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This is Will's letter about the 1913 Gettysburg Reunion, which was held from June 29 to July 4, fifty years after the Battle of Gettysburg, which was fought from July 1-3, 1863. Will was on hand at the reunion, helping the veterans.
The event was remarkably successful, by which I mean that it did not turn into Gettysburg: The Rematch, and also that the death rate at the reunion was no higher than was normal for a bunch of men over 70 years old. Over 50,000 Civil War veterans, including over 8,000 Confederate veterans, attended. July 1 was Veterans Day, July 2 was Military Day, July 3 was Civic/Governors Day, and July 4 was National Day.
Meanwhile, in the country as a whole, it is estimated that 51 black people were lynched in 1913 - an average of about one per week. But Will wouldn't have heard much about that.
The event was remarkably successful, by which I mean that it did not turn into Gettysburg: The Rematch, and also that the death rate at the reunion was no higher than was normal for a bunch of men over 70 years old. Over 50,000 Civil War veterans, including over 8,000 Confederate veterans, attended. July 1 was Veterans Day, July 2 was Military Day, July 3 was Civic/Governors Day, and July 4 was National Day.
Meanwhile, in the country as a whole, it is estimated that 51 black people were lynched in 1913 - an average of about one per week. But Will wouldn't have heard much about that.
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Veteran Camp, Gettysburg, Pa.
July 6, 1913.
Dear Mother,
We arrived here a week ago yesterday (Saturday) and went into camp. The veterans started to come in Sunday morning and we were as busy as we could be from then on to the about the end of the week. I had general charge over a section of the camp - nearly a third of it I think. My veterans were from Pennsylvania and New York - although some of the veterans from those states were outside of my section.
The state headquarters were supposed to assign vets to tents. The Penna. Headquarters did for a while and then quit. The New York headquarters did not show up at all. I had my company to help me except about 30 men who were in the information bureaus and in the “unclaimed articles” tent. We had to assign the vets to tents and distribute blankets to them, find their tents for them when they were lost, send for the ambulances when they were sick, and help them to find their friends. To show how helpless some of them were, there are still in the unclaimed articles tent 3 sets of false teeth innumerable “specs” , and a tent full of grips and suitcases. Some of them were lost from their tents over two days. They would go out and forget their tent numbers and the number of their street and it would be almost impossible to find their tents because they could not remember anything about how it was located and they were not able to walk very far in helping you to look for tents.
Nearly all of them were very much pleased with everything. A few of them came in tired and cross and I think they either left early or got over their grouches, because there was practically no kicking after the first day or two.
I was delighted to hear how Margaret has grown and to hear that she is getting so strong. Does she still yell the way she did? Thank you and Margaret for the kisses. I am sorry I can’t take in the swimming. I have a notion to get a book on swimming and send it to the girls (lend it) (isn’t he an old tight-wad) It is a book that gives the best swimming strokes and I judge from the way it is written that is very good. Do they want it.
The college students come to-morrow and I suppose they will keep me busy so I may not get many letters written for a couple of weeks.
I forgot to say there were a lot of boy scouts here and they did excellent work.
Write soon everybody,
With love to all,
Will
July 6, 1913.
Dear Mother,
We arrived here a week ago yesterday (Saturday) and went into camp. The veterans started to come in Sunday morning and we were as busy as we could be from then on to the about the end of the week. I had general charge over a section of the camp - nearly a third of it I think. My veterans were from Pennsylvania and New York - although some of the veterans from those states were outside of my section.
The state headquarters were supposed to assign vets to tents. The Penna. Headquarters did for a while and then quit. The New York headquarters did not show up at all. I had my company to help me except about 30 men who were in the information bureaus and in the “unclaimed articles” tent. We had to assign the vets to tents and distribute blankets to them, find their tents for them when they were lost, send for the ambulances when they were sick, and help them to find their friends. To show how helpless some of them were, there are still in the unclaimed articles tent 3 sets of false teeth innumerable “specs” , and a tent full of grips and suitcases. Some of them were lost from their tents over two days. They would go out and forget their tent numbers and the number of their street and it would be almost impossible to find their tents because they could not remember anything about how it was located and they were not able to walk very far in helping you to look for tents.
Nearly all of them were very much pleased with everything. A few of them came in tired and cross and I think they either left early or got over their grouches, because there was practically no kicking after the first day or two.
I was delighted to hear how Margaret has grown and to hear that she is getting so strong. Does she still yell the way she did? Thank you and Margaret for the kisses. I am sorry I can’t take in the swimming. I have a notion to get a book on swimming and send it to the girls (lend it) (isn’t he an old tight-wad) It is a book that gives the best swimming strokes and I judge from the way it is written that is very good. Do they want it.
The college students come to-morrow and I suppose they will keep me busy so I may not get many letters written for a couple of weeks.
I forgot to say there were a lot of boy scouts here and they did excellent work.
Write soon everybody,
With love to all,
Will
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1.
I don’t know where exactly Mama Margaret is at this point. As of May 25, she and baby Maggie were in Canton with Laura on their way from California to Massachusetts, so they had probably made it to Alma's apartment in South Hadley by now. But Alma was in Woods Hole in 1914, so it's not impossible that she was there in 1913 as well.
2.
I was delighted to hear how Margaret has grown and to hear that she is getting so strong.
Maggie was born in November 1912, so she was 8 months old at this time.
3.
I am sorry I can’t take in the swimming.
This suggests that Alma is indeed in Woods Hole, with Mama Margaret and baby Margaret (Maggie).
4.
I have a notion to get a book on swimming and send it to the girls (lend it) (isn’t he an old tight-wad)
The girls must be Alma and Eva; I've seen him referring to them that way occasionally. So we've got Mama Margaret, Alma, Eva, and Maggie in Woods Hole, swimming at the MBL beach...maybe.
5.
With love to all,
The "to all" really does suggest that Eva is there as well, getting to know her little niece.
6.
A side note: Mama Margaret lived through the Civil War, having been born in 1844. You'd never guess it, reading this letter that her son wrote to her.
I don’t know where exactly Mama Margaret is at this point. As of May 25, she and baby Maggie were in Canton with Laura on their way from California to Massachusetts, so they had probably made it to Alma's apartment in South Hadley by now. But Alma was in Woods Hole in 1914, so it's not impossible that she was there in 1913 as well.
2.
I was delighted to hear how Margaret has grown and to hear that she is getting so strong.
Maggie was born in November 1912, so she was 8 months old at this time.
3.
I am sorry I can’t take in the swimming.
This suggests that Alma is indeed in Woods Hole, with Mama Margaret and baby Margaret (Maggie).
4.
I have a notion to get a book on swimming and send it to the girls (lend it) (isn’t he an old tight-wad)
The girls must be Alma and Eva; I've seen him referring to them that way occasionally. So we've got Mama Margaret, Alma, Eva, and Maggie in Woods Hole, swimming at the MBL beach...maybe.
5.
With love to all,
The "to all" really does suggest that Eva is there as well, getting to know her little niece.
6.
A side note: Mama Margaret lived through the Civil War, having been born in 1844. You'd never guess it, reading this letter that her son wrote to her.
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