March 2026 Meeting Summary
At our dinner meeting on March 18th, Mr. John L. Hopkins gave an excellent program about his book titled: The World Will Never See the Like: The Gettysburg
Reunion of 1913. Attendance at the meeting was 52. The following summary is from the Amazon Books website:
The 1913 Gettysburg reunion is a story of 53,000 old comrades and former foes reunited, and of the tension, even half a century later, between competing narratives of reconciliation and remembrance.
For seven days the old soldiers lived under canvas tents, in stifling heat, on a 280-acre encampment run by the U.S. Army. They swapped stories, debated stillsimmering controversies about the battle, and fed tall tales to gullible reporters. On July 3, the aging survivors of Pickett's Division and the Philadelphia Brigade shook hands across the wall on Cemetery Ridge, in the reunion's climactic photo op [see photo on Page 4].
Some of the battle's leading personalities attended, including Union III Corps commander Dan Sickles, who at age 92 was still eager to explain to anyone who would listen the indispensable role he claimed to have played in the Union victory. Also present was Helen Dortch Longstreet, the widow of Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, who devoted her life and considerable energies to defending the reputation of her general. Both wrote articles from the reunion that were syndicated in newspapers across the country. There was even a cameo appearance by a young and as-yet unknown cavalry
officer named George S. Patton Jr.
Mr. Hopkins said for men on both sides, the reunion was unlike anything they had ever experienced. It blotted out whatever hatred they had. It changed their thinking about their enemies. The secret to the success of the reunion was that everyone ignored the differences that began the war. Each side took up their cause and fought for what they believed in. For the Confederate soldiers, they fought for states’ rights, not slavery. For the Union soldiers, they fought to restore the Union. Mr. Hopkins said the “Lost Cause” narrative was deeply engrained by then. Most people subscribed to that narrative.
Mr. Hopkins, said the reunion was originally scheduled for July 1-4, 1913. Union General Dan Sickles proposed an Eternal Peace Memorial and the veterans supported this idea. Pennsylvania budgeted $300,000 for the camp and $500,000 for the Peace Memorial. This was passed by the Pennsylvania legislature in June 1911. Congress appropriated only $150,000. However, the total cost of the 1913 Reunion was $1,175,000.
In May 1912, 14 months before the encampment, they finally had the first meeting to plan the event. “Do nothing” General Wagner had to be replaced by Col.
James M. Schoonmaker. There was a mad dash to the finish line. The reunion was scheduled to open June 29 and close July 4, 1913.
