The seventy-fifth anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg was marked by the second and last joint reunion of the Grand Army of the Republic and the United Confederate Veterans, held June 29 to July 6, 1938, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Of the 10,687 living Civil War veterans, 1,918 whose average age equaled ninety-four years attended the elaborate seven-day ceremony. The oldest veteran who attended was William A. Barnes, a Negro from California, 112 years old. Several veterans of 86 could claim to be among the youngest present.
The program, sponsored by the State of Pennsylvania and by the United States Government through bills of appropriation, was rich in display and extremely well attended. The first two days of the celebration witnessed the debarkation and encampment of the veterans in tents set up on Memorial Field. On July 1, the veterans visited once more the historic sites and heard welcoming speeches by Governor Earle of Pennsylvania and United States Secretary of War Woodring. July 2 was celebrated as 'Veterans and Governors Day,' featured by a parade of the veterans of all wars since 1865, accompanied by bands with the drum and bugle corps. On July 3, the veterans heard President Roosevelt deliver a dedicatory address before 150,000 spectators at the Gettysburg field and saw the Peace memorial unveiled by a Union and a Confederate veteran who also lighted the 'eternal flame' on its fifty-one foot shaft. In the evening the air corps put on a spectacular demonstration. The celebrations were climaxed on July 4, when the United States Army staged elaborate and impressive troop maneuvers and drills.
The veterans had held one previous joint reunion, which took place twenty-five years before. This seventy-fifth anniversary reunion successfully represented their last official salute to an old and deeply established national unity.
No comments:
Post a Comment