Gettysburg marks 150th Anniversary
One hundred and fifty years ago, Butler County residents had more to celebrate on July 4th than Independence Day.
The just-ended Battle of Gettysburg (July 1 to 3, 1863) put an end to the threat of a Confederate attack on the state capital of Harrisburg.
To commemorate the clash that many say changed the course of the nation's history, about 12,000 Civil War re-enactors, including 130 artillery units and 400 cavalry troopers, are converging on the Adams County town for re-creations of the battle beginning this weekend and continuing until July 7.
One of those going is Scott Buffington of Beaver County along with 30 other members of the 63rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.
“We are actually portraying four different regiments in different scenarios on different areas of the battlefield,” Buffington said of re-creations taking place this weekend on a site southeast of the actual battlefield, which is National Park Service property.
First, Buffington said, the 63rd's re-enactors will portray the 56th Pennsylvania Infantry.
“It had the distinction of firing the first infantry volley that opened the battle,” Buffington said.
The 63rd's re-enactors also will represent the 28th Massachusetts, the famed “Irish Brigade,” during the second day's fighting in what would become known as the Battle of the Wheatfield.
Buffington said the men of the 63rd will also portray a Connecticut unit for a re-creation of the attack on Cemetery Hill.
On the final day, the re-enactors will stand in for the 14th Connecticut Infantry that held Cemetery Ridge and helped repulse Pickett's Charge.
“There will be 12,000 re-enactors on both sides,” said Buffington. “That's probably close to a real Civil War division.”
He added re-enactors were taking historical accuracy very seriously.“There is a small group of Union soldiers who have spent two weeks on the road marching to Gettysburg,” said Buffington.Chad Slater of Butler is a member of the 63rd, although his job will keep him from attending the Gettysburg festivities.“I'm bummed. My thoughts will be with them,” Slater said.Slater said the 63rd had 40 members “on paper. We can put 20 to 25 in the field. They come from all walks of life. We've got guys from Ohio, Maryland and the center part of the state.”Slater said he became interested in re-enactments because one of his ancestors, Evan Slater of Clarion County, enlisted in the 78th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.He was wounded and captured in the Battle of Stones River in 1862 in Tennessee, paroled and then re-enlisted in the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry under his mother's maiden name.“The 78th Pennsylvania had him listed as a deserter. It might have been because of a rift with the commanding officer, but whatever the case, he was not qualified for a pension,” Slater said.Slater said he got involved with Civil War re-enactments in 1992.“'Gettysburg' (the film) had just come out and I knew they used re-enactors in it. I got hooked,” said Slater.“What these guys went through, the lifestyle, I've always been drawn to that side,” said Slater. “It's a sense of pride. We're not re-creating battles, we're educating the public on what a soldier would have gone through.”Unfortunately, Slater said, that sense of pride seems to be fading among re-enactors.
He decried the shoddy uniforms, use of women in the ranks, and even overweight soldiers on the line.“There were not very many obese guys at all, not in the 1860s,” Slater said.Slater said he's worried the 150th anniversary may be the last one in a nation more concerned with building a casino in Gettysburg than preserving its history.“A lot of guys in the hobby have been in it a long time,” Buffington said, “a lot of fellows are looking at the 150th as a last hurrah.”“I've had 29 years in the hobby. I'm 41 right now. I'm going to stay. I've got a good 20 years left on me that I can sleep on the ground,” Buffington said.“I doubt the Civil War is even going to be talked about anymore. It's sad because it was a large part of history,” said Slater.And a large part of Butler County history.Bill May of Butler, founder of the Butler County Civil War Roundtable, said his great-grandfather, Christian Hinchberger of Butler, fought in the Civil War with the 78th Pennsylvania Infantry in Kentucky and Tennessee.May still has the official credentials Hinchberger used when he attended the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1913, along with 148 other veterans from Butler County.May, himself will be attending the 150th anniversary observances.“I am leaving on the second of July. I am going to tour the battlefield and afterward attend the re-enactments on July 6 and 7,” May said.
According to Brad Pflugh, a Knoch High School history teacher and author of “Butler County in the Civil War” and its sequel, “Butler County's Nine-Month Men,” soldiers from Butler County fought and died at Gettysburg.The 11th Pennsylvania fought in an area called the wheatfield at the base of Little Round Top.“About 24 of those guys were from the Evans City and Connoquenessing areas,” Pflugh said.And the 4th Pennsylvania. Cavalry, a behind-the-lines reserve unit, contained about 50 men from Glade Mills and Middlesex Township, Plugh said. They did not take casualties.George Washington Fleeger, a Butler lawyer and future congressman, was born in Concord Township and enlisted as a private in the 11th Pennsylvania, May said. As a first lieutenant, Fleeger fought in Gettysburg on the first day of the battle, May said.Another local connection was Washington Roebling of Saxonburg, son of John Roebling, the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge. May said the younger Roebling, a lieutenant in the Union Army, was in an observation balloon on the north side of the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg, Va.
May said it was Roebling's observations of the movement of Jeb Stuart's cavalry columns that sparked the massive troop mobilization toward Gettysburg.Pflugh said he knew of three Butler County men who fell on the Union side at Gettysburg:Milton Campbell of Slippery Rock was shot in the thigh, lingered for a month and died of his wounds Aug. 1.John O'Harra Woods of East Connoquenessing was shot and killed July 2, the second day of the battle.Andrew Pettigrew of Washington Township was shot in the thigh and died 10 days later, despite having his leg amputated.May said 2,500 men from Butler County fought in the Civil War and 500 were listed as killed, wounded or missing.The Gettysburg observance, Pflugh said “is the culmination this summer, the big kahuna.”“There are more books on the Battle of Gettysburg than any other battle in the world,” according to Plugh. “There's a book on the horses the generals rode on in Gettysburg.”
