1. Advance Story
Winter 2015
Journalism 1
MECHANICSBURG, Pa.—Author James Rada Jr. will give a lecture about the 1913 Gettysburg
reunion on March 15 at 2 p.m. in the Passenger Station.
“The Second Invasion of Gettysburg—The 1913 Anniversary” is March’s contribution to the
Sunday Afternoon at Museum Square Lecture Series. The lecture will focus on the reunion of
Confederate and Union veterans, which took place from June 29 to July 6, 1913.
“My talk about the 1913 reunion is based on a book that I wrote about the reunion,” Rada said.
“I originally started out to write a story about how the battlefield became a national military park
with an emphasis on the U.S. Supreme Court battle that involved another battlefield.”
While researching the story, Rada said he came across the 1913 reunion, which took place 50
years after the battle of Gettysburg. Further research revealed it was the largest reunion the Civil
War veterans ever held. It was nicknamed “The Grand Reunion,” and Rada couldn’t agree more.
He said that an estimated 55,000 veterans attended, and that didn’t include the media, spectators
or military personnel who ran the camp during that week.
Rada plans to discuss the various ceremonies that began on July 1 at 2 p.m. During the days of
the reunion, dedications of state monuments, the reading of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg
Address, speeches by more than 12 governors, fireworks and a flag ceremony at Pickett’s Charge
took place.
The Battle of Gettysburg was important because it was the turning point in the American Civil
War. Before the battle, the South was winning, but the North defeated them during the intense
fighting on those first three days in July, 1863.
This will be Rada’s first time speaking in Mechanicsburg, though he has done a book signing at
the Civil War and More Store. He is the author of seven novels and has had articles appear
regularly in a variety of regional and national magazines, such as History Channel Magazine,
Boy’s Life and History Magazine. He has also received numerous rewards for his newspaper
articles. Rada, who lives in Gettysburg with his wife and two sons, is looking forward to telling
the story of the reunion and showing the pictures from the event.
The Passenger Station is located at 2 West Strawberry Alley, and admission is free for members
of the Mechanicsburg Museum Association and for children 12 and under. Non-members will
be charged $4 at the event.