The 1938 Gettysburg reunion was an encampment of

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

s on the

Gettysburg Battlefield The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg within and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the site of the first shot ...

for the 75th anniversary of the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...

. The gathering included approximately 25 veterans of the battle with a further 1,359 Federal and 486 Confederate attendees out of the 8,000 living veterans of the war. The veterans averaged 94 years of age. Transportation, quarters, and subsistence was federally funded for each veteran and their accompanying attendant.NOTE: The following news article's numbers for reservations are ''italicized'' in the table: If an attendant was needed it was provided. President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

's July 3 reunion address preceded the unveiling of the

Eternal Light Peace Memorial The Eternal Light Peace Memorial is a 1938 Gettysburg Battlefield monument dedicated on July 3, 1938, commemorating the 1913 Gettysburg reunion for the 50th anniversary of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1913. The natural gas flame in a ...

; a

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, inform ...

with part of the address was included in the Westinghouse Time Capsule for the 1939 New York World's Fair. The reunion's support personnel included 19 officers and 250 enlisted men of the

Pennsylvania National Guard The Pennsylvania National Guard is one of the oldest and largest National Guards in the United States Department of Defense. It traces its roots to 1747 when Benjamin Franklin established the Associators in Philadelphia. With more than 18,000 pe ...

, and there were 3,185

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

personnel in total. A "regular army camp" that displayed modern weapons was east of the northward tracks of the

Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly call ...

to the Gettysburg College buildings, while the Third Corps headquarters tent was south of Gettysburg near

The Angle The Angle (Bloody Angle colloq.) is a Gettysburg Battlefield area which includes the 1863 Copse of Trees used as the target landmark for Pickett's Charge, the 1892 monument that marks the high-water mark of the Confederacy, a rock wall, and seve ...

. There were 548 police; from the Pennsylvania State Police and officers from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, and

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

; and a

Gettysburg College Gettysburg College is a private liberal arts college in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1832, the campus is adjacent to the Gettysburg Battlefield. Gettysburg College has about 2,600 students, with roughly equal numbers of men and women. ...

building was the "base hospital" under the First Regular Army Medical Regiment.

Fundraising

To raise reunion funds, in June 1936 Congress authorized 50,000 US Mint commemorative half dollars. The Battle of Gettysburg half dollar was dated 1936 despite being struck in 1937. Sculptor

Frank Vittor Frank Vittor (Italian Name "Francesco Fabio Vittori") (January 6, 1888 – January 24, 1968) was an American sculptor, known for his "preference for the heroic and colossal". Early life Vittor was born in Mozzate, Como, a suburb of Milan, Italy ...

had used Union veteran James Power Stanley of the Battles of the Wilderness,

Cold Harbor The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought during the American Civil War near Mechanicsville, Virginia, from May 31 to June 12, 1864, with the most significant fighting occurring on June 3. It was one of the final battles of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S ...

, North Anna, and Spotsylvania for the model, A special US postage stamp was also advocated for the reunion's opening day. Unsold coins were destroyed.

Chronology

*1935: Pennsylvania created a commission for the seventy-fifth anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg *1936: The House Military Affairs Committee recommended the Haines Bill for forming a federal committee to work with the Pennsylvania reunion commission. *1937 January 25: State senator John S. Rice, chairman of the Pennsylvania reunion commission, sponsored a bill for the commission to develop a memorial to be dedicated at the 1938 reunion, with a "Gettysburg Peace Memorial Fund" for an

observation deck An observation deck, observation platform, or viewing platform is an elevated sightseeing platform usually situated upon a tall architectural structure, such as a skyscraper or observation tower. Observation decks are sometimes enclos ...

above the

Big Round Top Big Round Top is a boulder-strewn hill notable as the topographic high point of the Gettysburg Battlefield and for 1863 American Civil War engagements for which Medals of Honor were awarded. In addition to battle monuments, a historic postbellu ...

summit and a flame 30 feet higher (the abandoned 1910 plan was for a 1913 cornerstone at

.) *1937 February 6: The first joint meeting of the federal and Pennsylvania state commissions. *1937 May 8: The Pennsylvania reunion commission's headquarters at the Hotel Gettysburg annex began selling the "Gettysburg commemorative half dollars" for $1.65; the hotel and two Gettysburg banks also sold the coins.

1938

January 15: The navy sent the 75-man

Marine Corps Band The United States Marine Band is the premier band of the United States Marine Corps. Established by act of Congress on July 11, 1798, it is the oldest of the United States military bands and the oldest professional musical organization in th ...

for the reunion (four other bands were also at the camp).
February:

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Gettysburg (; non-locally ) is a borough and the county seat of Adams County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) and President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address are named for this town. Gettysburg is home to th ...

