Gettysburg Civil War history to be presented in Tunkhannock

At part of Tunkhannock’s Founder’s Day, the Dietrich Theater in downtown Tunkhannock will present a history presentation called All Roads Lead to Gettysburg – Too Much for Human Endurance with Ron Kirkwood and Gary Tewksbury on Saturday, June 25 at 11 a.m. Admission is free.

During this program, Tunkhannock resident Gary Tewksbury will share the events in and around the town of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, when the Union Army of the Potomac led by General Gordon Meade and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia led by General Robert E. Lee fought for three long bloody days. With more than 50,000 estimated casualties, the three-day engagement was the bloodiest single battle of the conflict.

Then Ron Kirkwood, author of Too Much for Human Endurance: The George Spangler Farm Hospitals and the Battle of Gettysburg, will share the importance of the George Spangler Farm during the Battle of Gettysburg. He will present information about Confederate Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead’s time at Spangler and what the Spangler family lived through while their farm was occupied along with stories of the suffering and heroism of the surgeons, nurses, wounded and mortally wounded at the two hospitals on the Spanglers’ land.

After the presentation, Gary Tewksbury will be at his diorama of 1863 Pickett’s Charge to answer questions in the theater’s lobby. In addition to Gary Tewksbury answering questions by his diorama, local resident Cole Stauffer, portraying in character First Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing, will be posted as a sentry guard next to the diorama. Cushing was a West Point Graduate, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (posthumous) in 2014, and was inducted into the Hall of Heroes in the US Army. He died on the third day next to the Copse of Trees during Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg.

Kirkwood is retired after a 40-year career as an editor and writer in newspapers and magazines including USA TODAY, where he edited national magazines for USA TODAY Sports and was National Football League editor for USA TODAY Sports Weekly. He also worked for newspapers in Baltimore, Harrisburg, York and Wilkes-Barre. He won numerous state, regional and national writing and editing awards during his career and managed the 32-person copy desk in Harrisburg when the newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012. Kirkwood is a Michigan native and graduate of Central Michigan University, where he has returned as guest speaker to journalism classes as part of the school’s Hearst Visiting Professionals series.

Kirkwood has been a Gettysburg Foundation guide at the George Spangler Farm Civil War Field Hospital Site since it opened in 2013. He lives in York with his wife of 45 years, Barbara.

Gary Tewksbury is a Penn State engineering graduate and a retired project engineer from Procter & Gamble. He has lived in Tunkhannock with his wife Ruth for more than 50years. He has two daughters that graduated from Tunkhannock Area High School.

His passion on the Civil War started in 1961 from a TV Drama series The Civil War. During the Ken Burns 1990 documentary on the Civil War he started to build, paint, and assemble his 150 piece lead soldiers diorama on Pickett’s Charge. The diorama has been re-assemble out in the lobby for today’s Founders Day celebration.

Gary is a history interrupter on the three day battle at Gettysburg. He has given presentations at the 2013 Founders day, the Dallas Civil War Round Table, the Tunkhannock Library, and at Gettysburg during the November 2018 Lincoln’s Remembrance Weekend celebrating the Gettysburg Address. He and Ruth are members of the Gettysburg Foundation for the preservation and education of the battlefield.

He does research on Civil War musket rifles and swords trying to find the original owners and the history behind that weapon during that time of the war. He also does restoration on old steamer trunks and researches the history on those trucks to bring them back to life!

Cole Stauffer is senior at Tunkhannock Area High School. He is an avid enthusiast of the political, military, and profound impacts of the Civil War. Cole is the class president of 2023, member of the National Honor Society, and participates in cross country, track, wrestling and is a certified lifeguard.

Cole is an avid reader and writer of the history of our country, and through this great venue keeps the future generations knowledgeable about the past.

Tickets are available to All Roads Lead to Gettysburg – Too Much for Human Endurance by calling 570-836-1022 x3 or at the Dietrich’s ticket booth while they last.