By Phil Spaugy
The story is well known. How John Lawrence Burns of Gettysburg, a man born during the presidency of George Washington, a soldier of 1812, a former town constable and resident curmudgeon, grabbed his ancient flintlock musket and powder horn, stepped out of his home and into the history and lore of the battle.
This column explores two questions; what type of firearm did John Burns used during his afternoon fight on July 1 before and after he joined the ranks of the 150th Pennsylvania and the 7th Wisconsin infantries, and with what types of firearms did photographers memorialize him after the battle?
Fighting with his flintlock and an unknown musket
Numerous accounts document Burns approaching the battlefield with a musket during the morning of the first day’s fight.
One of them is by Burns: “I met General Reynolds, who had been out reconnoitering, and was asked to show him the Emmitsburg road. After doing this, I obtained a musket from a soldier who had been wounded on guard, and went off to the army to shoot some of the damned rebels.”
It appears by the time he neared the Lutheran Seminary area, the 1st Army Corps, 1st Division brigades of generals Solomon Meredith (Iron Brigade) and Lysander Cutler had already engaged Maj. Gen. Henry Heth’s Division and had caused it to fall back to Herr’s Ridge to regroup. During a lull, Burns returned home on the southeast corner of West Street and Millerstown Road.
Burns did not stay for long. He left about 1 p.m. and headed west to the sound of battle.
Engaged with an Enfield and in the ranks of the 150th Pennsylvania
An 1889 dedication of the 150th Pennsylvania Infantry monument at Gettysburg mentions a Enfield P53 rifled musket, with which the Pennsylvanians were armed. The regiment’s two commanders signed off on Burns’ participation: Maj. Thomas Chamberlin (1838-1917) and Col. Langhorne Wister (1834-1891). Both men suffered wounds during the day.
“While we were watching and waiting, our attention was called to a man of rather bony frame and more than average stature, who approached from the direction of the town, moving with a deliberate step carrying in his right hand an Enfield rifle at a ‘trail.’ At any time, his figure would have been noticeable, but it was doubly so at such a moment, from his age—which evidently neared three—score and ten—and from the somewhat startling peculiarity of his dress. The latter consisted of dark trousers and waistcoat, a blue swallow-tail coat with burnished brass buttons, such as used to be affected by well-to-do gentlemen of the old school about forty years ago, and a high black silk hat, from which most of the original gloss had long departed—of a shape to be found only in the fashion plates of a remote past.”
The account continues, “As his course brought him opposite the rear of the left wing, he first met Major Chamberlin and asked, ‘Can I fight with your regiment?’ The major answered affirmatively, but seeing Colonel Wister approaching, said, ‘Here is our colonel, speak to him.’ ‘Well, old man, what do you want?’ bluntly demanded the colonel. ‘I want a chance to fight with your regiment.’ ‘You do? Can you shoot?’ ‘Oh yes,’ and a smile crept over the old man’s face which seemed to say: ‘If you knew that you had before you a soldier of the war of 1812, who fought at Lundy’s Lane, you would not ask such a question.’ ‘I see you have a gun, but where is your ammunition?’ Slapping his hand upon his bulging trousers’ pockets, he replied, ‘Here, I have it.’ ‘Certainly you can fight with us,’ said the colonel, ‘and I wish there were many more like you.’”
The account concludes, “He advised him, however, to go into the woods, to the line of the Iron Brigade, where he would be more sheltered from both sun and bullets, with an equal chance of doing effective work. With apparent reluctance, as if he preferred the open field, he moved towards the woods, and history has written the name of John Burns in the roll of the world’s heroes, and his brave conduct is imperishably linked with the glories of Gettysburg.”
Burns moved to the left, into the eastern edge of the Herbst woodlot, where he fell in with the 7th Wisconsin’s skirmish line.
In combat with a captured rifle and the 7th Wisconsin
An account by Lt. Col. John Benton Callis (1828-1898) read at the 1903 Burns Monument dedication reveals how Burns fought with a rifle taken from a wounded enemy sharpshooter who belonged to the brigade of Tennesseans and Alabamians commanded by Brig. Gen. James J. Archer (1817-1864), who fell into enemy hands this day. Archer’s sharpshooters were commanded by Maj. Felix Grundy Buchanan (1838-1907) of the 1st Tennessee Infantry.
“I saw an object approaching from the rear,” recalled Callis. “He wore a bell crowned hat, a swallow tale coat with brass buttons and a buff vest. He had on his shoulder an old rifle with which he came to present arms and he said: ‘Colonel is this your regiment?’ ‘Yes, I said,’ then he brought his rifle to an order and said, ‘Can I fight with your regiment?’ I answered, ‘Old Man you had better go to the rear or you’ll get hurt,’ and he replied just as a shell burst near him: ‘Tut! Tut! Tut! I have heard this sort of thing before!’ ‘Those words were spoken in a tremulous voice. I again ordered him to the rear when he replied. ‘No sir, if you won’t let me fight with your regiment, I will fight alone!’ I asked him where is cartridge box was and he patted his trouser pockets and said, ‘here is my bullets, and I know how to use them.’”
Callis added, “the colonel at last relented and the old flintlock was exchanged with a rifle captured from Archer’s sharp shooters. He was given a cartridge box and belt but declined to use them new fangled things and instead filled his pockets with fixed ammunition, after which he went into the ranks.”
Epilogue
Burns suffered three wounds fighting with he 7th and lay on the battlefield for a day before being found and taken to his nearby home to recover. Newspapers reported his story within days of the battle, transforming him from the Old Town Constable and resident curmudgeon to the “Hero of Gettysburg.” He died in 1872 of pneumonia at age 78, and was buried alongside his wife, Barbara, in Gettysburg’s Evergreen Cemetery.
A sergeant from the 7th Wisconsin Infantry who witnessed Burns in action remembered him as “true blue and grit to the backbone.”
Special thanks to Adams County Historical Society President Andrew Dalton and Historian Timothy Smith. Tim’s biography, “John Burns The Hero of Gettysburg,” is the definitive reference on the life and times of this iconic American personage. Lynn Light Heller provided the images of the John Burns flintlock on display at the Adams County Historical Society’s Caught in the Crossfire Museum in Gettysburg.
References: Smith, The Hero of Gettysburg; Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Volume III; Smith, Reminiscences of an Army Nurse During the Civil War; Pennsylvania at Gettysburg: Ceremonies at the Dedication of the Monuments erected by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; The National Tribune; Reilly, United States Martial Flintlocks; Official Records of the War of the Rebellion.
Phil Spaugy is a longtime member of the North South Skirmish Association (N-SSA). He studies arms and accouterments of federal infantry soldiers with an emphasis on his home state of Ohio, firearms of the U.S. Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, and the Iron Brigade. He is a partner with Jim Hessler, in Hessler Spaugy Action Travel. Phil is a retired aviation services company executive who lives in Vandalia, Ohio, with his wife, Amy. He is a MI Senior Editor. Contact Phil at PhilSpaugy@gmail.com.
SPREAD THE WORD: We encourage you to share this story on social media and elsewhere to educate and raise awareness. If you wish to use any image on this page for another purpose, please request permission.
LEARN MORE about Military Images, America’s only magazine dedicated to showcasing, interpreting and preserving Civil War portrait photography.
VISIT OUR STORE to subscribe, renew a subscription, and more.