A message from our President Slim Bowser: I would like to express my great appreciation for everyone who participated in the 163rd Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. Despite the incredible heat wave that was close to the events in 2013, the 62nd endured the weather to make this another memorable event in 62nd family history. Not only was the 62nd honored by the annual “Wheatfield Tribute” that was held on Saturday, July 4th, but the encampment and presentations by our 62nd young historians received high acclaim from the folks at the Rupp House/ Children of Gettysburg 1863 Museum.
An eyewitness account from Vice-President Katie Wolfe: I echo Slim’s words of a wonderful job in Gettysburg for the 163rd Battle of Gettysburg Anniversary and America’s 250th Anniversary, and huge thanks to everyone who helped to make it happen! The heat was intense, but everyone pitched in and we made it through together. Special praise to our young historians as well- they all helped throughout the entire weekend with no complaints. We are very blessed to have such a great and dedicated group of young historians!
The ceremony in the Wheatfield was as moving as always, with the soldiers and ladies filing in under the trees along the stone wall for some much-needed shade. Prayers were then offered by Chaplain Ryder and words of remembrance and honor were shared by Sue Bowser on behalf of Slim and the ladies as well. Private Hankinson also shared thoughts on the close bonds of the men in the 62nd PVI, Company D, many of whom were from the same small, neighboring towns in Armstrong County. Many of us are currently reading our founder Gordon Sheaffer’s fantastic book, The Brothers’ Duty, about the Truitt brothers in the 62nd PVI and it definitely brought to mind how these men were friends, relatives and neighbors before they marched off to war together. Remembering them on the 250th birthday of our country, which they helped to preserve, was especially moving. Private Zimmerman placed the Wheat Sheaf at the monument as Private Wolfe played Taps, and Chaplain Ryder closed with prayer. Special thanks to Matt Zimmerman for the wonderful family and group photos he took afterwards!
We then traveled to the Children of Gettysburg 1863 Museum to open our living history encampment, while the ladies also prepared lunch. We were happy to celebrate our Chaplain Ryder’s 65th birthday as well! We very much appreciated the wall tent that was loaned to us by our friends from the Officers for the Union, Dave Simmons and Mike Smith. In addition, special thanks to those in the 62nd who helped to build our new worktable inside the wall tent, which was very helpful for storage and food preparations!
We had a busy afternoon speaking to guests of the Children’s Museum. Ashley Ciprich had a wonderful display of Civil War era clothing, including Adalynn’s beautiful new dress that Ashely made herself! Adalynn changed out of this dress and into a civilian nurse’s impression, with a great display table and bandages set up to educate guests about the role of civilian nurses. Our other youngsters also did a great job setting up camp, interacting with the public, playing games with other young children and helping to prepare the lunch. They also did a fine job with the reading of true Teenagers of Gettysburg stories inside the museum, with Kara, Anna, Adalynn, Brionna and Maewyn sharing about Gettysburg girls Mary Warren, Anna Garlach, Jennie McCreary, Lydia Ziegler, Emma Winebrenner, Tillie Pierce and Sadie Bushman. Cayden and Gavin also shared stories about teenage soldiers, with Gavin sharing the new research that now points to as many as 10% of Union soldiers being under the age of 18, as well as true stories of teenage 62nd PVI soldiers including Robert Sutton, the Freisel brothers William and John and William Logan Reed. Cayden also shared the story from descendant John Henderson’s website about the 62nd PVI Company D encounter with a ‘stranger’ in camp (President Lincoln!) We were very grateful to the staff of the Children’s Museum and their Director Jennifer Haase for allowing the young historians to do their readings inside and out of the heat.
We were also fortunate to meet another 62nd PVI descendant! Ray Hendrickson and his wife visited our encampment around lunchtime, saying they had seen the advertisement from the Children’s Museum that we would be there. He shared that he is a descendant of 62nd PVI Company B soldier, John Upperman. Sue shared our company card with him, so hopefully we will be seeing and hearing more from him soon! He seemed very interested in what we do, and we had a great time talking to him.
The lovely folks at the Cone Sweet Cone ice cream shop next to the museum offered us free slushies or sherbet before we closed camp, which really hit the spot! We then broke camp and took a break from the heat before enjoying the 4th of July fireworks on the historic 250th birthday of America!
Sunday was still very warm, so the ladies decided not to appear in period dress, but most of our soldiers did and Chaplain Ryder led us in a wonderful church service, which also attracted visitors from the public. We sang Stand Up For Jesus and Battle Hymn Of The Republic, both hymns that the 62nd PVI soldiers might have sung. We then broke camp in order to beat some forecasted storms rolling in, and everyone pitched in to load both our equipment and the Officers for the Union’s tents. The staff at the Children’s Museum was very helpful as always in assisting us in getting everything squared away, and they thanked us again for being there. I thanked them on behalf of the 62nd PVI LHF for being so understanding and flexible with our encampment and the heat. And so closed another memorable and meaningful Battle of Gettysburg Anniversary and the celebration of America’s 250th Anniversary.
