Neat photo I have never seen.

[Liam]

Two U.S. foot soldiers serving as guards at a Gettysburg Reunion that brought together 50,000 American Civil War Veterans, Pennsylvania, 1913.
2.jpg

[lyman]

colorized photo?


wondering if the rifles were really that worn, finish wise,

[RCS]

no handguard clips in the left rifle

[bruce]

Cool picture. Thanks for posting it. Sincerely. bruce.

[Johnny P]

The hand guard clips weren't added until some time in 1910, and the rifles probably hadn't been back for maintenance.

[Merc]

Interesting photo. Original b/w would be valuable. (All items related to Gettysburg are valuable.). The soldiers appear to be fully armed and are ready for anything. Probably a company that was assigned guard duty to protect and assist the veterans. You have to wonder if they appreciated the significance of the event?

Some observations:

The tent behind them appears to have a veteran seated in a folding chair.

The butt plate, bolt and barrel bands do not appear to be blued. Notice the foresight hood.

Blue hat cords signifying enlisted men? (Gold = officers?) Both have hat pins, possibly regimental insignias. (Add - The soldier on the left has a regimental insignia pinned to his shirt pocket flap.).

Standard issue ammo belt with suspenders, watch fob and a clean unworn (recently issued?) bayonet.

[fjruple]

Thanks for sharing!!

[J.J.]

Have rifle #406328, bbl. date 2-10. The handguard is a shortened 1905 type with sight line cut modification and no clips. No other 1910 mods are present.
J.J.

[Merc]

Both soldiers are lightweights. I’ll bet the soldier on the right doesn’t weigh more than 120 pounds.

[RCS]

S stamp on shortened handguard without clips

Here is a photo of the s stamp on a shortened handguard without clips but groovedP1010023_0017_017.jpg

[Merc]

Here is the original black and white photo:

821CCDAB-92EF-4687-A0C2-5201C5269783.jpg

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Those reunions were most interesting. There is a video of some aged Confederate vets dong the infamous Rebel Yell on YouTube. The reunions continued well into the 20th Century. In the photos I have seen, everyone appears to be right friendly to each other. Their wives accompanied the vets, and those are some pretty tough looking old birds. Current attempts to wipe out Confederate history and Old South cultures are sad footnotes to American history. If the vets could forgive each other, it seems the rest of us should follow suit. My great grandfather John Carter Gregory fought as a Confederate, and he was against slavery. He always said it was impossible to find farm work due to slavery. He viewed the war as an invasion of the South, and slavery as an instrument to make a very few men very wealthy and the rest of the common men poor as church mice.

[Merc]

Here is a home movie of the last Gettysburg reunion.

https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/home-video-brings-1938-civil-war-reunion-to-life/417-477562337

[Fred Pillot]

I wonder what model belt the soldier on the right is wearing. It looks wider than an m1910.

[togor]

Those reunions were most interesting. There is a video of some aged Confederate vets dong the infamous Rebel Yell on YouTube. The reunions continued well into the 20th Century. In the photos I have seen, everyone appears to be right friendly to each other. Their wives accompanied the vets, and those are some pretty tough looking old birds. Current attempts to wipe out Confederate history and Old South cultures are sad footnotes to American history. If the vets could forgive each other, it seems the rest of us should follow suit. My great grandfather John Carter Gregory fought as a Confederate, and he was against slavery. He always said it was impossible to find farm work due to slavery. He viewed the war as an invasion of the South, and slavery as an instrument to make a very few men very wealthy and the rest of the common men poor as church mice.

Common sentiment in the north as well. My wife comes from Iowa Germans on her father's side, immigrants in the 1850s. We went to a family reunion a few years back, and nearby was the town cemetery where the original bearer of the family name is buried. Looking down to the northeast, the Mississippi river can be seen, maybe an hour away on horseback. Germany being a land of rivers and hillsides (especially in the southwest), it is no surprise that they felt a bit more at home in that region. Those Iowa Germans objected to slavery on the basis that they could not compete against unpaid labor, and they were willing to enlist and fight to keep the union intact. At the same time they had no particular desire to share Iowa with newly-freed slaves, and even passed laws to that effect.