Address:
30 Chambersburg Street
Gettysburg, PA 17325
1850
Farmhouse
John L. Burns
Unknown
2100
American Craftsman
Clapboard
Not Available
Not Available
0
Indoors
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
On the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, 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: "...consisted of dark trousers and a 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 40 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 the remote past." (Via Wiki)
Outdoors
Not Available
Not Available
Side
Not Available
Wide view of the home. Burns and his wife can be seen on the side porch.
Outdoors
Not Available
Not Available
Side
Not Available
Burns sitting on his side porch, resting from his battle wounds. Date is approximate.
Outdoors
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
John L. Burn visited with Abraham Lincoln, at the president's request, perhaps at his home (although we know they walked to a local church during their encounter). The president was in town to deliver a brief speech.
