00:06 - Hi, I'm Joe Farley.

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

00:10 - Evergreen Cemetery in historic

00:12 - Gettysburg at the grave of John

00:14 - Burns.

00:16 - You know, Joe, I've visited

00:18 - Gettysburg many times over the

00:20 - last 40 years.

00:20 - And very often I stop at the

00:22 - statue with John Burns and I've

00:23 - read the plaque and when I

00:25 - started doing research for

00:26 - Keystone Tombstones, I

00:28 - discovered there's a lot more to

00:29 - the story.

00:31 - John Burns was a veteran of the

00:33 - War of 1812 and of the Mexican

00:35 - War.

00:36 - And having military experience

00:37 - and experience with firearms, he

00:39 - was a natural to be the

00:40 - constable in Gettysburg. On the

00:42 - day June 26, when the

00:44 - Confederates rode into town, he

00:46 - was 70 years old.

00:48 - Yes, the Confederates actually

00:50 - put Burns in his own prison, for

00:52 - his adamant insistence on

00:54 - exercising his civil authority.

00:56 - He wasn't about to let the

00:57 - Confederates come into the town

00:58 - and take whatever they wanted.

01:00 - After the Confederates left and

01:01 - headed for Harrisburg, they

01:03 - released Burns from jail and he

01:05 - actually arrested some of the

01:06 - Confederate stragglers.

01:07 - He held them until Buford's

01:09 - cavalry arrived here in

01:10 - Gettysburg on June 30th. The

01:13 - next day when fighting erupted,

01:15 - Burns calmly picked up his

01:16 - musket, ran to the scene of the

01:18 - fighting, and said to the

01:20 - regimental commander "I'd like

01:21 - to fight with your group" and

01:23 - his wish was granted.

01:24 - The soldiers of the famous Iron

01:26 - Brigade were stunned to see an

01:28 - elderly man in plain clothes

01:30 - joining them and waiting for

01:32 - Confederate attack.

01:33 - He fought through the afternoon,

01:35 - and at one point, shot a

01:36 - Confederate officer off his

01:38 - horse.

01:39 - Burns was wounded three times

01:41 - and when the Confederates forced

01:43 - the Union troops to retreat,

01:45 - they left him behind.

01:46 - At that time, fighting as a

01:49 - non-uniformed combatant was

01:51 - punishable by immediate

01:52 - execution.

01:54 - John Burns knew this.

01:56 - He crawled away from his rifle

01:58 - and managed to bury his

01:59 - ammunition, hoping to convince

02:01 - Confederate troops that he was

02:03 - just a local guy caught in the

02:05 - crossfire.

02:06 - He succeeded in doing that and

02:08 - the confederate surgeons

02:09 - actually treated his wounds.

02:10 - After the battle, Burns' fame

02:12 - spread throughout the country.

02:15 - Abner Doubleday, the creator of

02:16 - baseball, called Burns the hero

02:19 - of Gettysburg. When Abraham

02:21 - Lincoln arrived here to dedicate

02:22 - the National Cemetery, one of

02:24 - the people he wanted to meet was

02:25 - John Burns.

02:26 - They walked together from the

02:28 - Wills house to the Presbyterian

02:30 - Church on Baltimore Street. In

02:32 - 1864, the famous poet Bret Hart

02:35 - published a poem called "John

02:36 - Burns of Gettysburg."

02:38 - That same year, Congress passed

02:40 - an act granting Burns a pension.

02:42 - In the last years of his life,

02:44 - John Burns suffered from

02:45 - dementia.

02:46 - He would often wander away from

02:48 - his home and be found somewhere.

02:50 - In 1871, December, he was found

02:53 - on the streets of New York,

02:54 - wandering around, destitute.

02:56 - They returned him home to

02:58 - Gettysburg where he died

03:00 - February 4th, 1872.

03:03 - He was 78 years old.

03:05 - The American flag here at John

03:07 - Burns' grave flies 24 hours a

03:09 - day.

03:10 - If you'd like to learn more

03:11 - about John Burns, you can read

03:12 - about him in our book "Keystone

03:14 - Tombstones Vol. 1," available

03:16 - through sunburypress.com.