Attendance Figures for 1913 and 1938 Gettysburg Reunions

For those who may be interested, these are the attendance figures for the 1913 (50th) and 1938 (75th) veterans reunions at Gettysburg as published in the official reports of the Pennsylvania Commission:

Attendance at Gettysburg Reunions
1913 1938
(50th Anniversary) (75th Anniversary)
Residence # Union+Conf. # Union+Conf.
Alabama 200 (0+200) 26 (6+20)
Arizona 10 (7+3) 6 (4+2)
Arkansas 75 (50+25) 51 (19+32)
California 100 (90+10) 150 (145+5)
Colorado 12 (11+1) 26 (23+3)
Connecticut 350 (350+0) 8 (8+0)
Delaware 316 (303+13) 2 (2+0)
District of Columbia 485 (380+105) 4 (1+3)
Florida 150 (0+150) 48 (29+19)
Georgia 285 (35+250) 60 (7+53)
Idaho 45 (45+0) 8 (7+1)
Illinois 465 (450+15) 95 (95+0)
Indiana 565 (540+25) 89 (87+2)
Iowa 364 (360+4) 46 (46+0)
Kansas 130 (125+5) 69 (64+5)
Kentucky 100 (75+25) 28 (21+7)
Louisiana 125 (0+125) 27 (10+17)
Maine 543 (540+3) 14 (14+0)
Maryland 1080 (800+280) 22 (21+1)
Massachusetts 1700 (1600+100) 23 (23+0)
Michigan 844 (830+14) 54 (54+0)
Minnesota 422 (400+22) 30 (30+0)
Mississippi 120 (0+120) 41 (6+35)
Missouri 422 (250+172) 79 (70+9)
Montana 22 (14+8) 7 (5+2)
Nebraska 238 (230+8) 26 (24+2)
Nevada 0 (0+0) 1 (1+0)
New Hampshire 750 (740+10) 7 (7+0)
New Jersey 2909 (2800+109) 23 (23+0)
New Mexico 1 (1+0) 5 (4+1)
New York 8500 (8440+60) 80 (80+0)
North Carolina 1265 (0+1265) 38 (2+36)
North Dakota 165 (162+3) 2 (1+1)
Ohio 1000 (900+100) 103 (102+1)
Oklahoma 135 (87+48) 63 (32+31)
Oregon 82 (75+7) 26 (25+1)
Pennsylvania 22103 (21800+303) 115 (115+0)
Rhode Island 377 (370+7) 0 (0+0)
South Carolina 369 (68+301) 19 (1+18)
South Dakota 125 (121+4) 14 (14+0)
Tennessee 300 (0+300) 31 (15+16)
Texas 130 (0+130) 130 (13+117)
Utah 76 (67+9) 5 (5+0)
Vermont 669 (665+4) 5 (5+0)
Veteran Signal Corps 63 (63+0) 0 (0+0)
Virginia 3278 (50+3228) 46 (7+39)
Washington 167 (152+15) 37 (34+3)
West Virginia 1125 (562+563) 21 (12+9)
Wisconsin 650 (625+25) 31 (31+0)
Wyoming 0 (0+0) 1 (1+0)
Canada 0 (0+0) 3 (3+0)
TOTAL: 53407 (45233+8174) 1845 (1354+491)

Note that the official attendance figures are based on the residence of each veteran in 1913 and 1938 – not on the State from which they served during the war. But the numbers in parentheses further break it down to show how many had fought for the Union vs. Confederate armies.

So while 285 veterans travelled from Georgia for the 1913 reunion, 35 of them had fought for the Union army.

Some other interesting observations:

  • It is not surprising that Confederate veterans were greatly outnumbered at both reunions since they were commemorating the anniversary of a Confederate loss in “Northern” territory.  But while Confederate veterans represented 15.3% (8174/53407) of the attending veterans in 1913, that number jumped to 26.6% (491/1845) in 1938.
  • Of the 48 States that existed at the time, all but Nevada and Wyoming were represented in 1913 and all but Rhode Island were represented in 1938.
  • The two States with the highest number of veterans attending the 1913 reunion were Pennsylvania (22103 veterans or 41.3%) and New York (8500 veterans or 15.9%). But in 1938, the two States with the highest attendance were California (150 veterans or 8.1%) and Texas (130 veterans or 7.0%)!

See also:  North Dakota at Gettysburg? and Roster of Veterans at the 1913 Gettysburg Reunion.




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