Waving an American Flag

It’s been 160 years since the Battle of Gettysburg (that’s ‘Getis-burg’ if you’re a local). It was the costliest battle of the American Civil War. On Independence Day 1863, after 157,289 American soldiers had struggled for three days over the bloody fields, there were 7058 dead, 33,264 wounded and at least 10,790 missing people. The south-central Pennsylvania town of 2,500 was thoroughly engulfed by violence, but miraculously, there were only two reported civilian casualties: John Lawrence Burns (wounded), and Mary Virginia “Jennie” Wade (killed). Both became national heroes. Both are buried on Cemetery Hill with American flags perpetually waving over their graves.

John “Patriot” Burns (Sept. 5, 1793Feb. 4, 1872), was born in Burlington, NJ. Of Scottish ancestry, he claimed descendance from poet Robert Burns. Burns enlisted for the War of 1812, and fought in numerous battles, including Lundy Lane. He also participated in the Mexican-American War but was rejected by the Union for Civil War service due to advanced age. Instead, he joined the Army’s team sters. Again, due to age, Burns was discharged and reluctantly went home to Gettysburg where he was named constable.

Burns took his civilian responsibility se riously. When Jubal Early’s Confederate column temporarily occupied Gettysburg on June 26th, Burns was adamant in asserting his authority and was jailed for not cooperating. When the Confederates left, Burns was released and promptly arrested several Rebel stragglers. He diligently participated in the city’s preparations for enemy occupation until relieved by John Buford’s Federal Cavalry some days later.

On July 1st, when the Confederate attack on Gettysburg began, John Burns grabbed his antique flintlock and headed west to join the fighting. Enroute, he encountered a wounded soldier and ‘borrowed’ his more-modern rifle and cartridges. Burns approached Maj. Thomas Chamberlin, commander of the 150th PA Infantry, for permission to join his unit. Chamberlin later wrote that Burns’ “somewhat peculiar dress consisted of dark trousers and a waistcoat, a blue swallow tail coat with burnished brass buttons (as would be seen on a well-to-do gentleman four decades prior), and a high black silk hat, from which most of the original gloss had long departed, of a shape to be found only in the fashion plates of the remote past.”

Chamberlin was skeptical but assigned Burns to regimental commander Col. Langhorne Wister. “Can you shoot that rifle?” is all Wister asked. Burns could, so the 69-year-old man was sent forward to join the troops at McPherson Farm. Burns fought first with the 7th Wisconsin then the 24th Michigan. He stayed with the Iron Brigade throughout the afternoon, sniping at least one Reb officer from his horse.

By the time the Federals retreated to Seminary Ridge (and beyond), Burns had received an arm, leg and two minor breast wounds. He was exhausted, hurt and left behind in the ‘skedaddle.’ He crawled away from his rifle, buried his ammunition, and claimed to be a non-combatant searching for his lost wife when captured. They believed him, so he escaped a ‘rules-of-war,’ summary execution as a non-uniformed “bushwhacker.” Burns’ wounds were tended by Confederate doctors. That evening he crawled off to the cellar of a nearby house and was later transported home.

After the battle Mathew Brady’s photographer, Timothy O’Sullivan, heard about Burns and visited him as he recuperated. He took Burns’ story back to Washington and promoted it. When President Lincoln came to Gettysburg (to give his famous speech), he insisted on meeting Burns. Burns accompanied the President on a walk from the David Wills House to the Presbyterian Church on Baltimore St. that morning. Burn’s fame grew. Bret Harte published a popular poem about him in 1864.

In the last years of his life Burns’ mind failed and he wandered. On a winter’s night in 1871, he was found, destitute and ill on the streets of New York City. He was cared for then sent back to Gettysburg where he died of pneumonia soon after. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery. An Albert G. Bureau designed statue of John Burns, his fist clenched and carrying his borrowed rifle, was dedicated on McPherson Ridge in 1903. Burn has one of only two graves at Evergreen over which the American flag ‘officially’ waves twenty-four hours a day. The other belongs to Jennie Wade.

Mary Virginia Wade (May 21, 1843-July 3, 1863), was born in Gettysburg and worked as a seamstress with her mother on Breckenridge St. She was betrothed to Jack Skelly, a corporal with the 87th PA who was wounded at the Battle of Winchester a few weeks earlier (he died July 12th). When the battle began, Jennie, her mother and two younger brothers relocated to her sister’s, Georgia Wade McClellan’s, house at 548 Baltimore Street. Georgia had a new born to care for. Over 150 bullets hit the McClellan house during the battle.

At about 8:00am, July 3rd, Jennie was in the kitchen kneading dough. A Minie-ball passed through the parlor and kitchen doors and hit her. It penetrated her left shoulder blade, went through her heart, and lodged in her corset. She died instantly and collapsed to the floor. Two Union soldiers responded to women screaming in the house. They confiscated a coffin intend ed for Confederate General Wm. Barksdale and buried her in the McClellan’s backyard. The next day, Jennie’s mother baked fifteen loaves of bread from the dough she’d been kneading and distributed them to soldiers.

In January, 1864, Jennie was reburied in the Reformed Church cemetery on Stratton St. The following year she was relocated to Evergreen Cemetery near the grave of Jack Skelly. In 1882, the U.S. Senate vot ed Jennie Wade’s mother a pension: her daughter died in Union service—making bread for the troops. A monument to Jennie Wade was erected in 1900. It is the only site dedicated to a woman in the United States, other than Betsy Ross’s House, over which an American flag perpetually waves.

So, go wave your flag this July! But as you do, ask yourself, “What have I done to deserve this privilege?”

Jack schick is a long time quakertown

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