Often, when people are learning about the battle of Gettysburg, the focus is on the fighting, the battles, and the soldiers. The only tales of the civilians are of them hiding in their basements as they listen to soldiers running through their houses, and hiding from the gunfire and canon fire. But did you know that there was one civilian who refused to hide, and instead grabbed a gun and went to join the Union Army to fight back the invaders of his town?
John Burns had been born in 1793 in New Jersey, and had experience being a soldier in the war of 1812. In 1863, he was living in Gettysburg and was considered eccentric by many people in the town. At the start of the Civil War he tried to enlist with the Union Army , but was turned away due to his age. After being rejected, he worked as a teamster for the Union Army driving supply wagons for the army. In 1862, he had been elected town constable by citizens of Gettysburg.
His first brush the Confederate Army actually happened before the battle of Gettysburg, in late June 1863 where he was arrested by General Jubal Early's cavalry after he tried to interfere with them. He would be put in jail, but would be released two days later when the Confederates moved on. Burns was not injured, but he now had a bone to pick with the Confederate Army.
As the Union Army begins to enter Gettysburg, Burns goes out to give information on Confederate troop movements in recent days, and Burns also gave directions to the Union Army. He then decided that he wanted to get even more involved in the coming action.
Although Burns participating in the battlefield is pretty much confirmed,
the exact details are still a little fuzzy. Depending on who is telling the tale, how Burns got a gun and where he turned up differs, but the first telling of the story has him coming into contact with 2 injured Union soldiers, and he would ask them to give him their guns. One soldier complies, and also gives Burns some cartridges. Burns is next seen west of Gettysburg, wearing a stove pipe hat and a blue swoop tail coat, and carrying a weapon. He then asks officers of a Pennsylvania regiment if he can fight with them. However, the officers tell him to go to the nearby woods and talk to the famed Iron Brigade, part of which was from Wisconsin. Again the details are fuzzy, but the popular tale is that Burns sets himself up behind a stone wall and begins working as a sharpshooter. It is claimed that he focused on officers, shooting many of them off of their horses. Later, as the Union soldiers around him begin to retreat, Burns holds his position. For this stubbornness, Burns would receive various wounds including wounds in his side, arm and leg. He would eventually pass out from loss of blood.
Later that evening, Burns would be found on the battlefield by Confederate soldiers looking for their wounded. They were surprised to find an elderly man dressed in civilian clothes on the battlefield, so they revive him and ask him who he is. Before passing out, Burns claimed that he threw his rifle away from and buried his remaining cartridge boxes. He then tells the Confederate soldiers that he was a civilian who was simply trying to reach a neighbors farm to get help for his sick wife, but got caught in the crossfire between the two armies. However, the Confederate soldiers do not believe and leave him in the field. Later a Confederate officer gave him water and a blanket, and Burns would survive the night. The next Burns would manage to get himself to a nearby house, and a neighbor would take him back to his house in the town, which was held by the Confederate Army, where he would again be questioned about how he got caught up in the battle. Even though the Confederates remained skeptical of his account of being an innocent bystander caught up in the battle, he would be left when the Confederate Army retreated.
After the battle, Burns became a local hero, and as newspaper reporters began arriving into town to cover the battle, they began to hear stories of "Brave John Burns". In mid-July the famed photographer Matthew Brady arrived in Gettysburg and sought Burns to be the subject of a picture. John Burns sitting in a rocking chair recuperating from his wounds, with crutches to one side and a rifle to the other, is probably the most well known photo of the famed man.
His fame grew to a national level when a Pennsylvania newspaper, the Germantown Telegraph, printed an item about John Burn's story, and it was reprinted widely. When President Abraham Lincoln visited Gettysburg in November of 1863 he made a point to meet with John Burn and they walked arm in arm down a street in the town and went to church together.
John Burns house was on the battlefield so he became sort of an exhibit for people coming to Gettysburg in the years after the battle, and he was also known to give tours of the battlefield to prominent visitors, often interjecting his eccentric ideas.
John Burns would die in 1872, and would be buried beside his wife in the civilian cemetery at Gettysburg. In July 1903, as part of the 40th commemoration of the battle, a statue of John Burns with his rifle would be dedicated. The legend of John Burns became Gettysburg lore, and in fact a rifle of his (although not the one used in day 1 of the famous battle) hangs in Pennsylvania's State Museum.
Gettysburg National Military Park did a brief live stream on the Facebook page about the story of John Burns as part of their day 1 programming for the 157th anniversary of the battle. I would highly recommend listening to it if you are interested in learning more about this interesting character of the battle of Gettysburg.
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