Dan Paterson
27-28 Sept 1997
Gettysburg, PA
" The Truth Is Eternal "
The third and final Seminar for the Longstreet Memorial Fund took place this weekend at Gettysburg PA where the monument will be commemorated July 3rd, 1998. This time around it was decided to have battlefield tours combined with speakers instead of the standard symposium format. A great decision that was for they sold out completely all 200+ tickets.
The event started at the Gettysburg Firehouse where all attendees were assigned to one of three divisions: Pickett’s, Hood’s and McLaws’. My family and I were assigned to Pickett’s division resulting in our first tour of the day being Pickett’s Charge of course. Wayne Motts led this tour and gave a great presentation and even made us "form up" in the cornfield. If any of you have never walked this ground I recommend you walk it with a group. Mr Motts was an outstanding guide, letting us know when we were under artillery fire. We crossed Emmittsburg Pike and approached the angle just as the troops did 134 years ago.
The second tour was conducted by B Keith Toney and covered Longstreet’s countermarch of the second day of the battle. We covered ground I’d never been on by the BlackHorse Tavern. Mr Toney covered all the routes and went into detail about the engineers that were assigned to find a route where the troops could proceed unseen.
The third and final tour was conducted by Carol Reardon and covered Hood’s attack on Little Round Top. We got off the buses at Big Round Top and walked through Devil’s Den and proceeded up Little Round Top. Carol went into great detail about the formations getting crossed up and had us form in line as Wayne Motts did earlier. She is a most informative guide and I can’t wait to read her new book, "Pickett’s Charge."
That evening a dramatic play was put on by the fund in the form of a court of inquiry. It was an official investigation into Longstreet’s actions at Gettysburg with Tim Perry playing the part of General Longstreet and Pat Falci of the movie "Gettysburg" playing A.P. Hill. Needless to say Longstreet was found not guilty!
Sunday morning started off with chairman Robert C Thomas and Sculptor Gary Casteel highlighting the humble beginnings and the accomplishments of the LMF. The strength and success of the organization was celebrated. Finally, Dr William Garrett Piston, the author of "Lee’s Tarnished Lieutenant," spoke on the evolving Image of James Longstreet from the Civil War Centennial to today. This was a great talk and if anyone has a chance to read Dr Piston’s book or hear him speak I recommend him highly.
The weekend was an enormous success. Not only were all the remaining funds for the monument raised but enough money was raised to repair the marker for the General’s HQ as well. Money is still being raised however for the endowment fund which is for the upkeep of the grounds of the monument over the years. This was an outstanding event to be a part of and I’d like to give a special thanks to Ann Collins, our secretary, for attending the event and experiencing what I have over the last five years.
Dan Paterson
Great-grandson of James Longstreet
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