1938 Gettysburg reunion

Fundraising

To raise reunion funds, Sculptor Frank Vittor had used Union veteran James Power Stanley of the Battles of the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, North Anna, and Spotsylvania for the model, A special US postage stamp was also advocated for the reunion's opening day. Unsold coins were destroyed.

Chronology

• 1935: Pennsylvania created a commission for the seventy-fifth anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg
• 1936: The House Military Affairs Committee recommended the Haines Bill for forming a federal committee to work with the Pennsylvania reunion commission.
• 1937 January 25: State senator John S. Rice, chairman of the Pennsylvania reunion commission, sponsored a bill for the commission to develop a memorial to be dedicated at the 1938 reunion, with a "Gettysburg Peace Memorial Fund" for an observation deck 75 ft above the Big Round Top summit and a flame 30 feet higher (the abandoned 1910 plan was for a 1913 cornerstone at The Angle.)
• 1937 February 6: The first joint meeting of the federal and Pennsylvania state commissions.
• 1937 May 8: The Pennsylvania reunion commission's headquarters at the Hotel Gettysburg annex began selling the "Gettysburg commemorative half dollars" for $1.65; the hotel and two Gettysburg banks also sold the coins.

1938

January 15: The navy sent the 75-man Marine Corps Band for the reunion (four other bands were also at the camp).

February: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, formed a nine-person committee for the reunion.

April 18: The Works Progress Administration began improvements to the 25 sqmi of the Gettysburg National Military Park.

April 26: Veterans' camp construction began at the "north end of Gettysburg College and on adjacent private property". :p. 64 NOTE: The overhead camp image shows tents south of Howard Av and west of the Biglerville Rd beyond the Mummasburg Rd to the former Reading Railroad line which extended northward from the rail "+" intersection (bottom left of photo) before the northward railway was moved westward circa 1939 when the Round Top Branch was removed. :p. 75 NOTE: The image of tanks side-by side has the 1888 Glatfelter Hall behind at a distance and an angle which places the tanks to the southwest, nearly on the current location of a portion of Constitution Av. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) on Seminary Ridge provided manpower for building the veterans camp, and about 50 enrollees at CCC camp MP-2 of Company #1355-C served as guides for the veterans.

May 16: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill for the federal transportation and camp appropriations of $900,000 (federal memorial funding had also failed in 1912).

June 25: The 1st Medical Regiment arrived from Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania to provide medical care for the reunion.

June 29: Twelve special Pullman trains arrived carrying veterans (4 from the east, with the remainder from the north and west).

Events

July 1, Friday (Reunion Day): Opening ceremonies in the Gettysburg College Stadium :NOTE: The "stadium" identity is unclear, as a Gettysburg College tribute page states the dedication game of Memorial Stadium was the 14-12 Bucknell upset in 1928. But the College's embellished sports page for Clark Field has the contradictory claim it was "erected in 1938 in a ceremony attended by President Franklin D. Roosevelt." However, the herein references clearly identify the contradiction that Roosevelt, on the planned stopover en route from Hyde Park NY to the White House, traveled to and from the 1938 Oak Hill dedication directly by motorcade from/to his special train for the 9 minute reunion address. Moreover, the claim that the stadium was "erected in ... a ceremony attended by ... Roosevelt" is dubious since the stands, press box, and other depicted stadium structures required more than the time of a "ceremony" to be erected (and reunion facilities were in place before Roosevelt arrived). Although Roosevelt, whose train was near the extension of West Lincoln Av, may have passed near the construction; a source is needed to identify if the President also attended a ceremony at (unfinished?) Clark Field. (In 1918, the college's Nixon Field had been used for Camp Colt athletics.) were in the morning and included an address by Secretary of War Harry Hines Woodring, chairman of the United States Commission.

;July 2, Saturday (Veterans' and Governors' Day): - The 3-mile-long parade for hours was between the reviewing stand in the college stadium and the intersection of the Baltimore Pike and the Emmitsburg Road, through the Lincoln Square; and included three groups: distinguished visitors first, followed by U. S. Army units and equipment, and more than 50 drum and bugle corps.

• A Marine Corps Band concert was held in the Gettysburg College stadium (the only remaining Jewish Civil War veteran, Daniel Harris, was a guest on the platform).

;July 3, Sunday (President's Day): - Sunday morning memorial service in college stadium

• Veterans shook hands across the stone wall at The Angle as during the 1913 Gettysburg reunion. --
• Attendance for the Eternal Light Peace Memorial dedication was 250,000 (100,000 were "stuck on automobile-packed highways".) --
• As Roosevelt's 9 minute address ended at sunset, the Peace Memorial covered by a 50 foot flag was unveiled by George N. Lockwood and Confederate A. G. Harris (both age 91) with 2 regular army attendants. --
• Army aircraft staged a simulated air raid on Gettysburg at dusk, and searchlights were directed from the ground at the planes while they dropped flares.

;July 4, Monday (United States Army Day): - Military demonstrations included maneuvers by "31 fast light tanks" (according to the New York Times account), likely the M2 light tank (the only light tank in the US arsenal at the time), of the 66th Infantry's Provisional Tank Battalion near the college's Glatfelter Hall and an air show with 18 Northrop A-17As from Barksdale Field and, from Langley Field, 18 Consolidated PB-2s & 6 B-17 Flying Fortresses.

