One hundred years ago this July, 22-year-old Philadelphia Scoutmaster E. Urner Goodman helped lead one of Scouting's early national good turns, a service corps of Scouts at the reunion of Union and Confederate soldiers on the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.
The Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863, was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, in which 7,058 were killed, 33,264 were wounded and 10,790 were missing. Fifty years later, the federal government and the state of Pennsylvania understood that the nation was ready to use the anniversary as a statement of brotherhood and joined to organize a grand reunion of soldiers from both sides, and not necessarily only those who had fought at Gettysburg, for July 1-4, 1913. The 40,000 expected veterans were to be housed in a tent city built by the U.S. Army. The Army and members of the Pennsylvania Commission on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg were familiar with the good work Boy Scouts had done in March, in Washington, D.C., during the inauguration festivities for President Woodrow Wilson. Lt. Col. Lewis E. Beitler, secretary of the Commission, met with the commissioner (the equivalent of a modern Scout executive) of the Philadelphia Boy Scout Council, George D. Porter, and arranged for 385 Scouts, organized in troops of 24 boys each, from a radius of 150 miles around Gettysburg to participate. The Commission would provide the Scouts free transportation, tentage and meals, and each Scout would be given "an appropriate badge, to become his after his tour of duty." In addition, 75 Scouts from Washington, D.C., Burlington, New Jersey, and Frederick and Hagerstown, Maryland under Scout Commissioner Martin accompanied the Red Cross corps serving the Reunion.
Several of the Scouts came from Philadelphia's Troop 1, chartered to Tioga Presbyterian Church, under the leadership of Scoutmaster Urner Goodman, including Harry Yoder, Jr., who two years later would serve as the guide for the first Order of the Arrow ceremony.
The planned attendance of 40,000 veterans grew as the event approached, and the final official count was 53,407. The Scout's service corps grew as well, to 548 according to some estimates. In addition to Commissioner Porter, the Scout contingent leadership included Deputy Commissioner Alexander M. Wilson and Field Secretary J. Woodbridge Patton. Young Scouters F.J. Romanes and H.R. Rooney served as headquarters aides.
The campsite itself was large, 280 acres with 47 miles of streets. Most of the veterans were well into their 70s and 80s and needed assistance with moving their bags from the specially constructed train platform to their tents and finding their way in camp. The heat was relieved from time to time by rain, but the damp and cold alternating with hot weather weakened many of the men. Others collapsed from the heat. The Scouts met every train at the platform, carried luggage for the aged warriors, gave them directions, and provided assistance, first aid or transportation to the shade or an aid station. On the Sunday morning before the encampment began, a runaway horse pulling an empty surrey struck New York veteran John Collins, who was moved to safety and given first aid by the Scouts.
At the end of the reunion, 1st Lieutenant Richard Slee, an Army physician, gave this glowing report of the Scouts' service:
"Looking back over the work, it would have been almost impossible to have carried out successfully many of the details without the aid of these boys. They were useful in every capacity one could possibly think of as orderlies in hospitals, messengers in connection with the various offices, or to man the ambulances. They acted as flagmen by day and by night on the dangerous crossings of the railroad, as guides and messengers for the enfeebled veterans, and in every useful capacity did they willingly, courageously and thoroughly demonstrate the efficiency of the organization."
Scout Glenn Andersen of Urner Goodman's Troop 1 had a very special duty. President Wilson attended the reunion to give the principal address on July 4, and Scout Andersen was his orderly that day.
Having helped thousands of veterans before, during, and after the camp, the Philadelphia Scouts marched through Gettysburg on July 7, accompanied by the band of the Third Pennsylvania Regiment and boarded a special train back home.
The Commission made good on its promise to provide each Scout with "an appropriate badge." The Commission issued a medal for those who participated in various capacities. The medal had one of three top bars identifying the recipient's connection to the event. For the boys and leaders of the BSA service corps, it carried America's new word for service: "Scout."
The Great Reunion had been a resounding success for the former enemies of Blue and Gray. Where 50 years before these Americans had charged each other with rifle and bayonet, they now tearfully embraced. The Scouts felt the same. Fifty years later, Urner Goodman would write, "The big impression left upon those boys was a lesson in the healing of civil strife and the building of brotherhood."