JOHN BURNS OF GETTYSBURG. 337 



In all the raids and invasions north of the Potomac and the 

 Ohio we have no similar instance of a civilian leaving his 

 home to join our troops to fight the invaders. Even in the 

 pugnacious South such resistance, if it ever occurred, has not 

 been given prominence. That the act was Quixotic is not to 

 the point, and if it were, so were the actions of hundreds of 

 thousands who left wealth and comfort to risk hardships, 

 wounds and death, who owed no more to their country than 

 their stay-at-home neighbors. Apologetic spokesmen for his 

 townsmen, on the day of the fight, emphasize the fact that 

 ununiformed men found about a battle-field are liable to be 

 treated as spies if captured, and at any rate would be only in 

 the way; that if wounded they would draw no pension, and if 

 killed their heirs would not be benefited. If so, and assum- 

 ing that Burns took this into account, all the more credit is 

 due him. That he was cranky and unsociable goes for noth- 

 ing. He was boastful, and his unrepressed satisfaction at the 

 part he played would produce ill-natured remarks from his 

 fellows. This would create resentment and isolate him from 

 the rest of his neighbors. In fact, the people of Gettysburg 

 seem very sensitive to the non-fulfilment of the expectations of 

 unpractical persons, in that every able-bodied man did not 

 grasp his musket from the hooks over the fireplace and rush 

 out to meet the invaders, while their wives moulded bullets and 

 scraped lint. Mindful of this feeling, the guide tells visitors 

 that all men capable of fighting had already enlisted, and if it 

 were not so, and they had had the bravery to fight among our 

 uniformed soldiers, they would have been shot by the enemy 

 if captured. The truth of the matter is, that the capture of the 

 town was not the object of either army, but the destruction of 

 its antagonist was. Gettysburg, by accident of situation, was 

 where the collision occurred, and its men were no more obliged 

 to turn out in mass than those of Doylestown or Bristol one 

 hundred and fifty miles distant. They did go to the front 



