Waist length seated view of Gettysburg civilian soldier John Burns a coat over what appears to be a vest, with a white shirt.  On the bottom margin is a printed version of Burns’ signature; below that is “Entered According to Act of Congress, in the year of 1863, by TYSON BROTHERS, Gettysburg, Pa., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court, of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.”  On the reverse is a brief printed history Burns’ actions during the battle.

Overall very good condition, minor light scattered soiling and foxing.

Burns was a veteran of the War of 1812 and a civilian citizen of Gettysburg when the battle erupted on July 1, 1863.  After the preliminary skirmishing of the battle of Gettysburg began, Burns met a wounded Union soldier, borrowed his rifle and ammunition, with which he went to the front and offered his services as a volunteer to Maj. Chamberlain of the 155^th Pennsylvania regiment.  He was referred to the 7^th Wisconsin volunteers nearby, they being sharply engaged with the enemy. The old man proved himself such a skillful sharpshooter that the colonel commanding the regiment sent him a favorite long-range rifle, which he used all day with deadly effect in the advanced line; he was however badly wounded in the afternoon, when the Union troops were forced back.  He told a plausible story to his Confederate captors, and got himself carried to his own house, where his wounds were dressed by the surgeons; and after a narrow escape from execution as an un-uniformed combatant, he was left when the Confederates were in turn driven back. The story of his patriotic zeal aroused the greatest interest in the northern states; he was lauded as the “Hero of Gettysburg”, and after the war, as his home was on the battlefield, became an object of curiosity of visitors and accumulated a competence through their generosity.