, formed a nine-person committee for the reunion.
April 18: The

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

began improvements to the of the Gettysburg National Military Park.
April 26: Veterans' camp construction began at the "north end of Gettysburg College and on adjacent private property". :p. 64 NOTE: The overhead camp image shows tents south of Howard Av and west of the Biglerville Rd beyond the Mummasburg Rd to the former

line which extended northward from the rail "+" intersection (bottom left of photo) before the northward railway was moved westward circa 1939 when the

Round Top Branch The Round Top Branch was an extension of the Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad from the Gettysburg borough across the Gettysburg Battlefield to Round Top, Pennsylvania. The branch ran southward from the terminus of the railroad's main line ...

was removed. :p. 75 NOTE: The image of tanks side-by side has the 1888 Glatfelter Hall behind at a distance and an angle which places the tanks to the southwest, nearly on the current location of a portion of Constitution Av. The

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

(CCC) on

Seminary Ridge Seminary Ridge is a dendritic ridge which was an area of Battle of Gettysburg engagements in July 1863 during the American Civil War (1861–1865), and of military installations during World War II (1941–1945). Geography Seminary Ridge ...

provided manpower for building the veterans camp, and about 50 enrollees at CCC camp MP-2 of Company #1355-C served as guides for the veterans.
May 16: President

signed the bill for the federal transportation and camp appropriations of $900,000 (federal memorial funding had also failed in 1912).
June 25: The 1st Medical Regiment arrived from

Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania Carlisle Barracks is a United States Army facility located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The site of the U.S. Army War College, it is the nation's second-oldest active military base. The first structures were built in 1757, during the French and I ...

to provide medical care for the reunion.
June 29: Twelve special Pullman trains arrived carrying veterans (4 from the east, with the remainder from the north and west).

Events

July 1, Friday (Reunion Day): Opening ceremonies in the

Stadium were in the morning and included an address by Secretary of War

Harry Hines Woodring Harry Hines Woodring (May 31, 1887September 9, 1967) was an American politician. A Democrat, he was the 25th Governor of Kansas and the United States Assistant Secretary of War from 1933 to 1936. His most important role was Secretary of War in ...

, chairman of the United States Commission. ;July 2, Saturday (Veterans' and Governors' Day): - The 3-mile-long parade for hours was between the reviewing stand in the college stadium and the intersection of the Baltimore Pike and the Emmitsburg Road, through the Lincoln Square; and included three groups: distinguished visitors first, followed by U. S. Army units and equipment, and nmore than 50 drum and bugle corps.
- A

concert was held in the Gettysburg College stadium (the only remaining Jewish Civil War veteran, Daniel Harris, was a guest on the platform). ;July 3, Sunday (President's Day): - Sunday morning memorial service in college stadium
- Veterans shook hands across the stone wall at The Angle as during the

1913 Gettysburg reunion The 1913 Gettysburg reunion was a Gettysburg Battlefield encampment of American Civil War veterans for the Battle of Gettysburg's 50th anniversary. The June 29–July 4 gathering of 53,407 veterans (~8,750 Confederate) was the largest ever Civil ...

.
- Attendance for the

dedication was 250,000 (100,000 were "stuck on automobile-packed highways".)
- As Roosevelt's 9 minute address ended at sunset, the Peace Memorial covered by a flag (Roosevelt 1913 Gettysburg reunion address) was unveiled by George N. Lockwood and Confederate A. G. Harris (both age 91) with 2 regular army attendants.
- Army aircraft staged a simulated air raid on Gettysburg at dusk, and searchlights were directed from the ground at the planes while they dropped flares. ;July 4, Monday (United States Army Day): - Military demonstrations included maneuvers by "31 fast light tanks" (according to the New York Times account), likely the M2 light tank (the only light tank in the US arsenal at the time), of the 66th Infantry's Provisional Tank Battalion near the college's Glatfelter Hall and an air show with 18

Northrop A-17 The Northrop A-17, a development of the Northrop Gamma 2F model, was a two-seat, single-engine, monoplane, attack bomber built in 1935 by the Northrop Corporation for the United States Army Air Corps. When in British Commonwealth service during W ...

As from

Barksdale Field Barksdale may refer to: Places * Barksdale, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Barksdale, Texas, an unincorporated community * Barksdale, Wisconsin, a town ** Barksdale (community), Wisconsin, an unincorporated community *Barksdale Air Forc ...

and, from

Langley Field Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perfo ...

, 18 Consolidated PB-2s & 6 B-17 Flying Fortresses.
- Fireworks were launched from the crest of Oak hill. July 5: The 62nd Coastal Artillery departed for Fort Totten, the 12th Infantry (without 1 company) to Fort Howard (Maryland), and the Third Cavalry to

Fort Myer Fort Myer is the previous name used for a U.S. Army post next to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, and across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Founded during the American Civil War as Fort Cass and Fort Whipple, ...

.
July 6: The 66th Infantry departed for

Fort Meade Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, the ...

and the 6th Field Artillery to Fort Hoyle.
July 7: The 34th Infantry (without 1 company) departed for Fort Meade.
July 8: The 34th Infantry headquarters company departed for Fort Meade (the 8th Quartermaster Regiment remained until ~July 25 to dismantle the veterans camp.)
September 23: A

World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

time capsule with a "permanent acetate film by RKO-Pathé" (15 minute newsreel) with part of Roosevelt's Gettysburg reunion address and numerous other events was lowered into a 50 ft well.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1938 Gettysburg reunion 1938 in Pennsylvania Events in Pennsylvania Gettysburg Battlefield Reunions Speeches by Franklin D. Roosevelt Pennsylvania historical anniversaries June 1938 events July 1938 events American Civil War anniversaries