One Hundred Nights of Taps, Gettysburg is finishing its 2023 evening programs on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 4. The closing program features multiple buglers sounding cascading Taps, an especially moving conclusion. The Labor Day program will also include an Enduring Pathway educational segment presented by GNMP Ranger Smith.
Every day since Memorial Day, a few hundred visitors gather in the Gettysburg National Cemetery for this free program of education and ceremony. The all-volunteer program combines education and moments of deep reverence. Beginning at 5:30 PM, a Licensed Battlefield Guide offers a free interpretive program exploring the aftermath of the battle and the creation of the National Cemetery. The guides conclude at the Soldiers National Monument, where the 100 Nights program begins at 7:00 p.m. During the Taps program there is a brief historical vignette, with topics changing nightly. This year buglers came at their own expense from seventeen states, WashingtonD.C., and Belgium to play the 24 notes.
The inspiration for One Hundred Nights of Taps came from the “Last Post” bugle-call at the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium, a daily ceremony honoring those who fell in WWI. The ceremony has occurred every night for 95 years, even during a nearby WWII battle! In 2016, when artist Wendy Allen of Gettysburg, PA. observed the remembrance, she was deeply moved. She thought of creating a similar ceremony at Gettysburg, using the US Armed Forces bugle call Taps, which is sounded at military funerals.
Gettysburg National Cemetery holds over 6,000 men and women who served the United States in conflicts from 1863 through the 1970s, including more than 3,500 Union soldiers killed in the Battle of Gettysburg. Allen was on the Board and is the current President of the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania, a non-profit that furthers remembrance of the Cemetery’s dedication featuring President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
Allen’s enthusiasm sparked support and in 2017 Lincoln Fellowship of PA birthed One Hundred Nights of Taps at the Soldiers National Monument in the Gettysburg National Cemetery. From small beginnings, attendance at the simple ceremony has grown exponentially. In 2022 this popular program attracted over 8000 visitors.
One Hundred Nights of Taps, Gettysburg is now helped by additional partners who have joined in the program. In 2023 the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania and Gettysburg National Military Park co-sponsored the seventh year in partnership with Taps for Veterans, Gettysburg’s Licensed Battlefield Guides, and Eisenhower National Historic Site.
John Tuskan of Lincoln Fellowship is a frequent presenter and summarized the appeal. “It is unique to hear Taps so close to where President Lincoln spoke, surrounded by those who gave their lives to preserve our Union.”
Learn more at www.lincolnfellowship.org
Submitted Susan Paddock 717-253-1316, susanstarpaddock@gmail.com
For more info contact Wendy Allen wallen_123@comcast.net (203 770-3421)