CAPT. JAMES T. LONG, GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD GUIDE: "LONG'S 8TH ANNUAL TOUR OF GETTYSBURG" LECTURE CIRCULAR WITH 1888 BATTLEFIELD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION COLOR MAP, TOGETHER WITH HIS PRINTED "ADDRESS OF WELCOME" TO THE 143RD PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS REUNION

CAPT. JAMES T. LONG, GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD GUIDE:

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Item Code: 453-63

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Two printed pieces from the career of Capt. James Thomas Long (1842-1911), the best-known Gettysburg battlefield guide and lecturer of his generation. Long was a Lancaster County native who served in Co. B, 99th Pennsylvania Infantry and later as a lieutenant in Co. A, 21st Pennsylvania Cavalry. He settled in Gettysburg in 1884, guided visitors over the field for more than twenty years, and toured the North lecturing on the battle. He died at Gettysburg in August 1911 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery.

1. "LONG'S 8TH ANNUAL TOUR OF GETTYSBURG." Large printed promotional circular, approx. 11 1/2 x 18 in., issued by Long to book his illustrated lecture "The Battle of Gettysburg" with Grand Army of the Republic posts. The front is headed "Universally Endorsed by the Press and Public" with an engraved bust portrait captioned "Capt. Jas. T. Long, The Guide and Delineator, Author of 'Gettysburg—How the Battle was Fought.'"

Long's printed letter from "Headquarters on Gettysburg Battlefield," addressed "Dear Sir and Comrade," offers each post an evening's entertainment with an experienced oxy-hydrogen light operator. He promises more than 300 views on a canvas forty feet square by dissolving stereopticon, including scenes taken during and immediately after the battle by the Government photographers and the monuments erected since. His terms are "$75 for Three Nights, or $30 for One Night." The letter is signed in type "JAS. T. LONG, Post 51, G. A. R., Dept. Pa. (Late of Co. B, 99th P. V., and Lieut. Co. A, 21st Pa. Cavalry)."

A "Synopsis of the Entertainment" outlines the program day by day, from Buford's opening fight, Reynolds's death and John Burns through the Wheatfield, Devil's Den, Little Round Top and Culp's Hill, to Pickett's charge and the retreat. The lower half reprints newspaper notices of his lectures from 1886 to January 1889, from the Brooklyn Eagle, New Haven Palladium, Elmira Advertiser, Utica papers, West Chester Daily Republican, Lima Recorder and others. One notice reports that he lectured in fifteen states the previous season and traveled more than 56,000 miles.

The verso carries a lithographed color map, "Gettysburg and Vicinity, Showing the lines of Battle July, 1863, and the land purchased and dedicated to the public by General S. Wylie Crawford and the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association." It was published by the Association in 1888 and printed by Burk & McFetridge, Lith., Phila. Union positions are shown in blue and Confederate in red, the Association and Crawford holdings and proposed purchases are shaded, and an inset shows Gregg's cavalry field east of town. The map records the field during the years before federal ownership, when the Association was still acquiring it. The latest press notice is dated January 1889, so the circular was printed for that lecture season.

2. "ADDRESS OF WELCOME." Single-sheet printed broadside, approx. 8 1/2 x 14 in., "Delivered by Captain James T. Long at the Forty-third Annual Reunion of the Association of the One Hundred and Forty-third Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers and Their Friends." It is signed in type "CAPT. JAMES T. LONG, Special Tourist Guide, Gettysburg, Pa."

The address was delivered on the field where the 143rd fought with Stone's Pennsylvania "Bucktail" Brigade on July 1, 1863. Long recalls the brigade holding the key to the first day's fight in a single line with no reserve, under artillery fire from the hills west and north, repulsing charge after charge for more than two hours. He notes that every field officer in the brigade but one was shot, that the 143rd lost some 60 per cent killed and wounded with 91 missing, and points to the figure of Sergeant Crippen ("Crippin" in the text) on the regiment's monument. The second half is a tribute to the Grand Army of the Republic and its bronze star badge. Long's reference to the G.A.R.'s founding "forty odd years ago" and his death in 1911 date the printing to ca. 1906-1911.

Together the two pieces bracket Long's career, from the touring lecturer of the late 1880s to the elder statesman of the Gettysburg guides welcoming veterans back to their ground.

CONDITION

Circular folded as issued, with center vertical and horizontal folds, toning, light soiling, a small nick at the upper edge, and show-through of the map from the front; map colors bright. Address with light, even toning, a faint vertical center crease and minor edge nicks. Both very good.    [ss][ph:L]

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