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Remembering the Battle of Gettysburg

  • Michael Price
  • Jun 26
  • 7 min read

One of the most poignant events in the history of Civil War memory occurred at Gettysburg from July 1–4, 1913. On those four days, 53,407 Civil War veterans gathered to commemorate the largest battle ever fought on American soil. Accommodating so many veterans, plus thousands of visitors, dignitaries, and journalists, required years of planning. What came to be known as the Great Camp was established on 280 acres of the battlefield. Five-thousand tents were erected, and the U.S. Army assigned 1,500 troops to provide security and care for the veterans. Dominating the landscape was the Great Tent with 13,000 seats. From here speeches were made, including one from President Woodrow Wilson.


Two veterans from Springfield made the trip to Gettysburg for the great reunion. During the battle, James S. Lewis was a private in Company A, 10th Georgia Infantry. In some of the best known fighting of the war, his regiment participated in a major attack against the Union left flank on July 2. Joseph B. Furman attended the reunion, although he was in the Pennsylvania Militia and did not fight in the battle. He joined the 188th Pennsylvania Infantry in 1864 and served for the remainder of the war. The veterans shared stories of their experiences with the local newspaper upon their return.


A black and white photo shows a vast field filled with hundreds of triangle tents
The Great Camp at Gettysburg. More than 53,000 Civil War veterans lived in these tents for four days as they commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. Image courtesy of Library of Congress.

Gettysburg and Historical Memory

Historians have been divided over the meaning of the Gettysburg reunion. Some argue that it was a significant moment of national reconciliation. The 1913 reunion was perhaps the most important of such events celebrating the valor of Union and Confederate soldiers while downplaying the war’s underlying racial issues. Others argue veterans who traveled to Gettysburg for the battle’s 50th anniversary were not interested in the larger issues of national unity, but rather, it was a deeply personal journey in which they could make peace with a traumatic past. That meant seeing where their regiment was engaged, returning to the spot where they were wounded, or reflecting on a lost comrade. Therefore, they spent most of their time walking through the battlefield or visiting with fellow veterans, not listening to politicians explain what the battle and its reunion meant for America. Joseph Furman was not interested in hearing what the reunion meant while he was there. “I concluded I could read the speeches in the newspapers,” Furman recalled. “I wanted to wander over the grounds of the battlefield with my comrades and see the wonderful transformation which 50 years has wrought.”


James S. Lewis

James S. Lewis could certainly have traveled from Springfield to the Gettysburg reunion looking for reminders of his personal experiences. Lewis was born in Florida on April 15, 1837. In April 1861, he joined Company A, 10th Georgia Infantry at Columbus. The regiment was sent to General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and in 1862 was engaged in the Peninsula Campaign and the Battles of Second Manassas and Fredericksburg. The regiment marched into Pennsylvania in June 1863 with Lee’s army.


At Gettysburg, the 10th Georgia was in James Longstreet’s I Corps with orders to attack the Union left flank on the south end of the battlefield. One soldier in the regiment recalled marching most of the day on July 2 until, “we lay down in a bunch of timber and remained there for some hours. In our front was an open field, some six or eight hundred yards across. Beyond this, and upon our left were hills and mountains, bristling with federal bayonets and cannon. At last the order came to advance, every old soldier knows how hard it was to obey. Yet the men sprang quickly into line, and the brigade moved steadily forward into the open field.”


Lewis and his comrades advanced across the George Rose farm and into a furious struggle for the Wheatfield. Casualties mounted quickly, and the advance stalled. General Paul Semmes was mortally wounded rallying the men, but soon they surged forward again. A soldier in the 10th Georgia recalled “there was a small ravine between the lines, and each side was striving to attain it... We were then close enough to see the whites of their eyes.” While Union troops were driven back with heavy losses on both sides, the Confederate attacks that day ultimately lost momentum. The struggle was renewed the next day with the climatic Pickett’s Charge and a decisive Union victory.


After Gettysburg, Lewis and the 10th Georgia were transferred to the Western Theatre with Longstreet’s Corps. The troops arrived just in time to fight in the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, on September 19–20, 1863. A major Confederate victory, it had the second highest number of casualties in the war after Gettysburg. Lewis’ regiment was then transferred to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he was captured attacking Fort Sanders on November 29, 1863. Sent to Rock Island, Illinois, as a Prisoner of War, Lewis took the Oath of Allegiance to the United States in April 1865 when Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.


