John Burns

About this book

John L. Burns is one of the most famous civilian warriors in American history. On July 1 1863 he left the shelter of his Gettysburg home and joined in the fighting west of town. Wounded and captured he survived the battle to become a national celebrity. In the months that followed he was visited by reporters and photographers; he received the personal thanks of Abraham Lincoln and Congress passed a special act granting him a pension. As his tale spread across the land some of its details became distorted and today much of what happened is shrouded in myth and legend. In this the first full-length biography published on Burns Smith has attempted to sort fact from fiction and tell the true story of "The Hero of Gettysburg."