Jonathan (Jon Jon) Pinkerton had only requested a few signed photographs from actor Stephen Lang, but he ended up getting so much more.
“It came in a big box,” says Pinkerton, an avid collector of memorabilia from the movie Gettysburg. He dug into the tissue paper and to his surprise there it was. “The uniform Stephen Lang wore as General Pickett in the movie Gettysburg,” he says. “I wanted to cry. My heart was racing.”
Adding, “He said he wanted to send me something extra. He knew that I would take good care of it, and he wanted me to have it.”
Lang admits he couldn’t have imagined giving it to anyone better. “His collection is not motivated by profit or even ownership,” says Lang, “but by a genuine sense of custodial responsibility.”
Pinkerton has spent the last 20 years amassing a collection of items from the movie Gettysburg and the movie Gods and Generals. Although Gettysburg is a personal favorite. Now he hopes to take these items and create a museum in Gettysburg.
“I saw the movie Gettysburg when I was nine years old with my dad and my brother,” says Pinkerton, who lives in Pittsburgh. “My dad and my grandfather were big Civil War buffs. They loved history.”
Understandable given the fact that Pinkerton and his family are related to Allan Pinkerton, who founded the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in 1850 and uncovered and prevented an assassination plot against President Abraham Lincoln.
Now 42 years old, Pinkerton has watched the movie Gettysburg more than 3,000 times. Often in the company of his 10-year-old son, Lincoln. “That’s all he talks about,” says Pinkerton with a smile.
The first item Pinkerton acquired was the uniform worn by Warren Burton, who played Maj. Gen. Henry Heth in Gettysburg. After that, “I decided then that I needed it all,” he says.
Today, his collection includes 50 uniforms from Gettysburg and 40 uniforms from Gods and Generals. The uniforms include the one worn by Jeff Daniels in Gettysburg for his role of Col. Joshua Chamberlain and the uniform worn by Robert Duvall for his role of Gen. Robert E. Lee in Gods and Generals.
He also has “100 or so hats, 15 pairs of boots and some with the spurs still on them,” he says. Besides the movie memorabilia Pinkerton has collected authentic relics from the Civil War era such as letters, medical devices, rifles, pistols, cannon balls, Bibles, wallets and buckles. The collection is kept in his “man cave,” he says.
Pinkerton has purchased items through traditional sources such as eBay, but many have been given to him by the actors themselves. He has collected not just items but relationships. “I am amazed,” says Pinkerton of his friendships with actors such as Martin Sheen, who played Gen. Robert E. Lee in Gettysburg, as well as Lang, among others.
The actors appreciate what he is trying to do with the collection. “He truly understands what it means to keep history alive,” says Jeremy London, who played Cap. Alexander Pendleton in Gods and Generals.
Adds John Rothman, who played Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds in Gettysburg, “I was so impressed that I decided to donate the engraved sword that Tom Berenger presented to me as a parting gift.” Berenger played Lt. Gen. James Longstreet in the film.
The sword was engraved to read, To Maj. Gen. John Reynolds, Army of the Potomac, from Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, Army of Northern Virginia. My compliments.
“That sword was a wonderful example of the thin line that existed on that film between the actors and the historical characters we were playing,” says Rothman.
Rothman had no qualms about passing the sword on to Pinkerton. “I gave my sword to him because he more than anyone has kept the flame burning and the faith in the enduring importance of Gettysburg, the movie.”
However, there is one item that Pinkerton has yet to acquire. “Sam Elliott’s hat,” he says of the actor who played Brig. Gen. John Buford in Gettysburg. “He still has it. But I don’t think he’s ready to part with it.”
The items in his collection are not just those associated with the actors, but with re-enactors as well. Daniel Bauman gave Pinkerton the uniform that he wore in both Gettysburg and Dances with Wolves, as well as other items. Bauman, who has been struggling with health issues for several years, takes comfort in the fact that Pinkerton will care for these items. “I just figured it was better with him,” say Bauman. “I trusted him.”
