Washington's Dulles International Airport. Airfare was extra. Next year's tour, Nov. 15-20, has been expanded by a day.

Themes of next year's tours include the Revolutionary War, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Lewis and Clark and "antebellum West Point." For a complete list of tours, go to www.historyamerica.com or call 1-800-628-8542.

Guides: If you go to Gettysburg on your own, you can hire a licensed battlefield guide for a tour in your vehicle by going to the Visitor Center on Taneytown Road, across from Gettysburg National Cemetery. Rates begin at $40 for a two-hour tour; longer tours can be arranged. Guides cannot be reserved in advance except by groups of seven or larger.

While you're there: Besides attractions such as the Battle Theater, ghost tours and a wax museum, Gettysburg offers nonhistorical diversions. Golfers who'd like to take a break from history can find an exceptional course eight miles south of Gettysburg off Taneytown Road (the road on which Union Gen. George Gordon Meade marched his army into Gettysburg on July 1, 1863). The Links at Gettysburg opened in 1999 and features miniature cannons as tee markers. More information: 1-717-359-8000; http://www.thelinksatgettysburg.com.

More on Gettysburg: For information on Gettysburg National Military Park, call 1-717-334-1124 or go to http:// www.nps.gov/gett. For information on Gettysburg, call the Gettysburg Convention and Visitors Bureau at 1-717-334-6274 or go to http://www.gettysburg.com.

Desoto Joe/The Record Man

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

MacLinks would like to take this opportunity to thank the St Louis Post-Dispatch and their staff for the preceding story. Their web site is located at: http://home.post-dispatch.com/

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Would you like to add or become part of the MacLinks' Civil War Resource group? Please feel free to contact Dave at;   Maclizard@rogers.com.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *