The ceremonies for the fiftieth anniversary of Gettysburg were intended to highlight national reconciliation and unity. This gilt token reads “50^th Anniversary” and “Battle of Gettysburg” at top and bottom, with 1913 across the middle, divided by a U.S. flag crossed with a Confederate Third National flag over a pair of hands clasped in friendship. This was a little ironic, of course. It avoided using the battleflag, but the third national had been redesigned from the second national not only to modify the white ground by adding a large red stripe so it would not look like a flag of truce or surrender, but also so that it would, “have as little as possible of the Yankee blue” according to its main proponent. The reverse of the token is struck with a text that one might expect to have been the Gettysburg Address, but is in fact the Lord’s Prayer. The maker may have thought it would be less controversial. At least one fight broke out at the Gettysburg Hotel during the commemoration. Several people were stabbed. It arose over some hostile remarks about Lincoln.  [SR]

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