Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1865-12-05
a Gettysburg Hero,

John Burus is stoutsh, slightly beut, hale
old man, with a light blue eye, a long, aggres-
siye nose, frn-set mouth expressive Of deter.
minatiOn Of character, and cholerlc temper.
ment His hair, originally dark brown, is con
sIderably bleached with age and his beard
once sandy, covers his face (shayed once or twice
q weekly with fine crop Of silver stubble A
short, massy kind Of man about five feet four
or five inches 10 hight, | should Judge. lis was
never measured but once in his life. That was
when he enlisted in the war OF 1872. lie was
then 10 years old, and stood five leet in his
shoes. " But I've srowed heap since, said
the old hero.
He introduced me to his wife, slow, some
what melancholy old lady, in ll.health. " She
has been poorly now for good many years.
They have NO children
At my request he told me his story. lie is
of Scotch parentage, and who knows but he
may be akin TO the plowman poet, whose " ar
rowy songs still sing in our morning air lie
was born and bred in Burlington, n. ]. A
shoemaker by trade, he became soldier by
choice, and fought the British in what used to
be the last war. | am afraid he contracted
bad habits in the army, For some years after
the war he led wandering and dissipated life.
Forty years ago he chanted to find himself in
Gettysburg, where he married and settled
down. But bis unfortunate habits still ad-
hered to him, and he was long looked upon
as man Of little worth. At last, however,
when there seemed to be no hope Of his ever
being anything but desplsed old man, he took
a sudden resolution to reform. The fact that
ho kept that resolution, and still keeps it 60
strictly that il is impossible to prevail upon
him to taste drop OF Intoxicating liquor, at
tests truly heroic will. lie was afterwards a
constable in Gettysburg, in which capacity he
served come six years
On the morning of the first days fight he
sent his wife away, telling her that he would
take care of the house. The firing wac near
by, over Seminary Ridge. Soon wounded
soldier came into the town and stopped at an
old house on The opposite corner. Burns saw
tho poor fellow lay dows his musket, and the
inspiration to 20 into the battle seems then first
to have seized him. lll went over and demand
ed the gun.
What are you going to do with it - asked
the soldier.
"l'm going to shoot some of tho damned
rebels replied John.
lie Is not a swearing man, and the strong
adjective is to be taken in a strictly literal, not
a proane, sense.
Having obtaiuod tho gun, he pushed out on
the Chambersburg Pike, and was soon in the
thick Of the akirmish.
q" wore high-crowned hat, and long
tailed blue aud | was seventy years Old
The sight Of 50 old man. in such costume,
rushing learlessly forward to get a shot in the
very front OF the battle, of course attracted at.
tenton. lie fought with the 7th Wisconsin
regiment the colonel of which ordered hin
back, aud questioned him, and finally, seeing tht
old mans patriotic determination, gave him d
good rlo in place Of the musket he had brought
with him.
"Ara you good shot 20
"Iolenble good, said John, who is an old
iox-buner.
do you SEQ that rebel riding yonder -
~ do.
"Can you fetch him
81 can try.
Tho old man took deliberate aim and fired
lie did not say he killed the rebel but simply
that his shot was chocrod by the Wisconsin
! boys, aud that afterwards the horse the rebe
rode was seen Ralloping With an empty saddle
That's all know about il"
lie fought until our forces were driven back
in the afternoon. He had already received twC
slight wounds, and third one through the
arm, 20 which he paid little attention " only
the blood running down my hand bothered mt
"a heap" Then, as he was slowly falling bach
with the rest, he received final shot through