Lewis traveled to the reunion with his wife and daughter who enjoyed their time touring the battlefield and visiting with the veterans. Lewis returned home when the reunion was over, but the ladies visited Philadelphia, New York and Washington D.C. On his experience of returning to Gettysburg 50 years after the battle Lewis noted, “all the stone fences and the old houses which were as headquarters in the battle are still in their natural state. We did not have regimental reunions as we wished to mingle together, and I wish to say that on all occasions our relations were perfectly friendly, and I never was treated better in my life.”


Joseph B. Furman

Joseph B. Furman was born about 1846 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. As Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army invaded Pennsylvania, he was serving in the state militia. His company was at the capital of Harrisburg during the Battle of Gettysburg. At age 18, Furman joined the 188th Pennsylvania Infantry at Scranton on March 24, 1864. The regiment was quickly sent to Virginia where it participated in some of the war’s most brutal fighting at Cold Harbor and the Siege of Petersburg. Furman was discharged with his regiment on December 14, 1865.

By 1913, Furman noted the Gettysburg battlefield had been turned into “an immense park by the government... the battlefield conveys to the mind a complete picture of the armies as they stood and charged and countercharged on these memorable days, July 1, July 2, and [July] 3, 50 years ago.”


Many monuments and statues had been erected at important points on the battlefield. Standing on Cemetery Ridge, Furman saw the statue of Union commander George Meade, “seated upon his horse... in the spot from which he gave orders at the critical moments of the battle.” One mile away on Seminary Ridge, Furman looked at the Virginia Memorial with a statue of Robert E. Lee, “at the point from which he overlooked the fortunes of the battle which slowly turned against him.”


a color photograph shows a patina'ed statue of a man on a horse, mounted on a stone riser and standing in the middle of a grassy field littered with Civil War-era cannons
Statue of Union General George Gordon Meade on Cemetery Ridge. Image courtesy of Michael Price.

Furman joined many veterans in greeting General Daniel Sickles. At 93-years old, Sickles was the only Union general who served in the battle to attend the reunion. He lost a leg in heavy fighting on July 2. Furman described him as “very feeble and was almost worn out by the continuous line of veterans who filed into his tent and shook hands with him.” Reflecting on the experience, Furman declared, “The trip was the event of a lifetime, and I certainly am glad that I went... No reunion was ever held, and [I] don’t think any ever will be held in the future, carrying the significance of the blues and the grays at Gettysburg.”


An old man sitting in a rocking chair and wearing a felt hat, glasses, and a suit dangles a cigar from his mouth as he signs a paper. His right pantleg is folded at the thigh.
Ninety-three year old General Daniel Sickles signing autographs for well-wishers at the 1913 Gettysburg reunion. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The Veterans Post-War

James Lewis came to Springfield in 1883 and worked as a painter and police officer. Lewis received a pension from the state of Missouri for his Civil War service and was a member of Campbell Camp Post #488, United Confederate Veterans. He died in Springfield on March 31, 1920 and is buried in Maple Park Cemetery.


A plain rectangular grave marker that says "Father J.S. Lewis Mar 31, 1920" is embedded in grass.
James Lewis's grave marker at Maple Park Cemetery in Springfield, Missouri. Image courtesy of Michael Price.

Joseph Furman settled in Springfield around 1900 and worked as a harness maker. An active participant in local politics with the Prohibition Party, he was also a member of McCroskey Post, Grand Army of the Republic, the largest organization of Union veterans in America. Technology impacted his harness business, and by 1920 Furman was working for an automotive company as a trimmer. Furman moved to Los Angeles shortly after his wife died in 1924. In 1925, he entered the Pacific Branch of the National Home For Disabled Soldiers in Los Angeles. He died there on July 13, 1928 and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery.


For Further Reading

To learn more about the Battle of Gettysburg, explore these items from the Library’s collection. For selected readings from eyewitness accounts, see Voices From Gettysburg: Letters, Papers, and Memoirs From the Greatest Battle of the Civil War by Allen C. Guelzo. For an important reevaluation of the Union commander George Gordon Meade, see, Meade at Gettysburg: A Study in Command by Kent Masterson Brown. A novel, The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara remains one of the most popular books about the battle. It was the basis of the 1993 movie Gettysburg starring Jeff Daniels, Tom Barenger, and Martin Sheen.


The following resources were consulted for this piece:

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