In 1863, they were at each other's throat's. They killed each other without a thought. It was war. And this battle at a place called Gettysburg, Pennsylvania was a bloody one. Three days of the harshest fighting that the country had seen so far. One side in blue and the other in gray. That was the only thing that divided them...except a way of life. One side fought to maintain it while the other fought to stop it. But they were all countrymen. All from the same country, the United States of America. But it wasn't united right now. A cloud hung over the country. A dark cloud and it brought death, suffering, destruction and wounds to many that would never heal.

The Civil War was a dark and gloomy period in our history. While many families struggled with their own slavery simply because they were born a different color and had been forced from their homeland to serve a people, war had been waged in an attempt to overcome the practice. And that war would rage on for the years 1861 to 1865. And the one battle that was more famous to history than the others was the Battle of Gettysburg.

But now it was 1913...50 years later. The soldiers who had survived were old now. 50 years older. Many couldn't forget why thay had fought and they would not forget those who had died. In that 50 years, monuments had been erected. Many of the old soldiers had died. As the Union side prospered and did well, the Confederate South had not recovered at the same pace.

But in 1913, veterans from both sides of the war, the conqueror and the conquered, came together, for many - one last time. Both the blue and the gray would meet, shake hands, hug and smile at each other. And besides a small act of violence that took place at a local saloon, both sides talked, laughed, told stories, compared battle scars and wounds and found that they were not THAT much different after all. They were all Americans.

Today of course, all of those aged veterans are gone. So are the organizers of the event and even the young Boy Scouts that took part. It's been, at this writing, 109 years since the three days in July of 1913 took place. And 159-years since the battle was fought. At that time most of these aged veterans were soldiers in their teens and early twenties. Now they are gone and the pictures are left to tell the story of this event. Plus some monuments and tokens such as the badges made for the attendees. Look for them, sadly, you'll find them sometimes on eBay. I guess that you could say that the 1913 reunion was the Woodstock of it's time. Though the music was a bit different.