*One of the more interesting personalities to participate in the battle that day was Gettysburg civilian John Burns. The 70 year-old veteran of the War of 1812 took up his flintlock musket and walked out to the scene of the fighting that morning. Approaching an officer of a Pennsylvania Bucktail regiment, Burns requested that he be allowed to fall in with the officer's command. Not quite believing his eyes nor ears, the officer sent the aged Burns into the woods next to the McPherson Farm, where he fought beside members of the Iron Brigade throughout the afternoon until he was wounded. Injured and exhausted, the old man made his way through groups of victorious Confederates who remarkably allowed him to go home unmolested. After the battle, he was elevated to the role of national hero. Hearing about the aged veteran, Mathew Brady photographed Burns while recuperating at his home on Chambersburg Street and took the story of Burns and his participation in the battle back home to Washington. …
