THE BADASS OF GETTYSBURG

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John L. Burns
  John L. Burns was born on September 5, 1793. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, fighting in numerous battles. Burns tried to enlist during the Mexican War and the Civil War but was rejected because of his age. He did serve as a teamster for the Union Army but was sent home against his will. Burns was then appointed constable of Gettysburg. When Confederate General Jubal Early briefly occupied Gettysburg before the battle, Burns stoutly resisted Early's authority and was jailed. Early evacuated Gettysburg and Burns was released. As constable Burns arrested all the Confederate stragglers he could find. On the first day of the battle of Gettysburg he grabbed his flintlock rifle. On his way to join the fighting he encountered a wounded Union soldier and asked if he could use the soldiers more modern weapon. The soldier handed his musket over to Burns. 

  Burns approached Major Thomas Chamberlain of the 150th Pennsylvania Infantry and asked permission to fall into line of battle. He fought alongside the Iron Brigade as a sharpshooter and in one case he shot a charging Confederate officer off of his horse. As the Union Army retreated he was shot in the arm, the leg, and received several minor wounds in his chest. Union soldiers were forced to leave him behind but he crawled away leaving his weapon and burying his ammunition. When the Confederates found him he was able to convince them that he was a civilian noncombatant that was wounded while trying to get help for his invalid wife. Confederate surgeons dressed his wounds. Under the rules of war he could have been hung as a bushwhacker if his true identity had been discovered. He was able to crawl to the cellar of a nearby house and was later taken to his home. After the battle Burns became a national hero and was photographed by Timothy O'Sullivan, a Matthew Brady photographer. Lincoln insisted on meeting him before giving the Gettysburg Address. In the last two years of his life his mind began to fail and he wandered the country. In the winter of 1871 he was found destitute and dying of pneumonia in New York City. He died on February 4, 1872.

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