• Fireworks were launched from the crest of Oak hill.

July 5: The 62nd Coastal Artillery departed for Fort Totten, the 12th Infantry (without 1 company) to Fort Howard (Maryland), and the Third Cavalry to Fort Myer.

July 6: The 66th Infantry departed for Fort Meade and the 6th Field Artillery to Fort Hoyle.

July 7: The 34th Infantry (without 1 company) departed for Fort Meade.

July 8: The 34th Infantry headquarters company departed for Fort Meade (the 8th Quartermaster Regiment remained until ~July 25 to dismantle the veterans camp.)

September 23: A World's Fair time capsule with a "permanent acetate film by RKO-Pathé" (15 minute newsreel) with part of Roosevelt's Gettysburg reunion address and numerous other events was lowered into a 50 ft well.

References

References

1. (June 14, 1938). "Blue and Gray Reunion". Schenectady Gazette.
2. Salmon, John S. (2007). "Historic Photos of Gettysburg". Turner Publishing Company.
3. "Anniversary Reunions of Civil War Veterans". GSA.gov.
4. (July 5, 1938). "Veterans Reunion At Gettysburg Closes Monday". Eugene Register-Guard.
5. (June 28, 1938). "TWO VETERANS OF CIVIL WAR CLASP HANDS". St. Petersburg Times.
6. (June 11, 1938). "Gettysburg Celebration to be Attended by 3,500 Vets". The Daily Times.
7. (July 14, 1938). "Blue and Gray Meet". The Cambridge City Tribune.
8. (April 21, 1944). "Here and There: ...four-star peak of Big Things that came to Gettysburg...". Times and News Publishing Company.
9. (July 5, 1938). "Gettysburg's Last Reunion Days End". The Pittsburgh Press.
10. "Battle of Gettysburg Half Dollar". CoinSite.com.
11. (May 24, 1938). "Veteran Poses for Commemorative Coin". Prescott Evening Courier.
12. (February 16, 1938). "Public Thinks". The Modesto Bee.
13. Ed Rochette. (November 25, 1984). "Citizens in battle to save the sanctity of Gettysburg". The Vindicator.
14. (January 20, 1937). "Senator Rice Sponsors Bill for Gettysburg Peace Memorial". Gettysburg Compiler.
15. (April 10, 1935). "House Group Approves U. S. Reunion Aid". Times and News Publishing Company.
16. (January 30, 1937). "Measure Calls for Creation of $100,000 Fund; Eternal Light To Be Built on Battlefield and Dedicated at Anniversary and Reunion in 1938" & "'1938' Banquet is Postponed". The Star and Sentinel.
17. (May 8, 1937). "Reunion Coins On Sale Here". Gettysburg Compiler.
18. (January 15, 1938). "Marine Band to Play Here". The Star and Sentinel.
19. (1938-02-06). "9 Citizens Will Arrange Town's Reunion Plans". The Star and Sentinel.
20. (1938-04-18). "Gettysburg Area to be Renovated for Reunion". Lawrence Journal-World.
21. Nagle, George F. "Research Project-CCC Camps". Afrolumens.com.
22. "At Work in Penn's Woods: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Pennsylvania". Penn State Press.
23. [https://archive.today/20120712023520/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9SguAAAAIBAJ&sjid=odQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5532,2030565&dq=1938+roosevelt+gettysburg&hl=en]
24. "Blue and Gray reunion at Gettysburg, PA, June 29 - July 6, 1938". Army Medical Bulletin, 1922-1949.
25. (1938-06-28). "Plans Completed for Gettysburg's Big Celebration". The Daily Times.
26. (1938-06-23). "Local News". New Oxford Item.
27. [https://archive.today/20120711174107/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YiMtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kKQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3787,50372&dq=1938+roosevelt+gettysburg&hl=en]
28. (July 2, 1938). "Gray And Blue Reunion Temp Quickens For Second Day". The Miami News.
29. (July 9, 2010). "President Roosevelt Dedicates Eternal Light Peace Memorial to Cause of Peace Before 200,000 as Climax to 75th Anniversary of Civil War Battle". Star and Sentinel.
30. (July 9, 1938). "Here and There with the Vets". Star and Sentinel.
31. "Peace Eternal in a Nation United". NPS.gov.
32. (July 4, 1938). "Throng at Gettysburg Hears Roosevelt Call For Peace Campaign". Reading Eagle.
33. (1938-07-04). "Roosevelt Dedicates Peace Shrine". The Evening Independent.
34. (July 4, 1938). "Flame Burning on Monument at Gettysburg". The Telegraph Herald.
35. (1938-06-23). "Flags, Bunting Brighten Town for Battle Fete". Gettysburg Times.
36. (1938-06-21). "Aged Veterans Gather on Gettysburg Field". The Bulletin.
37. "Veterans Depart from Gettysburg Field After Colorful Reunion". Reading Eagle.
38. (November 12, 1938). "A Picture of Today for a World 5000 Years Away".
39. "Capsule Contents". DavidSZond.com.
40. (2001-04-26). "Back in Those Days...". Gettysburg Times.