Gettysburg prepares for epic invasion of battle re-enactors
GETTYSBURG, Pa. — After surviving one of the American Civil War’s pivotal battles 150 years ago, Gettysburg once again faces invasion.
The community about 125 miles west of Philadelphia is readying for as many as 4 million visitors during its commemoration of the clash between Union and Confederate forces in July 1863, and the landmark presidential speech in November of that year as the war raged.
“In 1863, we had more than 165,000 uninvited guests come to town — at least this time around, we got the chance to plan,” Randy Phiel, a commissioner of surrounding Ad- ams County, said. “This is our Olympic moment.”
The anniversary of the war’s bloodiest battle, coupled with the Oscarwinning 2012 movie “Lincoln,” will bring Piotr Narloch and five pals from Krakow, Poland, to help reenact part of the fighting. The commemoration has tour operators and travel sites touting the borough of about 7,600 residents as one of this year’s top destinations, according to Carl Whitehill, a spokesman for the Gettysburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The estimated 15,000 Civil War re- enactors on hand this year will stand out with their rifles, pitched tents and campfires on farms near the battlefields. They’ll include Narloch and his Polish friends.
The group will travel 5,000 miles to stage the July 2 Culp’s Hill assault by the 14th Louisiana Infantry Regiment, a Confederate unit largely composed of Polish immigrants. They’ll join other history buffs at the Bushey Farm outside Gettysburg starting June 27.
The epic battle began as Confederate forces under Gen. Robert E. Lee invaded Pennsylvania during the war’s third year. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was beaten back by the Union’s Army of the Potomac led by Gen. George G. Meade, a Pennsylvanian. Meade defeated a desperate charge by Gen. George Pickett’s men on the last of three days of fighting, which left more than 50,000 combatants dead, wounded or missing.