00:07 - Hi, I'm Joe Farley.

00:08 - And I'm Joe Farrell and we're at

00:10 - Lancaster Cemetery in Lancaster,

00:11 - Pennsylvania at the grave of

00:13 - John Fulton Reynolds.

00:16 - In our book Keystone Tombstones

00:17 - Vol. 1, we profiled George

00:20 - Meade, who is the commanding

00:21 - general of the Union Army at the

00:23 - Battle of Gettysburg.

00:24 - But Meade arrived late on day

00:26 - one after midnight. John

00:28 - Reynolds arrived much earlier in

00:30 - the day and was one of the

00:32 - reasons that Buford's badly

00:34 - outnumbered cavalry fought to

00:36 - hold the high ground at

00:38 - Gettysburg.

00:39 - He believed in John Reynolds. He

00:41 - believed that Reynolds would

00:42 - come in time to hold the high

00:44 - ground.

00:46 - Reynolds did arrive in time.

00:48 - He arrived early that day and

00:50 - while putting his men in place,

00:52 - was instantly killed by a sniper

00:53 - bullet to the head.

00:55 - He was the first and highest

00:57 - ranking general to die in the

00:58 - battle of Gettysburg.

00:59 - It was a terrible blow to the

01:01 - Union Army since many considered

01:03 - Reynolds to be the best general

01:05 - in the Union army.

01:07 - President Lincoln obviously

01:08 - shared that view because he

01:09 - offered Reynolds the job as

01:11 - commander of the Army of the

01:13 - Potomac.

01:13 - Reynolds turned that job down,

01:15 - feeling that politics entered

01:17 - too much into the running of the

01:18 - army.

01:19 - Reynolds was born here in

01:20 - Lancaster, in 1820. He attended

01:23 - West Point and then he served

01:25 - his country during the Mexican

01:26 - War.

01:27 - It was during that conflict that

01:28 - he befriended both Winfield

01:30 - Scott Hancock and Lewis

01:32 - Armistead. Hancock would be

01:33 - wounded at the Battle of

01:34 - Gettysburg and Armistead would

01:36 - be killed.

01:38 - Shortly after the Civil War

01:39 - broke out, he was promoted to

01:41 - brigadier general.

01:43 - He was captured by the

01:44 - Confederate troops at the Battle

01:45 - of Beaver Creek, but quickly

01:47 - exchanged for a Confederate

01:49 - general.

01:50 - He then went on to fight at the

01:51 - second battle of Bull Run,

01:53 - Chancellorsville, and finally at

01:55 - Gettysburg.

01:58 - Reynolds was so respected at the

01:59 - time of his death that there

02:00 - were three monuments erected to

02:02 - honor him on the Gettysburg

02:03 - battlefield including one

02:05 - marking the spot where he fell.

02:07 - In addition, there's a statue of

02:08 - John Reynolds outside the

02:10 - Philadelphia City Hall building.

02:14 - You can learn more about General

02:15 - John Fulton Reynolds in our book

02:17 - "Keystone Tombstones Vol. 1"

02:19 - available at sunburypress.com.