The following is taken from a publication titled
"The Gettysburg Compiler."
Dated July 2, 1913 and headlined...
The Blue and the Gray in Possession of Gettysburg
The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg toward which the eyes of the nation have been turned for several years is here, the hosts of Blue and Gray have for a second time invaded the town, and there is but one commander.
Prsident Woodrow Wilson, Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, will be in Gettysburg on Friday, July 4th.
Meanwhile the great anniversary opens with the War Department in charge, the work under the general supervision of Maj. Gen. James H. Aloshire, Chief Quartermaster, U.S.A. at Washington, with Major James E. Normoyle in personal charge at Gettysburg.
Major Normoyle is ably assisted by Major A. R. Grove, Captains Humphreys, Dalton, Sergeant Grey, and a host of army men, regular details from the infantry, cavalry and artillery, and again there is a small army of Boy Scouts who are carrying the orders and making themselves generally useful.
On Saturday, the first and second cooks and kitchenmen arrived, an army of 1800. There were experienced cooks from the Regular Army, and experienced cooks from New York, Philadelphia and other cities. This advance guard was a sight to see, for they came in no formation, but that of a mob, and a crowd of nearly two thousand can make confusion when dropped into a community. These men were quickly sorted out by those in authority and as quickly as they were registered were taken in hand by a large medical corps and stripping naked were examined to see whether free from diseases that would interfere with the discharge of their duties. According to report, about ten were not accepted. There are 600 first cooks at $4.00 a day, 600 second cooks at $3.00 a day, and [illegible] kitchenmen helpers at $1.50 a day, and several hundred tents have been required for their accommodation.
The first Blue and Gray coats in the great camp city of over 5,000 tents arrived on Saturday, and although the camp was not officially opened until Saturday evening, every one was taken care of as they arrived and a number slept in camp Saturday night. A few inaccuracies have been noted in the press of the country, that the visitors were to be under military discipline, but such is not the case. The veterans of Blue and Gray will be cared for, their every want attended to under military discipline, but the camp is as free as air for them to enjoy to their hearts' content. In every tent there are cots, lanterns, basins and buckets. Breakfast will be served each day from 6:30 to 8 a.m., dinner from 12 to 1:30 p.m., and supper from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. Everything is for the hosts of Blue and Gray to take possession of according to their wishes and to go and come as they please over the great battlefield.
There has never been such a camp as the present one in the history of our country and it is not likely to ever happen again. The preparations have been on a gigantic scale. There are miles and miles of streets, all conspicuously numbered and named. Every tent is numbered and it is going to be as easy for every Yankee and Johnnie to find his own tent as for him to find his own residence at home, and whether he comes home before dark or after dark there will be no trouble to find the [illegible] key, for the camp at night is almost as light as day from 500 electric lights. A more beautiful sight can not be imagined and worth the miles to come to see is this great wigwam city with its hundreds of sparkling lights under the quiet stars of night.
The camp has been well supplied with the best water. Not only has the town supply been used to some extent, but the four artesian wells resulted in four streams of fine water, analyzed by the government chemist at Washington. Four reservoir tanks have been erected to distribute this water and pipes carry it to points throughout the camp. Along the streets are numerous sanitary bubbling fountains, the water being conveyed through ice chests sunk in the ground, and when lips are placed to the bubbling fountain, ice cold water is enjoyed. Every want of the veterans is sought to be supplied. The signal corps of the army strung over 200 miles of wire last week and rigged up over one hundred telephones, and any need of the veteran can be called from these phones, or if he desires he can communicate with any portion of the country that can be reached by telephone.
Should the veteran fall ill, a complete hospital service has been provided, regular army hospitals have been scattered through the camp; there is a large Red Cross hospital, there are doctors and nurses for an emergency. The town enjoys the protection of a fine field hospital that could not be better located for quietness, along the Brick Yard Lane, under State Health Commissioner Dixon, and this hospital is not only for the veteran, but the general public and the people of the town. Any call of distress will bring one of the ambulances with physician and nurse, and all that medical science and careful nursing can do will be done for those who fall ill in crowded Gettysburg, and done as thoroughly and as well as in the home city of any one unfortunately taken ill.
All through the camp there are squads of Boy Scouts to wait upon the veteran, to direct him, to carry water to his tent and to run errands for him.
It is difficult to give an adequate picture of the preparations for this great anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. As the hosts of Blue and Gray descended upon the camp from the trains that poured in from the Reading and Western Maryland railroads, as this host takes possession of the camp, and as they begin to enjoy what has been provided for them, there will sink into their hearts and souls the significance of the anniversary, the celebration of a half century of peace between brothers, and when this great camp is over, the significance will be scattered millions, and the blessings of peace will be told to children and grandchildren, and the millions of dollars that have been spent in the marking of this battlefield will have been worth while as they bear the message of peace not only to this country, but to the world. Such an anniversary as this convinces that the day is not far off when wars shall have ceased, and when nations abroad and at home shall arbitrate. Such an anniversary of peace, with such a message to the Union and the world should as quickly as it can be done be memorialized in some permanent way. This unique gathering of the hosts of Blue and Gray deserves as endearing a memorial as any at Gettysburg marking the spot of an engagement between brothers.
Surgeon General Weaver of the National Guard of Pennsylvania has prepared a set of health rules and by the observance of the same he believes the veteran can add greatly to his enjoyent of the occasion. They are as follows:
Get as much sleep as possible and be regular about it.
Adhere in your diet to the rations furnished by the regular army, which are ample in quantity and sufficiently varied to gratify and satisfy all tastes.
Don't indulge in intoxicating drinks. They disturb digestion and make you more susceptible to fatigue and disease.
