JOHN BURNS OF GETTYSBURG. 339 



where the streets slope down to the meadows, reaching to the 

 foot of Seminary Ridge, a half mile distant. Eight miles 

 westward is a ^yooded range, a part of the Blue Ridge, known 

 as South Mountain, beyond which is the Cumberland Valley. 

 Between this and the town is a rolling, diversified country, 

 dotted by farms and woods. Before the war we can fancy the 

 old Scotchman, in his hours of rest, looking from his cottage 

 across this peaceful stretch of country and enjoying its 

 beauties, but it is doubtful if he bothered his practical mind 

 much about them. After the invasion we can imagine with a 

 conviction that our surmisings were realized, how he felt when 

 he saw Early's dust-begrimed veterans take possession of the 

 town on the 26th of June, and begin levying tribute on the 

 startled citizens : how he met the sneers of his neighbors after 

 the horde passed through for not carrying out his warlike 

 threats; how he felt on the memorable 1st of July, when the 

 vanguard of the Federal army marched by his door to meet 

 the enemy thronging from the north and through the moun- 

 tain-pass on the west, and how his old soldier-blood fired his 

 heart as he saw the combat open; how, leaving his work, he 

 hurried to the front, while his subterranean neighbors gazed 

 wonderingly at him from their seclusion. 



On the morning of July 1st, 1863, the greatest excitement 

 was developing in Gettysburg, on Seminary Ridge and the 

 valley of WiUoughby Run beyond. The enemy s point of 

 concentration was discovered, and it was known that his 

 advance was in such force that the impending conflict 

 between the armies of Lee and Meade must necessarily take 

 place near the town. The preliminary skirmish had begun 

 and, knowing its import, the commanding general was sending 

 reinforcements as fast as the exhausted condition of e 

 troops would permit. Here John Burns first comes on the 

 scene. At this time he was sixty-nine years old. In . 

 younger days he had been given to drink, and some of his 



