Top 10 Interesting Facts About the Battle
at Gettysburg
10.
The Whole Battle Started Over Shoes
It sounds like a stereotype about Southern people but, during the war, many of the soldiers
fighting for the Confederacy did not have shoes, as most of the shoe factories were
in the North.
So the battle was started by a contingent of soldiers going to Gettysburg because there
was a shoe factory present.
They found out, the hard way, there were actually thousands of Northern soldiers present, and
thus it was on.
9.
The Oldest Soldier Of The Civil War Volunteered In The Middle Of It
John L. Burns, a resident of Gettysburg, was 70 years old when the battle started.
Hearing the sounds of war, and being a former soldier, he grabbed an eighteenth century
flintlock rifle and ran out to take part (which would be the equivalent of taking a Tommy
Gun into the Gulf War).
On the way to the battle, he found a wounded soldier and traded his gun up.
After volunteering his services, he was sent to the front line.
Three bullets struck his arms during the battle, and he was abandoned as the Northern soldiers
abandoned the position.
Southerners found him, and he lied to them, claiming non-combatant status so he could
receive medical attention instead of being shot.
Yes, shot; in keeping with the rules of war at the time, any soldier not in uniform was
technically a spy and could be killed on the spot.
He outlived the battle by seven years, even though it was unusual in his day to live as
long as he had when the battle started.
8.
Lee’s Heart
On a night just before the battle started, Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Southern
Army, had a heart attack.
This has been cited as an influence on his judgment during the battle, such as why he
made such mistakes as the notoriously costly, and foolhardy, Pickett’s Charge.
So generations of people owe that heart attack a big debt of gratitude.
7.
The Northern Commanding General Was Brand New
George Meade had been appointed commander of the Northern Army (known as the Army of
the Potomac for the river Washington D.C. is situated on) just three days before the
battle started.
This was due to previous General, Joseph Hooker, losing the Battle of Chancellorsville at long
odds, and humiliating the Army.
Thus, Meade didn’t really have the confidence of his staff, and the battle really was not
very well organized by the North.
Half the combat units were barely even engaged, and the other half took extremely heavy casualties.
It was only due to extremely heroic performances by some of the soldiers in the field that
the battle was not a Northern defeat.
Not only that, but Lincoln would blame Meade for the fact that, after the Confederates
began to retreat, the Army of the Potomac didn’t pursue and destroy them.
6.
One Of The Heroes Of The Battle: George Custer
While the most famous thing that happened during the battle was the previously mentioned
Pickett’s Charge (since it was elaborate and suicidal), but another important event
of the day occurred miles away.
The Southern cavalry, under General J.E.B.
Stuart, was attempting to ride round to the rear of the Northern position, where they
could have wreaked havoc on the Northern supplies and greatly compromised the Northern position.
They were intercepted by the brash Brigadier General George Custer, known to most today
only as the guy who got killed by Native Americans at Little Bighorn.
He managed to stop a much larger Confederate unit, and said of his own attack, “I challenge
history to cite a more brilliant cavalry charge.”
Even if no one had ever heard of him again, he praised himself enough to make up for it.
5.
The Soldier With the Horrifying Fate
In any battle where an estimated 50,000 people were killed or wounded, some people are going
to have some very unpleasant fates.
Something especially nightmarish happened to one of the Southern soldiers.
During the battle, he was wounded and passed out.
The position was then taken by the Northern soldiers, who took him and some other dead
soldiers into a barn.
Several dead bodies were piled on top of the soldier, and he awoke far too late.
It wasn’t until several days later that a burial detail found him still alive underneath
a pile of corpses.
By then, he was sick in the head and body, and died shortly thereafter.
4.
The Horrifying Aftermath
Of course, after the battle, the situation Gettysburg was stuck with, wasn’t much less
horrifying than what happened to the soldier mentioned above.
A little town, with a population of around 2,000, was now stuck with having tens of thousands
of wounded soldiers around without the massive hospitals required and thousands that needed
to be buried.
One incident that really sticks out: during the battle, around 3,000 horses were killed.
A bonfire of all the dead horses was started, and the stench became so bad that the population
became violently ill.
Which reminds me: be sure to stop in at The Pike Restaurant if you ever visit Gettysburg!
Good eatin’, and a rating of 3.5 stars on Google Maps!
3.
No-Casino Campaign
Starting in 2010, a massive protest started when word got out there was a plan to build
a casino within half a mile of Gettysburg.
The campaign ultimately lasted for twenty months, demanding a distance of at least ten
miles.
Ultimately it was ruled against 45%-41%.
That 41% voted for it, in the face of a nationwide protest, showed that the community locals
must have really wanted that casino.
2.
Lincoln Was Really Ill While Delivering His Address
While giving one of the most concise, humble, heartfelt, and celebrated speeches in American
history, Lincoln was actually suffering from smallpox.
It wasn’t life-threatening, but he still was described by people in close proximity
as looking pale and sickly.
So, on top of the fact Lincoln reportedly had a high-pitched voice under the best of
circumstances, all of those deep, dramatic readings you sometimes hear couldn’t have
less to do with the real thing.
1.
Many Thought The Address Was Awful
The Chicago Times called it “silly, dishwatery utterances.”
Journalist Gabor Boritt, who was present, said of other journalists that “they could
not find much good to say about it.”
Lincoln himself said, “it is a flat failure, and the people are disappointed.”
Part of the issue seems, in hindsight, to be that the speech was 247 words, which seems
way too short for the message it was intended to convey.
It was even too short for a photographer to get a picture of Lincoln giving the address.
Something that brief can’t help but seem a bit dashed off, like something that should
be little noted, nor long remembered.
But now we can appreciate the quality of those words over their small quantity.