Five Thousand More Veterans Expected At Reunion That Had Been Planned For Late Yesterday
Trains Are Delayed by Heavy Traffic Which Served to Disarrange some of the Plans of the Army Quartermaster’s Department, But Major Normoyle Says He Will Care for All—Four Dead and Little Illness.
Gettysburg, Pa., July 1. —Despite the efforts of the regular army to do impossible things, thousands of veterans spent the night on the Gettysburg field with nothing between them and the stars but their clothing. It was no fault of the regulars nor the veterans. The railroads poured thousands into Gettysburg as best they could, train after train which was looked for early yesterday crawling in near midnight. They kept coming till after daybreak,and shortly after breakfast the rush began again. Major Normoyle, the army quartermaster, did not go to bed, and his force of army officers kept him company. They provided blankets, pointed out tents, and did the best they could.
More Than Expected.
Normoyle declared that probably fifty-five thousand veterans would be on the field by night five thousand more than looked for. He said he would see that everyone was taken care of, that nobody would go hungry, and all would have blankets and tents. Today was the first formal day of the semi-centennial. Although Buford and Wheeler had skirmishes fifty years ago yesterday, it was July 1 that the battle began which forced the Union troops out of Gettysburg and back to Cemetery ridge. Colonel J. M. Schoonmaker, chairman of the Pennsylvania Gettysburg commission, was present at today’s meeting in the big tent. Secretary of War Garrison, Governor Tener, Commander Alfred B. Deers of the G. A. R. and Commander Bennett H. Young of the United Confederate Veterans were among the speakers.
Remarkable Record.
Major Collins of the medical staff said: “Only a few score of the fifty thousand veterans, all near 70, have been taken to the hospital and only four have died. It is a remarkable record.”
GENERAL YOUNG SPEAKS
Lauds McKinley for Permitting Daughter of South to Pin a Badge.
Gettysburg, Pa., July 1.—General Bennett H. Young, commander-in-chief of the United Confederate Veterans, speaking at the reunion today, said in part: “William McKinley reached the sublimest heights of statesmanshipwhen he permitted a daughter of the south to pin a confederate badge on his breast and when he urged that the nation mark confederate graves.”
“The splendor and importance of the secession were enhanced by the fact that no explanations were sought or offered. Men from the south come as confederates. True, in a larger sense, they are Americans, but for this particular occasion they are distinctly confederates.”
Welcomed by Governor.
Governor Tener of Pennsylvania welcomed the blue and gray who “fifty years ago wrote on the pages of the world’s greatest martial history the enduring fame and glory of the American soldier.” He continued: “Nowhere in history have men who opposed each other in battle thus come together fifty years alter in peaceful reunion content with the result of the struggle and grateful that, in defeat or victory, there was left no stain upon American manhood and no question of the bravery or devotion of the American soldier.”
The Laramie Republican, Laramie, WY, July 1, 1913