Don't try to meet all the old comrades at once. The camp is a big one, but you have a week of it before you. Take it easy.
While the hosts of Blue and Gray come to Gettysburg in 1913 over two ribbons of steel, the old routs [sic] of down the Chambersburg pike, the Fairfield road, the York pike, the Harrisburg and Carlisle roads, Emmitsburg road and the Baltimore pike were not deserted. They were almost as much infested with the human as fifty years ago, but this time they came in automobiles. Gettysburg never saw such a throng of autos as on Sunday, June 29, 1913, and it at once demonstrated the great service of the State Constabulary in charge, [and] of Superintendent of State Police John C. Groome. The main streets were as thickly crowded as Broadway, New York or Market street, Philadelphia, and with the State police in Square and at the street corners, the procession in the street and on the pavement moved with safety.
What the size of the host of Blue and Gray will be can only be told when they are all here. On Saturday night advice was received that ten thousand more veterans were in sight than expected. Good weather is adding to the numbers with the arrival of every train. Pennsylvania is over-running the figures of last week. Departures all over New York it is estimated on Saturday will reach 12,500 instead of the ten thousand, the 1,800 reported from Virginia ten days ago has increased to 3,000, and not all of them of the Gray, for one of the first met was one of the Blue from Richmond. So they come, every state contributing both of the Blue and Gray. Illustrating how this great neation has mixed, mingled, and intermingled until the most of us are native to the Stars and Stripes instead of to any one particular spot.
Major Normoyle and his assistants will be ready for any number that will come. It is believed that the total number of veterans will run over 60,000 before the last one arrives, and the guess of the old chairman looks fearfully foolish in the light of the present facts, and Gettysburg sounded warnings all the time that guessing at numbers would not solve that problem. The Pennsylvania Legislature before it adjourned appropriated an additional $35,000 and as soon as the news was sent to Secretary of War Garrison he ordered additional trains to be sent here with more tents, supplies and rations and the work of taking care of the veteran went ahead and will go ahead until all have been cared for.
Gettysburg was more beautifully decorated with the National colors and bunting than ever before in its history. The Public Square presents a beautiful sight with its many flags flying and the constant throng of people. Over the big camp at headquarters flies the Stars and Stripes, but in the camp there are battle flags, State flags and Confederate flags. At one point in camp can be found a flag with the Stars and Stripes on one side, on the other a replica of the Confederate battle flag and beneath these words:
"Let us have peace, -- Grant."
"Duty is the sublimest word in any language. -- Lee"
Pennsylvania, half the host with Uncle Sam, is represented here in the person of Governor John K. Tener, who has his headquarters on the college campus. He arrived with his staff on Sunday. The members of the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg Commission are also here. Col. John M. Schoonmaker, the chairman and all members, veterans of many battlefields, and many of them carrying scars, two of them with reminders of the battle of Gettysburg, Generals R. B. Rickets and W.D. Dixon.
In the language of members of the Commission, the Duke of Gettysburg is also here, otherwise, the Secretary of the Commission, Col. Lewis E. Beitler.
One of the first things found to be overlooked was a distinctive badge for the occasion. The secretary was too busy bluffing even to attend to so simple a matter. Either Pennsylvania or Congress should be asked to strike off a distinctive peace medal and get it into the hands of every veteran who was present at the Gettysburg jubilee. It was a disappointment to many that something of the kind had not been provided but it is not too late to make good the oversight.
It is most gratifying to the hosts of Blue and Gray that Commander-in-Chief , President Wilson, will be at Gettysburg on Friday, and the announcement on Sunday to this effect was received with expressions of delight. It is dollars to doughnuts that if Senator Penrose's candidate for president, had been in the White House, that Senator Penrose's Governor of Pennsylvania would have seen to it that Senator Penroses's President would have been officially invited months ago. It was only one month ago that those in authority in Pennsylvania told President Wilson that he was expected at Gettysburg and no one could have justly complained if the engagements of the President made months ahead had prevented his attendance.
It was Congressman A. Mitchell Palmer of Pennsylvania, who brought about a different condition of affairs. He had a conference with the President on last Saturday and pointed out the importance of the Gettysburg celebration, that did not appear in the late invitation; its nationwide significance and particularly the spirit of sectional sympathy that would result from a speech by a Southern-born President at the reunion of the North and South.
When the President realized the situation as made clear by Congressman Palmer, he immediately altered his plans. Governor Tener was telegraphed that President Wilson would be here, and Secretary Tumulty gave out this statement from the President:
"The President has felt constrained to forego [sic] his chance for a few days of much needed rest in New Hampshire next week because he feels it is his duty to attend the celebration at Gettysburg on Friday, the Fourth of July."
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On the same page is a photo of two elderly gentlemen shaking hands, and below it we read:
"The fastest work I ever done
Was chasin' Yankees at Bull Run;
I seem to see them goin' yet;
My! How they did get up and get!
They made the blue streak, gettin' out,
That you have often heard about;
We showed them up in that affair --
Was you among the Yankees there?
"Yes, I was there, and I admit
That mebby I'd be runnin' yit
If Meade had not -- excuse my smile --
Took charge at Gettysburg awhile;
Says he: 'Let's kind of stick around,
Since we've got back on our own ground.'
Was you among the Johnnies who
Got mixed up with that streak of blue?"
"Say, Yank, old friend, when Grant cut loose
You boys sure raised the very duce;
'Twas no disgrace to have to yield,
With such a captain in the field."
"You're right, friend Johnny Reb, you're right,
And, Moses, how you boys did fight!
Each man a hero, yes, siree--
T'was no disgrace to lose to Lee."
By Samuel Ellsworth Kiser
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