So impressive is Pinkerton’s collection that he was contacted by the television show American Pickers. But when told he would have to sell the entire collection if they wanted to purchase it, he declined. “I can’t part with Stephen Lang’s uniform,” he says. “That was a gift from him. So, I said, no.”
Through these relationships, Pinkerton has played a key role in reaching out to actors to participate in such events as the 30th anniversary of the movie Gettysburg which was held in Gettysburg in 2023.
“He’s an invaluable asset to Gettysburg,” says Andrew Dalton, Gettysburg History president and CEO. “He has built these incredible relationships with the actors from Gettysburg and over many years has really earned their respect and friendship. Because of that he was able to connect us with almost the entire cast of the film in preparation for the movie’s 30th anniversary. He was the real go- between in order to get these folks booked to be here.”
Pinkerton does not ask for payment for his efforts. It is a labor of love for him. “He just cares so deeply about the movie,” says Dalton.
That includes stepping up when needed. “A couple of the actors who couldn’t afford to get to these reunions, he has bought their plane tickets and paid for their hotel rooms,” says Ron Maxwell, director of both Gettysburg and Gods and Generals. “This is a selfless, generous, devoted and very special guy.”
During the 30th Gettysburg movie event, Pinkerton had the opportunity to exhibit his collection in Gettysburg. “I kept hearing people say, ‘Oh my God, this collection.’ ‘How can I see this every day?’ ‘How can I bring so and so here to see this?’” he says.
Those like Garry Adelman, local renowned historian of the Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg, understand the appeal. “Gettysburg was a movie about a battle where you came to know and like and in some cases love and emulate the main characters,” he says. “Therefore, where they stood, what they said and what they wore becomes a cherished part of somebody’s Gettysburg experience.”
Adds Dalton, “There’s no way to separate that if you’ve seen the movie. You read about Chamberlain or you visit Little Round Top, you’re picturing Jeff Daniels. And so, I think that’s what makes these items so much more meaningful. It gives people a sense that they’re an artifact.”
While in Gettysburg, Berenger was able to visit the collection and revisit the uniform he wore as Longstreet. “He joked, and said, ‘Oh, look, the dirt’s still on my jacket,’” recalls Pinkerton, chuckling.
The interaction between movie item and person can be powerful even for a seasoned Civil War historian like Adelman. “I got to put on Pickett’s kepi from the movie and lift his riding crop and say, ‘That’s the style, Lo!’ like he did in the movie. That was a very special combination for me to hold and wear something that was in the movie and say the line. That wouldn’t have happened without Stephen Lang and Jon Jon Pinkerton preserving these items.”
Pinkerton has set up a GoFundMe in hopes of raising money for the museum. “This museum would be yet another experience for visitors to Gettysburg that would keep people coming back and give them another reason to visit,” says Dalton.
And Pinkerton is planning for the future when it comes time for someone else to take over the care of his collection. He knows just the person – his son Lincoln. Lincoln is already making plans.
“He had to write about his future for a school project recently,” says Pinkerton. “He said that he wants to open a Civil War museum, but doesn’t have the Civil War stuff, so he is going to have his dad’s stuff.”
Lincoln has become well-known to the actors as well. They have become quite fond of the little boy. “I don’t know of another 10-year-old boy that has Martin Sheen FaceTiming him to say Happy Birthday,” says Pinkerton with a grin.
Father and son recently returned to the town they have both come to love to participate in the filming of the new movie Gettysburg 1863 with Pinkerton wearing the uniform worn by Jeff Daniels. As such, Pinkerton sees Gettysburg as the only place for his museum.
“I want these items to be home in Gettysburg,” says Pinkerton. “This is where it all started.”
Photo Caption: Collector Jonathan (Jon Jon) Pinkerton and his son Lincoln recently participated in the filming of the new movie Gettysburg 1863, which was filmed in Gettysburg. Pinkerton wore the same uniform Jeff Daniels wore in the movie Gettysburg and which is part of Pinkerton’s extensive collection of Civil War movie memorabilia [Gettysburg Images]
