War of 1812 Veteran Fought at Battle of Gettysburg-- Part 5: John Burns' Statue

John Burns became a national hero after the battle.  When President Abraham Lincoln stopped in Pennsylvania to deliver his Gettysburg Address he asked to speak with Burns and met him at his home.  Burns was also photographed and even a poem written about him (see last post).

A statue of John Burns was erected on the Gettysburg Battlefield and still stands today.

Am inscription of the base of the statue reads:  "My thanks are specially due to a citizen of Gettysburg named John Burns who although over seventy years of age shouldered his musket and offered his services to Colonel Wister One Hundred and Fiftieth Pennsylvania Volunteers. 

"Colonel Wister advised him to fight in the woods as there was more shelter there but he preferred to join our line of skirmishers in the open fields when the troops retired he fought with the Iron Brigade.  He was wounded in three places."

These words were from the official report of Union General Doubleday.

Quite the Character.  --Brock-Perry

War of 1812 Veteran Fought at Gettysburg-- Part 4

We're talking about John Burns, of course.

Burns got rid of his rifle and buried his ammunition before passing out. When he came to, he was among the Confederates and tried to convince them that he was just an old man trying to find help for his aged wife, but this account varies depending upon who you read.

He survived his wounds and lived another nine years.

The Battle of Gettysburg turned out to be a major turning point of the war and the hopes of the South to form their own country faded after that.

As the poem "John Burns of Gettysburg," written after the war by Francis Bret Harte, goes:

"So raged the battle.  You know the rest.  How the rebels, beaten and backward pressed, broke at the final charge and ran.  At which John Burns -- a practical man-- shouldered his rifle, unbent his brows, and then went back to his bees and cows."

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812 Vet Fought at Gettysburg-- Part 3: Wounded Several Times Fighting with the Iron Brigade

This time John Burns was not turned away.  The commanders of the 150th Pennsylvania sent Burns to Herbst Woods, figuring that would be away from where the main fighting would take place.  They were wrong.

Herbst Woods was the site of the first  Confederate offensive of the Battle of Gettysburg.  Burns, sharpshoting for the Iron Brigade, helped blunt this offensive.

John Burns was mocked by the other Union troops for showing up for the battle with an antiquated weapon and "swallowtail coat with brass buttons, yellow buttons and tall hat."  But when the bullets started to fly, he calmly took cover behind a tree and started to shoot back with his more modern weapon.

He fought beside the 7th Wisconsin and later moved over to the 24th Michigan.

He was wounded  in the arm, legs and chest and was left on the field when the Union forces fell back.

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812 Vet Fought at Battle of Gettysburg-- Part 2: John Burns

Many 69-year-olds would be content to spend their golden years taking it easy, but not John Burns.

John Burns fought in the War of 1812 and the Mexican War and even tried to work as a supply driver for the Union Army in the Civil War, but was sent back to his home in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  That's when the war came calling on him.

Burns was considered "eccentric" by the rest of his town.  When soldiers of Confederate General Jubal Early captured Gettysburg, Burns was the constable and jailed for interfering with Confederate military operations. When the Confederates were pushed out of town, Burns began arresting stragglers for treason.

In the morning of July 1, 1863, as the battle began unfolding, he picked up his flintlock musket and offered his services to the beleagured Union soldiers.  He borrowed a more modern musket from a wounded Union soldier then walked over to the commander of the 150th Pennsylvania Infantry and asked to join the regiment.

--Brock-Perry