2404 CIVIL WAR CDV OF JOHN BURNS, GETTYSBURG HERO.

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[?]Live Online Auction Starts In 2026 Dec 03 @ 10:00 (UTC-04 : AST/EDT)
Category Firearms & Military
Auction Currency USD
Start Price 100.00 USD
Estimated at 200.00 - 300.00 USD
John L. Burns (1793-1872) a veteran of the War of 1812 who lived in Gettysburg and is only civilian combatant who fought in Gettysburg battle. On July 1, 1863, Burns took up his flintlock musket and powder horn and walked out to the scene of the fighting that morning. He encountered a wounded Union soldier and asked if he could use his more modern rifle; the soldier agreed and Burns moved on with the rifle and with cartridges in his pocket. Approaching Major Thomas Chamberlin of the 150th Pennsylvania Infantry, Burns requested that he be allowed to fall in with the regiment. Chamberlin later wrote of Burns moving with deliberate step, carrying his Enfield rifle at a trail. Despite his skepticism about the request, Chamberlin referred him to the regimental commander, Colonel Langhorne Wister, who sent the aged Burns into the woods next to the McPherson Farm, where he would find better shelter from the sun and enemy bullets. Burns fought with the 7th Wisconsin Infantry and then moved to join the 24th Michigan near the eastern end of the woods. He fought beside these men of the famous Iron Brigade throughout the afternoon, serving effectively as a sharpshooter, in one case shooting a charging Confederate officer from his horse. As the Union line began to give way and they fell back to the Seminary, Burns received wounds in the arm, the leg, and several minor ones in the breast; the Union soldiers were forced to leave him behind on the field. Injured and exhausted, the old man was able to crawl away from his rifle and to hastily bury his ammunition. He convinced the Confederates that he was a noncombatant, wandering the battlefield seeking aid for his invalid wife, and his wounds were dressed by their surgeons. This was a narrow escape for Burns, for by the rules of war he was subject to summary execution as a non-uniformed combatant, or bushwhacker. He was able to crawl that evening to the cellar of the nearest house, and was later conveyed to his own home, where he was treated.After the battle, Burns was elevated to the role of national hero. Hearing about the aged veteran, Timothy H. O'Sullivan photographed Burns recuperating at his home on Chambersburg Street and took the story of Burns and his participation in the battle back home to Washington. When President Abraham Lincoln came to Gettysburg to dedicate the Soldiers National Cemetery and deliver his Gettysburg Address, he requested to meet with Burns. Burns accompanied the president on a walk before his address. CONDITION: very good, as trimmed to 3.5" x 2.25". (02-27898-9/JS). NON-GUN. $200-300.