John Lawrence Burns, a Gettysburg constable and a War of 1812 veteran, had been just recently released from the jail the Confederates had put him for protesting their recent occupation of his town.  Frustrated in earlier attempts in the war to enlist, Burns joined in now, in frock coat and tall hat, with the Wisconsin and Michigan regiments of the Iron Brigade as a sharpshooter.  He was wounded, left on the battlefield, and made his way home to recover. He became a national hero and met Abraham Lincoln when the president visited Gettysburg. (By John Osborne)

Within two hours of the opening shots outside Gettysburg, First Corps commander General John Fulton Reynolds became the highest ranking casualty of the great battle. He had hurried forward ahead of his unit to assess the situation, rush reinforcements to the town's outnumbered defenders, and personally supervise their deployment.  Returning from this last task at around eleven a.m., he was hit by rifle fire and died instantly. He was a popular and skilled officer, destined for greater things, and his death was a mental blow to the whole Army.  (By John Osborne)