When the Civil War broke out in 1861, John Burns volunteered for service in the Union Army.

He was a combat veteran of the War of 1812 and claimed to have also served in 1846 during the Mexican-American War.

But he was almost 69, so the the Army rejected him.

But when the war came to his hometown of Gettysburg two years later, John got a his chance to serve.

It was July 1, 1863, the first day of the battle, and John could hear distant gunfire from his house.

He dressed in his very best, but very old, gentleman’s dress clothes and silk top hat, picked up his flintlock musket and powder horn, and left his house, determined to join the first Union outfit he encountered.

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