For those who may be interested, these are the attendance figures for the 1913 (50th) and 1938 (75th) veterans reunions at Gettysburg as published in the official reports of the Pennsylvania Commission:
Note that the official attendance figures are based on the residence of each veteran in 1913 and 1938 – not on the State from which they served during the war. But the numbers in parentheses further break it down to show how many had fought for the Union vs. Confederate armies.
So while 285 veterans travelled from Georgia for the 1913 reunion, 35 of them had fought for the Union army.
Some other interesting observations:
- It is not surprising that Confederate veterans were greatly outnumbered at both reunions since they were commemorating the anniversary of a Confederate loss in “Northern” territory. But while Confederate veterans represented 15.3% (8174/53407) of the attending veterans in 1913, that number jumped to 26.6% (491/1845) in 1938.
- Of the 48 States that existed at the time, all but Nevada and Wyoming were represented in 1913 and all but Rhode Island were represented in 1938.
- The two States with the highest number of veterans attending the 1913 reunion were Pennsylvania (22103 veterans or 41.3%) and New York (8500 veterans or 15.9%). But in 1938, the two States with the highest attendance were California (150 veterans or 8.1%) and Texas (130 veterans or 7.0%)!
See also: North Dakota at Gettysburg? and Roster of Veterans at the 1913 Gettysburg Reunion.
